“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I called.
“You give me anymore sass, young lady, and you’ll have to open your stocking last!”
I was reluctantly grinning as I went to help my mother. Being able to hang out with her was one of the cool things about being back here. Sure, she snored, and sure, she was a bit flighty…but so was I. We were actually a lot alike?—
Wait, I didn’t snore, did I?
You don’t honestly think Ethan would pass up a chance to criticize you, if you did?
Right.
It was amazing what a few months of post-breakup therapy could help me realize about myself.
Christmas afternoon was wonderfully chaotic andfun. We’d drawn numbers for a gift exchange, and luckily I’d landed Sami, since I knew her better than I knew Tarkhan or Abydos. Since I knew she valued the professional image she projected around Eastshore, I’d purchased her a gift basket of fancy organic hair products from my salon in L.A., and she was appropriately excited to try them all out.
Abydos gave me a subscription to the cheese-of-the-month club.
“You’ll have to tell me your address, once you decide upon it,” he said with a carefully neutral expression, and I wondered what he knew about my struggle to decide on my future. “We can have it delivered to my house until then.”
I thanked him, but wondered—based on the way his eyes sparkled with amusement—if maybehewas just interested in having a monthly cheese delivery.
Dinner was just as delicious as I’d been dreaming. The salmon was perfectly tender, Mom’s twice-baked potatoes were better than I’d remembered, and all the sides were incredible. We sat around the table joking and telling stories as the sun sank lower in the western sky.
“Okay!” Riven called out over the laughter. “Most expensive gift! Go!” She pointed a finger at Sami, who immediately replied.
“A horse!” When the rest of us burst into incredulous laughter or questions, she nodded enthusiastically. “Ahorse. My father bought it for like my fifteenth birthday, maybe? What wasIgoing to do with a horse?”
I’d only had the one glass of wine, so I couldn’t blame the pinot for how hard I was laughing right now. “Don’t all little girls go through a horsey stage? I remember begging my mother for one.”
“Yes, when we’reseven,” Sami chortled. “By fifteen, I was grossed out by the thought of taking riding lessons. All I wanted was a pair of Prada slingbacks!”
Mom leaned forward. “You were eight, Brooke, when you made an impassioned argument for why we should get a horse—you had an interpretive dance entitledHow Horses Bring Meaning To Our Lives, and a little diorama of your bedroom, and a food pyramid of all the vegetables you would sacrifice to feed it.”
“Wait, wait!” Tarkhan was struggling to form words. Or perhaps draw breath. “Yourbedroom? The horse was going to live with you?”
“And eat my Brussels sprouts, apparently!”
Abydos’s low rumble broke through the laughter when he lifted his glass for attention. “Worst gift?” He glanced at Riven.
She winced. “I got my cancer diagnosis three days before my birthday.”
“Oh shit,” I whispered, stomach clenched. “I remember that.”
“Way to bring down the mood, man,” Tarkhan teased. “My worst gift was that—what was it you gave me, Abby?”
“Don’t call me that,” the scarred male intoned. “And I’ve never given you a gift.”
Tarkhan snapped, as if just remembering. “That’sright, you haven’t.” He grinned at his best friend. “Merry Christmas anyhow, you jerk.”
“Merry Christmas.” Abydos lifted his wineglass and deadpanned, “I value our relationship and your contributions to my life.”
The other male pretended to sniff and wipe his eyes as he threw his arm around Sami’s chair. “That’s the nicest gift anyone’s ever given me.”
Mom lifted her finger to draw attention. “Okay, I have a contender.” She glanced back and forth between me and Riven. “Our first Christmas together, when I was hugely pregnant with Brooke, your father gave me a mop and bucket set.”
As Tarkhan burst into incredulous laughter, Sami, Riven, and I gasped in outrage. “He expected you tomop?” Sami sputtered.
Mom just shrugged, a small grin on her face as she settled back into her chair. “I think the idiot was just clueless about what to get me. Frankly, I’m impressed I stayed with him for so long.”
