“Oh, it most definitely does. The thing is a true antique. It was my great-grandma’s before it was ours.”
“Do you still have it?” he asked.
“Yep, tucked away in my coat closet. You would be horrified to see the inside of that thing. I’ve kept the worst of my hoarding tendencies from you.”
He chuckled. “It’s okay, I accept you for who you are.”
And my heart exploded.
He hugged me close to his side. “Can we put that tree up together? At your place? I want to see it.”
The sentiment made my eyelids heavy with unshed tears.
“Sure,” I choked out.
“If there’s room, that is.”
I laughed and shoved his chest.
He bought our hot chocolates even though I tried to insist on paying. When I pulled out my wallet, he’d given me a look like I should know not to bother.
We resumed our waiting stance near the edge of the parking lot. I checked the time to see that his folks were five minutes behind schedule. We’d been early, only thanks to Reid.
“I’m surprised your family is late when punctual is basically your middle name.”
“West, whom you’ll finally get to meet, is always late. And my parents are pretty good, but Regan has been slowing them down ever since she moved back in. Ruby and I are the punctual ones, but she probably got a ride with someone else.”
“Got it,” I said, feeling a slight tremor of nerves, even though I had already met every individual member of his immediate family. I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting West yet. Reid had mentioned him a few times, and I’d even seen him in passing once when he’d been picking up Ruby from the salon for lunch. At the time I’d only registered him as Ruby’s friend, and I only remembered him because Jackson and I had talked about how hot he was.
A car pulled up at the same time a pickup entered the lot. Reid’s entire family fell out of both vehicles like they’d been in a clown car, all bustling and full of chatter.
“Hazel!” Regan exclaimed as soon as she saw me. Ruby smiled and waved as everyone walked over and embraced me in a frenzy of hugs.
“You look lovely, dear.” His mom squeezed my shoulders.
Hanging at the back of the pack was West. He was just as handsome as I remembered him being.
“Hey, I’m Hazel,” I said, offering him a mittened hand.
“West.” He shot me a charming grin and shook my outstretched hand. “Nice to finally, officially meet you.”
“Likewise.”
“You’re so lucky you left the salon early today,” Ruby said as we walked back toward the entrance to the lot as a pack. “Miranda was really in a mood. Told us we all needed to keep more organized schedules, and no more late cancelations.”
I balked. “What? Like we have any control over that!”
“I know! It’s like she wants us to start charging or something.”
Reid launched into a conversation with West about a poker game they were trying to organize. Regan was arguing with her mother, begging her not to take forever to pick out the perfect tree. Mr. Mitchell hung back with a cheery smile on his face, taking in his family dynamic. Even with all the voices talking over each other, everything about the evening was peaceful. I could barely think straight, and still, I loved every second of it. Maybe this was why Reid clung to his routines now. Growing up with siblings and constant family noise probably made him crave the freedom to do exactly what he wanted, when he wanted.
It was unfamiliar, sure, but it felt just like I’d always imagined it would. Stepping into something so different from my usual life helped ease the weight of lingering grief. If I were home right now, bracing for the holidays alone without even Vermont for comfort, I’d probably be drowning in self-pity.
Reid tossed his head back and laughed at something West said. Watching them made me smile. We hadn’t talked about it yet, but I hoped there was a semblance of permanence to this current state of ours.
One hour later and a surprising number of arguments about which type of tree to get, the Mitchell family had finally narrowed down their choices to two.
“Just decide!” Regan exclaimed. “I can’t walk around this tree park anymore. My feet are going to fall off.”
