I followed her through the short hallway. The doors to each room were propped open, and family pictures lined the halls. The floorboards creaked underneath the worn runner.
“This is where you grew up?” I asked Reid. It wasn’t a huge house, but it was homey to the max.
“Yep.”
“We’ve been here for thirty-five years, believe it or not. Bought the place right after we got married,” Mrs. Mitchell said.
The kitchen was right out of the nineties in the best possible way. Reid’s childhood home was so relaxed compared to the harsh white lines of his townhouse.
“Ah, is this Hazel?” An older man with a warm smile, who looked a bit more like Reid than Ruby, stepped into the kitchen and gave me an outstretched hand.
“Mr. Mitchell. Thank you for having me.” My smile was natural, not forced, as they welcomed me into their home.
“Nice of you to finally show. We’re starving.” A girl trailed behind Reid’s dad. She was tall, probably at least 5’9”, and looked a lot like Ruby.
“And this is Regan. My younger sister.”
“Hazel!” she exclaimed when she noticed me. “Yay, I’m so glad he brought you.”
She wrapped her arms around me, and any tension I’d been holding onto disappeared. Reid wasn’t kidding when he said his family was welcoming. This was way more than I had been expecting, and my guard fell away immediately.
“The roads are shit out there,” Reid said. “Took us twice as long to get here.”
Reid’s mom pursed her lips and looked out the window. It was nearly black outside, but we could still see the outlines of trees getting whipped around in the storm.
“It’s a lot worse than they said it was going to be,” she said. “We’ve already got a few inches that are sticking, and with the freezing temperatures tonight, some of that will surely ice over.”
“Where are Ruby and West?” Reid asked. I knew from talking to him that West was his best friend and always attended family dinners.
“They should have been here by now. I hope the roads didn’t give them trouble.” His mom’s tone held a hint of concern, but before she could dwell on it, a phone rang. They all reached for theirs, but it was Regan who held hers up.
“It’s Ruby,” she said, answering the call. “Hey, where are you?”
I could hear a muffled voice on the other end. Regan nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell them. Glad nothing worse happened. Stay inside and stay safe.”
“What happened?” Mr. Mitchell demanded, his face tight with concern.
“They skidded into a ditch in their neighborhood. West was able to push them out, but they turned around and went back to his house after. Said the roads were too bad, and they were sliding everywhere.”
“Thank goodness they’re okay.” Reid’s mom clutched her heart before her expression transformed into a quizzical one. “Wait. Why were they together?”
Regan shrugged. “I mean, they only live like two streets away from each other.”
“West probably offered to drive because of the storm, or something,” Reid said. There was something in his eyes that looked like he was calculating, though. “I keep telling them both to get snow tires,” he added.
“We can’t all be Mr. Responsible,” Regan said, with an exaggerated sigh that made me laugh.
She smirked and shot me a wink. Something told me Regan and I would get along just fine.
“Hazel, what can I get you to drink?” Mr. Mitchell asked.
“Oh, water is fine.”
“I hope you like lasagna.” Mrs. Mitchell pulled out a pan from the oven.
“It smells amazing.”
A small squeeze of my forearm. Reid stayed by my side, shooting me a smile when I looked up.
