Ava darted out of the room before Kinley could press the matter further. She would think about her former best friend later. There simply wasn’t time—or energy—to deal with it before Christmas. She quickly gathered the remaining clutter and stuffed it away, hiding away in her own bedroom for a few minutes.
While she changed into her Christmas sweater, Elsie nosed at the door and nudged her way inside.
“Hey, girl.” Ava knelt and hugged the golden. Her grip was a little too tight, if Elsie’s squirming was any indication, but Ava needed it. Elsie licked her cheek in apparent understanding. “If you weren’t so perfect, I’d adopt a dog myself. But you’re irreplaceable.”
Gentle rapping drew her gaze to the ajar door. “I come bearing coffee.”
Ava’s stomach fluttered instantly at the sight of Brayden and those kind, sparkling eyes. She was so enamored by his smile and the chiseled cut of his jaw covered with a freshly trimmed beard that it took her several embarrassingly long seconds to notice the sweater.
“Holy jingle bells.” Ava popped to her feet and rounded the bed to get a better look at the green and red atrocity covered in cats, Christmas trees, and yarn. Yarn she could pull away with her fingertips. “This is . . . amazing. Has Mom seen it yet?”
“Not yet.”
Ava dropped her fingers from the yarn and accepted the coffee. She stole a glance at his lips in passing, the urge to revisit that mistletoe oddly overwhelming. The two days apart felt like two weeks. Maybe two months. It didn’t make any sense. She and Brayden were friends, neighbors. He might leave.For good.
“Better get out there,” Brayden said. “I think everyone’s here.”
Closing the bedroom door behind her, Ava felt her stress dissipate. Seemed every time Brayden was near, she felt a little calmer. Like the world wasn’t so heavy on her shoulders. It made her sad to think he might move to Texas to take over his mom’s company.
“Ava,” Mom called before she could emerge from the hallway. “Chase needs your Wi-Fi password! We need to get Skype up and going before Trey’s bedtime.”
The living and dining rooms were filled—Mom, Chase, Kinley, Ryder, Brayden, Elsie, and even Pamela, in Mom’s Christmas sweater from last year. Her heart felt full, despite the chaos and roar of voices. Mom kept hurrying to the kitchen, then stopping only feet away because she remembered something else.
It was oddly wonderful. A reminder that her house was usually too empty. Too quiet.
“I’m glad you forced me to get that tree,” Ava said to Brayden, bumping him with her shoulder. His cologne, some mix of sandalwood, sawdust, and peppermint if she wasn’t mistaken, intoxicated Ava. Made her want to curl up in his arms on the couch.
“Sometimes you just have to trust.”
“Hello?” Mom hollered into the computer screen.
“Grandma!” Trey’s young voice exclaimed, making the entire room smile. He filled the screen with his face. Frosting smeared his lips and one cheek. Ava doubted that kid was heading to bed anytime soon.
“You get to visit often?” Brayden asked Ava from their spot in the back of the room.
“I’ve only met Trey twice. Once when he was first born, and once when Jamie came to Alaska the summer he was two. He’s a great kid.”
“I know you love that store, but you should make the time to see them. Easier for you to hand over the store to trusted employees for a few days than it is for your sister to travel with a little one.”
“About to betwolittle ones.”
“Do you want kids?” Brayden asked.
The question caught Ava off-guard. Not that she hadn’t thought about having a family of her own—of course she wanted that—but that Brayden was the one asking. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to forget this whole relationship was fake. “I—”
“Quiet everyone!” Mom announced. “It’s time to get started. Grab some cookies, find a seat, and I’ll explain how it all works in just a minute.”
Brayden ushered Ava to the couch, his hand warm on the small of her back. They sat smooshed together so Kinley and Ryder fit on the other end. But she didn’t mind being this close to Brayden. She enjoyed his warmth, and leaned into him when he put his arm around her. “This really is a ridiculous sweater,” she said, playing again with a loose strand of yarn. “Where did you find it?”
“I took a slight detour when I made that coffee table delivery the other day.”
“I thought that was in Girdwood.”
“It was.”
Mom hushed the crowd once again, leaving Ava to speculate. Had Brayden driven the extra thirty miles to Anchorage to find the perfect Christmas sweater? She remembered the tip Chase gave him the other day, but never thought for a moment that Brayden would take it seriously.
“Here’s how this works,” Mom explained, handing around homemade cards and pencils. “Everyone gets a turn to strut their stuff and show off their sweater. The rest will rate the sweaters.” She went on to explain a simple points system and how they’d determine the winner. Ava stopped listening almost immediately, not only because she already knew the rules, but because she was much too distracted with Brayden sitting so close.
