I can’t believe this is my life.
Until the closet in the back of my brain cracks open and that mostly-shoved-away negative talk starts to creep out.
You think you can do this?
There’s no way you can do this.
You could never accomplish something like this.
“Sade, let’s go.” Nick waves me out the front door, closing up the shop and my inner voice behind him.
Kristen promises to have contracts in our email by the end of the day, and as long as nothing weird comes up, keys should be in my hands in two weeks.
We wave goodbye, and I practically skip along the sidewalk. “Nicky, you just signed up to be tied to me for life. How does it feel?”
“I’m sure you want me to make some kind of sarcastic retort about how I’m already in a deep state of regret, but I’m not doing that. I’m pumped. You’re going to rock the shit out of this, and I’m happy to be along for the ride.”
“Silently, of course.” I combat my bitchiness by looping my arm through his.
“Of course.”
We reach the brownstone a minute later—hello, best commute ever—and jog up the front steps.
I’m all set and ready to bellow my usual greeting, but as soon as I open the door, I hear a cork popping. One of my all-time favorite sounds.
Gemma, Harley, and Jack are waiting for us in the kitchen withchampagne and cheers. We all pile in for a big group hug, and after a toast and the clinking of glasses, I pull Jack off to the side.
He runs his thumb over my cheek. “I’m so proud of you, sweet pea. You’re going to kill it.”
I lean up for a quick kiss, head and heart equally bolstered by his continued faith in me. “You’re not mad?”
“Why would I be mad?” His brow furrows.
I smooth out the wrinkles with my finger. “Because I wouldn’t take your investment, but I took Nick’s.”
He loops his arms around my waist. “Are you happy, Sadie?”
I bite my lip to control the insane grin threatening to take over my face. “I literally have never been happier.”
“That’s all that matters to me, sweet pea.”
The keys to the storefront are placed in my grabby hands five days before Christmas. The whole group is there with me to celebrate, Gemma streaming the whole exchange on my Instagram. My followers are already asking for renovation updates, and the store transformation is going to be social media gold.
The following couple of days consist of cleaning and painting, two of my least favorite things, but necessary steps in order to be ready for the good stuff that’s to come after the holiday. I do a fair amount of online shopping, trying to find repurposed and upcycled pieces for the store. And I draw up a preliminary plan for the back garden, mapping out what blooms I want to go where. I’m going to turn part of BaBsinto a mini greenhouse so I can start germinating seeds in January, and I need to figure out which kinds of flowers will be the best bang for my buck.
It’s a whirlwind couple of days, and I’m happy to take a break with the rest of the crew on Christmas Eve. Christmas itself is one of the few holidays we don’t usually spend together. Gemma heads home to Virginia for the Kwon family celebration. Harley and her parents usually travel out of town the week between Christmas and New Year’s. And Nick’s presence is required at his grandmother’s under threat of losing his trust fund.
For me, Christmas means Chinese food and vintage Real Housewives, and luckily when I present this plan to Jack, he wholeheartedly signs off.
We arrive home at the brownstone late on Christmas Eve, after spending the evening at Gem and Harley’s place, stuffing our faces with Italian food and drinking a fair amount of wine. The cold night air sobered us both up quite a bit during our walk home, and as soon as the front door closes behind me, Jack has me pressed up against it, his mouth covering mine. No two of Jack’s kisses are ever the same, and this one is devouring.
“Merry Christmas,” he says when he finally pulls away.
I have to catch my breath before I can respond. “Merry Christmas.”
He gives me a wicked grin. “Should we do presents now?”
“Um, yes. Obviously.” I agonized over what to get Jack because hello, what does one buy for the nerd who has everything? But I found the perfect gift when I was pillaging a nearby antiques shop, and I’m desperately excited to see his reaction. Also slightly terrified. “I needyou to open yours first, though.” As cool as my gift to Jack is, I’m 99 percent sure he’s going to upstage me.
