“That was your surprise gift. Although, I didn’t know you’d get here so soon,” I grumble.
He chuckled. “Yeah they had a deployment team meeting at the station outside Chicago, and they gave me a ride here.”
“How did you get inside?”
“You hide the key in the same spot you did when we lived at home.”
My mouth falls open at how insanely dangerous that is. This isn’t fucking Mayberry. This is the Chicago Suburbs where anything can happen easily. “Damn, baby. You need to be a little more careful.”
“He’s right. Thank you for giving me a chance to see my sister.”
“No problem. Now that you guys are together, I’ll give you some time alone. I’m going to go pop by my sister’s house across the street. I’m sure she’s awake now and probably wondering where I’m at. Have fun.”
“Do you want to invite her over and have some breakfast?”
“I’m sure she’d love that. I’ll have her bring some stuff over, okay?”
“That sounds great.”
“Say an hour.”
“That’s good.” I put on my coat and scarf and walk across the street to my sister’s and ring the bell.
She opens the door with a giddy smile on her face. “Merry Christmas,” I shout, and her eyes widen.
“Whoa—who are you, and what have you done with my brother?”
“Shut up and give me a hug.”
“I’ll take it.” She throws her arms around me and hugs me.
“Come on, I got some coffee brewing. So what’s going on? Do you want to invite her over for breakfast or what?”
“She just asked the same thing. Her brother is here from the military and is visiting, so I said that we would go over there.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful. Should I bring some of this?”
“Wow that smells incredible,” I say, taking in a massive whiff of the air. She holds out a tray of freshly baked muffins.
“I don’t know why I do that stuff. You know I have nobody to cook for.”
“Well, you know I’m going to eat it. I’m starving.” My phone buzzes with a text.
Caroline:Hey, I know I said an hour, but my brother is kind of really hungry.
I call her back right away. “I was just about to message you. My sister already has muffins ready.”
“We can pop over there if you want,” she says.
“Sounds good, beautiful. Come on over.”
No more than two minutes later, I see them come out of the house bundled up. Oh my God, does she look gorgeous. Her brother hustles over in his fatigues with a jacket on. They didn’t give him a proper coat, so I rush to open the door and my sister’s mouth falls open. Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks those damn Cole’s kids are gorgeous. “So, Adrian, this is my sister, Chloe.”
“Wow, I feel like I’m watching a staring contest,” Caroline says. Neither of them blink for what feels like a minute.
“Okay, if you guys are not going to eat these, I will.” I try to snatch the first muffin, but my sister slaps my hand.
“Don’t you dare.” She says with such sweetness while keeping her eyes focused on Adrian. “Let our company have some first. Here you go, soldier.”
