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Justin’s eyes flared and he gave me a wicked grin. “You bet.”
We headed in. Rome was sitting at his kitchen table with a glass of water in his hand.
“Dad, Case,” Justin said, leaning against the kitchen counter and looking between us. “I know it’s been one hell of a Christmas for all of us. But I’m about to drop a bomb on both of you.”
“Lay it on us,” Rome said. “Nothing could surprise me at this point.”
Justin clicked his tongue. “I met a woman. A very special one.”
Both Rome and I perked up. “Is that right?” he asked.
Justin had been a free-love hippie throughout all of college, never even considering settling down with any one girl. I’d been completely convinced that he’d be that way for his whole life.
“Her name’s Natalie. She works at my company. She travels with me a lot,” Justin continued. His eyes glanced between both of us, hesitating for a moment. “And she hates Christmas.”
“No fucking way,” Rome said, shaking his head and leaning back.
“Total Grinch, doesn’t like the decorations, doesn’t like the time of year—”
“How can someone not like thedecorations?” I asked.
“Natalie is a strong, unique woman,” Justin said, and I could see the stars in his eyes as he said it. “She has a lot of offbeat opinions, and that’s part of what I like about her so damn much.”
“Sounds like a whole lot of fun,” I conceded.
“You want to know something funny?” Justin asked. “I was actually nervous as hell to come back and tell both of you that I met a girl who hates Christmastime. You both love it so fucking much that I knew you’d be taken aback. And now, you bothowe me for life, so—”
“Hey,” I protested, laughing already. “You can’t hold this against me forever.”
“Oh, yes I can,” Justin said, a grin on his face, too. “And I will. Unless you go easy on Natalie when you meet her.”
“Wow,” Rome said. “It really does sound serious.”
“As serious as I’ve ever gotten, yeah,” Justin said. “Dad, she’s so damn cool. You’ll love her.”
Rome nodded once. “And I will be on a one-man mission to make her enjoy Christmastime. I will not relent. I will not give up. Soon, she’ll be out there singing carols and hanging twinkle lights on her own doorstep.”
“You can try. Good luck changing her mind.”
Soon, we were all sitting around the kitchen table sharing another round of warmed-up cinnamon rolls. I still felt like I was on another planet, but gradually, as the night went on, things almost started to feel… normal.
Notnormal, maybe. But some version of it.
I was hanging out with Justin and Rome, and nothing was awkward. We talked more about Natalie, and all of the places Justin had traveled with her for work. Rome admitted to Justin how lonely it had been without him here for Christmas, and that it had been a good call to tell me to bring something over tonight.
I’d spent Christmas with my best friend’s dad, and nothing bad had happened.
Really, it felt more like something great had happened. Out of nowhere. Beyond my wildest expectations. Everything should have gone terribly, by all accounts—but instead, it had been like a gift.
And it sure as hell was the best Christmas gift I’d ever gotten.
12
ROME
“Hey, now, you can’t be wearingthattonight!” Harlan said as I walked into Jade Brewery.
He was pointing at my red and white Santa hat.
