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He liked it better this way, as it kept the spotlight off people sitting at a table.
“Merry Christmas to you too,” his mother said. “Put your gifts under the tree. Devin, Hope and Eve will be here shortly.”
Eve was Hope’s sister. She’d moved to the area a few months ago too. Hope wasn’t all that close to her parents. She talked to them, but no one visited often. He’d heard bits and pieces from Devin that Hope was berated nonstop and so was Eve. No one wants to be around people like that.
He set the few gifts he had under the tree. His family might say he didn’t like to spend money, but he did on holidays. He did with those he loved.
He wasn’t good at finding gifts, but he tried and then did the rest in gift cards. Thankfully this year Hope had the idea to send his parents away. His mother had been talking about wanting to see the Florida Keys. Hope found a hotel and they’d booked it after his father was in on it too and picked the dates.
His father didn’t like to fly, so they’d drive down.
“Anything I can do to help?” Ivan asked.
“You can sit and relax. Tell me, how are things going? Anything new to share?”
He stared at her and wondered if there was some way she could have known that he had a date with Kendra a few days ago. He wouldn’t put anything past his aunt.
No, he didn’t think so. It was one dinner at his house.
Hours of talking.
One spectacular kiss that kept him up later than he normally was.
He felt like a school kid crushing on the hot librarian.
That’s what he thought of when he saw Kendra.
She came off as plain and boring, but she was anything but.
Hearing her say that she liked to blend in had bothered him, but he understood that. Everyone was different and not many enjoyed standing out. Him for one.
There were plenty in his family that liked it, so there were enough spotlights to be shown on others.
“Not much,” he said. “Working like always.”
“You were on vacation this week though, right? Don’t tell me you spent that time working for Fierce?”
“Then I won’t tell you,” he said. He wasn’t buying that she didn’t know he was at the offices on Tuesday. No way. Not when his aunt was so in his face lately.
He was lucky he managed to get there and back home without his Aunt Jolene cornering him.
The door opened and Devin came in with Hope and Eve, gifts in their arms. He’d gotten something small for Eve because he didn’t want her to feel out of place. He knew his parents did too.
That was one thing about the Fierces. Once you were accepted, you were part of the family whether you liked it or not.
“Merry Christmas,” Devin said, moving to his mother and kissing her on the cheek. Shit, he hadn’t done that.
His mother eyed him, but he shrugged. Oh well.
They went into the living room and opened gifts. His mother crying over the trip and hugging them all.
He got up to help her get brunch ready. She slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you guys did that.”
“What?” he said. “You should be happy. Or did you think I wouldn’t chip in for it?”
She turned to look at him. “I know we pick on you, Ivan. But you’ve got a heart of gold. You spend the money when you want to and when you do, you go all in.”
“Like my house?”
