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“I might be paraphrasing a bit. He had a lot to say about you and your, uh, past situation. But yeah.”
Renzo covered his face with both hands and took a trembling inhale. “Fuuuuuck.”
“For what it’s worth, if I could magic you the perfect man, I would.”
Renzo dropped his hands and laughed. “Please don’t. The last thing I need is?—”
“I found hot chocolate! There was a nice man with a beard like Santa, but it was curly, and he gave me a free cup. He—oh.” The familiar rambling voice cut Renzo off, and they both turned to see Matty hurrying up with his mittened hands around a very large paper cup.
Renzo’s distress melted away like it was never there, and he smiled as he beckoned his brother closer. Standing together, the resemblance was intense. Matty had the same eyes, and same dark curls, and the same grin.
“Matty, this is my friend Emil.”
Matty stared at him, then suddenly thrust his cup at Renzo and was immediately in Emil’s face. His gaze moved up and down, and then he reached out and poked Emil’s nose three times. “Santa.”
“He’s not—” Renzo tried.
“Santa. This Santa had pretty eyes. The other Santa at the mall didn’t have pretty eyes. Same eyes. Santa,” Matty declared.
“Jig is up,” Emil said.
Renzo sighed. “Okay, fine. You win, bud.”
Matty clapped and took two steps back before snatching his cup from Renzo, who was seconds away from taking a sip. “Get your own.”
“See all this Christmas spirit,” Renzo complained, still smiling. He eyed Emil, then said, “Can I buy you one?”
“I’ve had my fill. Apparently, Santa gets all the cocoa he can drink. But,” he added when Renzo’s smile started to falter, “I’ll walk with you if you’d like the company.”
“Come on, Matts,” Renzo started, but suddenly, there was a small group of kids who were rushing up.
The taller one, who was very clearly the little leader, looked up at Matty. “Did he say yes?”
Matty looked startled, then turned his gaze back to his brother. “Can I skate? I need twelve dollars plus tax to rent skates. But I know how. Remember I learned and then practiced last winter?”
“I remember,” Renzo said. Emil watched as he dug into his wallet and handed him a twenty. “Change back. You make more money than I do with all those tips you get.”
Matty laughed, then dropped his full hot chocolate right into a bin before hurrying off.
“I could have totally finished that,” Renzo said with a groan. “He’s such a little shit.”
“He loves you a lot,” Emil said as they started toward the hot cocoa stand, which was the only stall left with any kind of line.
Renzo snorted. “Yeah. I mean, the way siblings do, you know.”
Emil shrugged and offered a tiny smile. “I wouldn’t, actually. I was an only child. Well…that’s probably not true, but my father never really had me around his wives or mistresses, and I never asked.”
Renzo winced. “That’s bleak, man.”
“Yes,” Emil answered, because that was the kindest thing he could say about his upbringing. Before now, he might have tried to make a joke and pass it off as nothing, but it wasn’t, and he was learning it was okay to admit that.
An awkward silence fell as they approached the line, and Renzo sort of swayed into him a bit, their elbows knocking. “So. Is it weird now that you know my dirty laundry?”
Emil raised a brow at him. “Is having a shitty ex who mistreated you really dirty laundry?”
“I don’t know,” Renzo said. “People get…weird about it. I tell people I’m divorced, and they’re like, oh, why? What did you do? So I tell them a little about John, and they either think I’m lying, or they think I’m too broken to date.”
He had no idea what to say to that.
