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“Because he’s an idiot who doesn’t realize what a good thing he had,” Lucy said as she wrapped her arms around me so tight I had to hug her back. “Harris isn’t like Jace, though,” she tried to assure me. “He’s one of the good guys.”
As much as I knew that, I knew that even good guys did stupid shit. “Even the good guys have their douchebag moments.”
She didn’t answer and after a moment of silence where I knew I would never be able to convince her that Harris Cutter was anything but her knight in shining armor, I let her pull me toward the exit. “What are you going to do over the next month? You can spend as many nights at my house as you want.”
I didn’t want to think of what I would be doing; instead, I wanted to do what I always did. “I know what I wish I was doing,” I confided in her. “Every Christmas we went to Aspen for at least a week. Carter has a cabin up there and we go out and cut down our own tree. Then we decorate it with all kinds of stupid things.”
I lowered my lashes, trying to hold on to the memories that were assaulting me. Of snowball fights with the twins. My mom making her special gingerbread cookies that we would all sneak into the kitchen to steal when her back was turned. Of going to bed Christmas Eve to the sounds of Angie humming and my mother’s voice as she’d read The Night Before Christmas to us still echoing through my head. Waking up knowing that no matter what was under the tree for me, I was going to be thankful for it and love it because my mom had given it to me…
None of those things would be happening this Christmas.
“My mom, she saved every handcrafted ornament that we ever made in grade school,” I told Lucy to distract myself from the things I would have that Christmas. “So there are a lot of bells, construction paper, and Styrofoam-cup reindeers.” Tears burned my eyes and I found myself confessing the conversation I’d had with my father. It was so memorable because we had so few of them, but that particular one was like a thorn in my side. “When I asked my father if I could go to Aspen with Carter and the twins, he refused to talk about it with me. Apparently, Jillian has a big social calendar this time of year, and I’m expected to go to all the parties with them.”
To show my face with Georgia and Carolina so that when people saw my picture on all the gossip tabloids they would associate them with me. What. The. Fuck. Ever. Why were parties so important when all I wanted was to spend a few days with Carter and the twins? Didn’t what I want matter?
No. No, it definitely didn’t matter to them, that was for sure.
Unconsciously, my gaze went to the car where Georgia and Carolina were already sitting inside. I slowed down, walking at a snail’s pace, hoping to prolong having to dive face-first into the pit with the three vipers that were Jillian and her clone-like daughters.
“Step-sandwich!”
I froze as Lucy was suddenly pushed away from me and I was wrapped into two pairs of arms that felt so familiar I didn’t want to question their sudden embrace. It took me two seconds before tears were burning my eyes and a happy laugh bubbled out of me. I met Angie’s eyes, knew that she was real from the happy tears in her own gaze, and we both started jumping up and down as Caleb’s massive arms stayed around us like a bear protecting its two cubs.
I wasn’t the bubbly, jump-up-and-down kind of girl. Angie was, though, and I loved her enough to do the bubbly, jump-up-and-down thing with her. I screamed, laughing and crying as she held me tighter.
It was several moments later before Angie calmed down enough that we could stop. When I did, I looked up into Caleb’s laughing eyes. “Miss us?” he teased.
“Miss you?” I didn’t know if I shouted it or whispered it, but he laughed so it didn’t matter. “So much it hurts.” I kissed Angie’s cheek, pushing back a few strands of blond hair when it seemed glued to my damp cheeks. I wiped the tears away and hugged her closer. “What are you two doing here?”
“Daddy said that your step-monster wouldn’t let you come to us for Christmas, so as soon as the semester ended we grabbed the first plane out to be with you,” Angie explained. “You have to put up with Caleb’s ugly face for four full weeks. Daddy will be here on Monday. He had some business to take care of before he could get here, but we couldn’t wait to see you.”
In that moment it didn’t matter that I wasn’t the bubbly, jump-up-and-down kind of girl because I was doing just that as I squealed, “Yes, yes, yes,” I said, excited. Four weeks of my favorite people. Four weeks of my family. Four weeks of peace.
A throat was cleared and only then did I remember Lucy. Glancing up, I saw her standing behind Marcus where he must have moved her. “Lucy, come meet my brother and sister.”
Angie turned before Lucy could even move, offering her hand. “Lucy? I’ve heard so much about you. Thank you so much for taking care of Kin for us.”
I hadn’t held back about telling the twins about Lucy and life with Scott Montez. I didn’t tell Carter nearly as much as I did them.
Lucy’s face showed her surprise. “Don’t thank me,” she told Angie. “Kin’s been my life saver.”
I frowned, missing the rest of their exchange as I looked at Lucy closer. I’d saved her? What did that mean? I tried to think back to the first time I’d met Lucy, tried to compare how she was then to how she was now, but she seemed the same happy chick who had helped me through such an insane time in my life. Sure, she was in love now, but that was the only difference I really saw.
What had I missed?
It niggled at me, making me want to pause to go back over all the months we had been best friends. As I looked at Lucy, watched how she interacted with Angie and Caleb, I realized that maybe there was a difference. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Caleb turned from hugging Lucy, forcing me back to the moment as he thrust his hands into his pockets. “Are you really grounded? Your email to Angie said you were, but you didn’t know for how long. What the hell did you do, Kin?”
I knew he was teasing me, but remembering that I was grounded burst my happy bubble. “Nothing,” I grumbled. “For once, I didn’t do a damn thing. Georgia rushed the stage, kissed the guy performing, and got escorted out of the club with her hands cuffed with zip ties.” I didn’t mention it had been Jace she had kissed. I wasn’t ready to dive into that conversation with the twins yet. “Lucy gave us a ride home and Marcus here walked us to the door to explain to my father and Jillian what happened. Georgia got a pat on the head by mommy dearest and I got grounded indefinitely for not using my ‘influence’ to get her out of trouble.”
It
still stung that Scott had been so worried about Georgia, but hadn’t spared me more than a glance the night before. Asshat.
A honk echoed off the school walls behind us and I clenched my hands into fists as I told myself I needed to keep my nose clean. That meant not punching my step-bitches in the face. Although I was pretty sure that Jillian would use it as a good reason to enhance her daughters’ features.
“We’ll see how long you stay grounded once Daddy gets here,” Angie muttered more to herself than to anyone else as she flipped the step-bitches the bird.
