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“I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry.” She put the fork in the tray and looked at me with a sigh. “You’re right. I’ve been taking advantage of the fact that everyone is here, and I don’t have to do everything right now, and there are things I could have been doing to help out. You were right. I could be handling the photos for the grotto, even getting Jazzy to help me with that. I could be doing stuff like playing card games with Gramps and keeping him out of trouble a little bit. Baking and decorating cookies… making lunch for everyone…” She sighed again and rubbed her hand over her stomach. “I’ve been a giant bitchy baby, and I’m really sorry I’ve put everything on you and Mom. Neither of you deserve that.”
I squeezed her hand. “It’s fine. It’s done. But this week is going to be insane leading up to Christmas, and if you could do that stuff, I know it would be helpful. And I think Jazzy and Gramps would really like to spend time with you, too, you know?”
“You’re right, of course. You always are. Damn it. I hate being the eldest.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you have the memory card? I’ll go to the office tomorrow with Jazzy in the morning and print and frame the photos so Mom doesn’t have to.”
“I do. It’s in my purse. I’m leaving early, so I’ll plug it into the adapter and put it in the laptop for you.”
“Thanks, that’s a big—wait, why are you leaving early? The only thing that’s ever early about you is your period.”
“That’s rude. I can be early.”
“No.” My sister returned to her pie. “Why are you leaving early?”
I sipped my wine. “I’m helping Nicholas put Christmas lights on his grandma’s house.”
She stilled with the fork midway to her mouth. The hunk of pie on it slipped off and splatted back into the foil tray. “You’re doing what?”
“You heard me.”
“Are you seeing him?”
“No!” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “God, no. I just—I had to get out of the house this morning after… you know… and he asked me to help him with his tree, then one thing led to another and here I am.”
“Mhmm. I bet things led somewhere.”
“Verity, no. Oh, my God.” I quickly explained what we’d found while going through the decorations.
Her bottom lip quivered. “That’s so sad. I had no idea.”
Oh, no.
She was going to cry.
Yep.
She was crying.
“How could they do that to her? And her poor house! It’s so beautiful!” She sniffed, and I offered her the tissue box from the coffee table. She took one and dabbed at her cheeks. “Oh, Quinn, you’re the worst little grinch ever. Look at you being so festive and Christmassy this year! You’re just the sweetest.”
Wow.
These pregnancy hormones were fucking wild.
“It’s so kind of you to help him. Oh, I always liked him. It’s a shame he left. You’d have such pretty babies together!” She sobbed and tears rolled down her cheeks in earnest.
I stared at her. “No, no. No babies. Especially not if they do… this.” I waved my hand at her. “No, thank you.”
Verity composed herself after a long minute and looked at me with red eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me these days. I’m losing my mind.”
“Lost. I think you’ve lost it, sister, dear.”
She nodded. “I know. Do you like him?”
“Nicholas? Of course. We’re friends.”
“You know what I mean, Quinn.”
I sipped my wine again and looked at the fire that was happily crackling away now. “I don’t—I, um. I don’t… know. It’s complicated. He’s only here for the holidays, so it’s irrelevant.”
“But you cleared up what happened after the party?”
“Yeah. It was unfortunate timing and a bit of a misunderstanding, but it’s all good. It was just easier when I was mad at him.”
“Have you kissed him?”
“Not really.”
“How can you not really kiss someone?”
“Mistletoe. It wasn’t a proper kiss. We were coerced into it. Or I was, at least, by a little girl with a bit too much entrepreneurial spirit for someone who isn’t yet ten.”
She laughed and returned to her pie. “A kiss is still a kiss, Quinn. And you’re spending a lot of time together. Maybe there’s something there.”
I shook my head emphatically. “No. It’s not like he’s a few hours away, he lives somewhere in Illinois.”
“I just think—”
“Verity, I was hurt by him leaving once before. I’m not going to put myself in that position again, okay?”
She looked at me for the longest moment before she nodded and squeezed my hand. “Okay.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Where do we start?” I looked at the boxes we’d piled onto the porch and yawned. I was so not awake yet. I was kind of hoping we’d be able to get breakfast before we came out into the cold hellhole that was Snow Cove on this wonderfully irritating snowy morning.
