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“So,” Andrew says, taking a step back and sliding his hands into his front pockets. “Sardines?”
“Sure.” I muster up some enthusiasm. “Let’s do it.”
Sardines is Zachary’s favorite game, and Kennedy’s least favorite game, but she agrees to play it when he asks because, as she once said to all of us at the dinner table, “I don’t like standing close to people but I don’t mind standing close to any of you.”
Aaron got up and pretended he had something in his eye so he could go have a happy cry without her seeing it.
Zachary is explaining to Lisa how Sardines works, in an effort to convince her that she should play. Best of luck to you, kid.
Lisa scrunches up her nose. “So, we all get in a small space together and hide?”
“One of us goes to hide,” Kennedy says in her small voice, “and when someone finds them, they get into the place with them.”
Zachary does a snappy karate-chop dance combo, and one of his shoes goes flying. “The last person to find the hiding space is the last winner!”
“The loser,” Kennedy corrects. “Daddy and Papa call it the last winner, but really the last winner is the loser.”
Zachary shrugs. “I like to win.”
I can see Kennedy considering taking a swing at this one, but she just looks back to Lisa instead. “Are you going to play? Andrew is hiding first.”
Lisa is clearly pleased that her son and I have given her a chance to escape. Maybe she’ll move the mistletoe again. “I think I’ll see if Elise needs my help with dinner.”
“Theo and Miles are cooking.”
“Maybe they need help?”
“Mom.” Andrew winces gently.
She laughs. “Fine. I’ll go find Elise.”
He turns back to the twins. “Who’s ready?”
Two little hands go up in the air.
“Okay, then. Cover your eyes, count to fifty.” He looks at me. “And Mae?”
“What?”
“No peeking.” His eyes gleam flirtatiously, and my lady parts wave the white flag of surrender.
“I wouldn’t dare.” Bringing my fingers over my eyes, I start to count along with the twins to the sound of Andrew’s tiptoeing retreat.
“One . . . two . . . three . . .
“Twenty-four . . . twenty-five . . . twenty-six . . .
“Forty-eight . . . forty-nine . . . fifty.”
“Ready or not, here we come,” screams Zachary.
The kids peel off in different directions: Zachary down the hall toward the kitchen and basement, Kennedy into the dark dining room. Me, I pad upstairs. I have a pretty good hunch where Andrew’s gone.
When our entire group hasn’t descended on the cabin, the Hollis boys don’t actually have to sleep in the basement; there are four bedrooms upstairs, plus the attic. Dad sleeps in the study, and Mom sleeps in Theo’s bedroom. The room where Kyle and Aaron sleep is Andrew’s.
With my heart hammering, I push open the door and am hit with the intense essence of Andrew. Lisa puts candles in each bedroom, but whereas she and Ricky favor lavender, and Theo gets sandalwood, the eucalyptus is specifically for her oldest son. Beneath it, there’s also the clean scent of laundry, and that unmistakable feel of him everywhere. As soon as I walk in, the room goes tense, like the walls and furniture are sneakily pointing to the closet and hissing conspiratorially, He’s in there.
The light is on, too, which is another clue. Kyle is a notorious energy saver, but Andrew wouldn’t want the twins to have to search a dark room.
I walk over, hovering outside for a deep, steadying breath. A hundred times we’ve played this game and not once have we ever managed to huddle alone together, hiding.
I crack open the closet door.
Andrew cups his hands over his eyes, blinking into the bright light. “That didn’t take you long.”
“It wasn’t exactly a stretch of the imagination.” I step in beside him, and the small closet shrinks to the size of a shoebox when our situation hits me.
“Where did the twins go?” he asks.
“Downstairs. Dining room.”
He doesn’t say anything in response, but I feel him shift beside me. I am immediately drowning in the deep, aching tension of proximity.
“So . . . is it hard for you to give up this room over Christmas?” I finally ask.
I can barely see him because the only light we have to work with is a tiny sliver illuminating us from below, valiantly stretching up from underneath the door. But I can still see him shake his head. “I’m not here much anymore. Besides, I can sleep anywhere.”
I know this to be true. When we were kids, Andrew was famous for falling asleep at the table after a big meal. “Then why go out to the Boathouse?”
“Because there’s just something so infantilizing about sleeping on a bunk bed in the basement,” he says. “I know it seems crazy, but I just could not do it another year.”
