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“Yeah. Thanks, Nan.” He smiles at her with affection.
Iris gets Connor, Zeke, and Matt and we all sit around the amazing-looking table. I’m still a little bit tense as I sit next to Harrison and he must notice because he rubs my thigh comfortingly. There’s an almost uncomfortable silence while we all pile our plates with the delicious food Nan and Theo made for us. You wouldn’t think anything was off about this situation if you saw it in a Christmas movie. There are twinkling lights shining all over the big room, a big, sloppily decorated Christmas Tree, a family in matching pajamas—because Nan made Eian and Bran put on the ones she got for them—and there are smiles all around.
“Thank you for this,” I tell them both and there’s a chorus of the same words repeated all over the table.
“You’re welcome,” Theo says and the smile he sends my way almost makes me miss a slight flush covering his cheeks. The food is perfection, and I understand Mike’s insatiable love for his boyfriend’s cooking now.
“All right,” Iris says after a while. “When I planned on doing this, I never thought it’d be right afterthatrevelation, but we’re all here now, so I’ll just come out and say it.
“I’m moving to Boston.”
“What the fuck?!” Theo shouts.
“No you’re not,” Eian says resolutely.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Harrison demands.
“Like hell you are!” screams Nan, which surprises me the most.
“Of course I am,” Iris says with a careless shrug. “I’m moving to go to college.”
“Sweetheart, you don’t have to go to Harvard,” Harrison tells her in a gentle tone.
She snorts in his face. “I’m not. I was accepted at MIT and I’m starting early classes in May. I’m going to be an electrical engineer and double major in programming.”
Only silence follows her speech.
“I decided which company I’ll add to Crawford Inc., it’s going to be a jewelry line, very affordable so it’s not really to get rich, and every single piece will have the same or very similar technology to my necklace, which I’m guessing you got from him,” she tells Harrison while she points to Eian. “And I just bet it was expensive as hell. I think women all over the world should have the ability to get these things, not only rich women. I’m still not sure how I’ll make it all happen, but the idea is for it to be for women. Anyway, I’ve been taking programming classes since I’ve been done with my high school credits for like a year now and I realized I need to be an engineer and a programmer and probably get a business major too if I ever want to let Dad retire. So yeah, that’s my shocking announcement of the week.”
That last part makes Harrison react. “What?! You can do all of that here. You don’t need to move away, ever.” I cringe at that.
She rolls her eyes at him, “Dad, I suggest you shut up and think about what you’re saying before you utter another word.”
Eian snorts but then gets a serious look on his face. “You can’t go to Boston.”
“I’m absolutely going to Boston, which Zeke said is the best place out of all the possibilities I gave him.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Theo asks, looking a little pale and panicked. Zeke ducks his head and proceeds to stuff his mouth full of food.
“Well I was accepted at a lot of schools, so I asked Zeke which of all those cities was the best since he’s lived all over, and he said Boston, so I asked him if he’d like to go back there and he said yes. I know I need to have security with me, and I will. I’m sure you still have your house from when you lived there, Dad because you hate selling anything. And so I can live there.”
“No you can’t,” Eian says again.
“Why the hell not?” I can see Iris is getting annoyed now.
“Because there are people in Boston who would love to kidnap you like that Italian scum and you’d be way less protected.”
“I’ll have Zeke with me, and I won’t let you keep me in this city as a prisoner. My dad got to go, so I will too.” The stare-off that ensues is epic, but what’s even more epic is how Iris finishes it. “You know you’re the one who should make sure no one knows I’m your niece. It’s your responsibility, not mine. So you better not fuck up. Also, if you keep arguing with me, I’m gonna bring up employee’s medical care, and I just bet you won’t like that considering your… business.”
“I would actually very much like to see your face when I tell you exactly how well I treat my employees.” Eian snorts then turns to Nan. “You were right, she’s exactly like her father. Impossible to argue with. Such smartasses.” Both Harrison and Iris wear identical smirks.
“Like you have room to talk,” Bran says. “Normally when someone disagrees or doesn’t follow your orders things get much worse than a simple discussion.”
“You know I think I didn’t hit you enough as a kid,” Eian says.
“You didn’t hit me at all,” Bran mutters.
“Exactly.”
