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“Because…” He trails off. “Because I’m too old for that.” He laughs and I roll my eyes.
“Fine.” I lean across the console and rub a hand against his cheek. “I had fun in Miami.”
“Me too.”
Christmas is Wednesday, soBeckham Securitiesis closed this week. Wes and some of the senior team will be working tomorrow, but most of us are off, considering a number of us just came from Miami where we worked this past weekend.
“Will I see you before Christmas?”
“Christmas is three days from now, I would hope so. Besides, you need to get your gifts.”
“Well, I already know what they are.” I smile, recalling my impromptu shopping spree. Wes agreed to take them all home because I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d explain almost a hundred thousand dollars worth of stuff I definitely did not have before I left for Miami.
“There are some you haven’t seen yet.”
“You bought me more stuff? Wes…” I trail off.
“You were a very good girl this year, so yes, I got you more things you haven’t seen.” He shoots me a look and just the mention of those two words makes me squirm.
“Tomorrow?” I ask and the excitement is already coursing through me at the plan already in place for when we’ll see each other again.
“Tomorrow, baby.” He kisses me gently and then I’m out of the car.
It’s fucking freezing here and my body is not happy after it briefly got acclimated to the warm temperatures of Miami. I enter my garage and through the door to a quiet house and I’m surprised I don’t hear anything.
“Who’s the guy in the car?” I hear my little brother’s voice from behind me and I jump almost a foot in the air.
“Jesus! Don’t do that!” I slap his arm. A moment later, the biggest smile finds my face and then I’m in his arms pulling him into a hug. “I missed you so much!” I squeeze him a little harder, happy to have one of my favorite people home. “You look good.” I reach up and ruffle his hair. “This is a little long,” I tell him as he waves my hand away.
Lucas was almost the spitting image of our dad, minus the facial hair and his blue eyes like mine and our mother’s whereas our dads are brown, but he has the same dark hair and build and smile that always made me feel better.
“Don’t avoid the question,” he says as he takes a sip of his beer. “You got a boyfriend?”
“Sort of.” I bite my bottom lip. “Well, yes, but it’s new. I haven’t even told Dad.”
“Haven’t told Dad what?” My dad walks into the kitchen and Lucas shakes his head at me as if to sayI was not trying to set you up.
“I am seeing someone. It’s new and I’m not ready for you guys to meet him yet, but soon.”My dad is pretty relaxed for the most part but I’m not sure how he’ll take me dating someone two years younger than him.I need to think about how I’m going to prepare him for that.
“Is that why you’ve been MIA?” he asks as he leans against one of the counters in our state-of-the-art kitchen.
“Well, I was in Miami for work, remember?” I’m definitely not going to lead with the fact that I work for Wes. That’s information for later…way later.
“I mean before that. The weekend prior when you weren’t here at all?” my dad asks.
“That was because of the snow. I was at my friend’s house, remember?”
“Mmmhmmm.” He goes into the living room and Lucas and I follow him. He drops to the couch, turning on the television and I sit next to him, sliding my shoes off. I’m exhausted from the trip, and I’ll probably go to bed soon but I can hang out with them for a little while.
“Oh, Avery’s here,” Lucas says as he looks at his phone and heads to our front door.
“Has he been following her around all weekend?” I joke and I’m surprised when my dad doesn’t respond. “Dad?”
“Oh sorry, what?” He looks at me. “Sorry, I was thinking about something.” He shakes his head. “What did you say?”
“If Lucas has been following Avery around all weekend?” It’s no secret that Lucas used to harbor a huge crush on Avery Summers for most of their middle and high school years.Even when she had a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend. I can remember so many nights when Lucas would come home hammered from a party and he’d be going on about how crazy he was about the girl that lived next door who was also his best friend. She’s never had feelings for him to my knowledge and now he claims he’s grown out of those feelings, but I don’t buy it for a second.
“Hey, guys.” Avery, who is probably one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen in real life, comes bouncing into the room full of energy just like she always does. I’m off the couch instantly and pull her in for a hug. I almost want to steal her away to my room and tell her all about Wes because she’s the one person I could tell who would actually be super excited for me. Avery has always been supportive and my number one hype girl whenever it came to anything. But Lucas would probably have a fit if he couldn’t be up under her for five seconds.
