“Now, I’m being serious, Holly,” Linda added. “Those first graders are lucky to have you. You’re a special girl.”
I felt Sam’s hard gaze on the side of my face while I sawed my perfectly cooked turkey into teeny, tiny pieces. It was a Nobel prize level of peace-keeping effort, but I did manage to bite back my candid “Take a picture, it will last longer.”
“You’re staying then?” Sam’s demanding question broke through the quiet buzz of conversation. “In town?”
I dropped my fork, surprised to have been addressed by a man that preferred the company of others. Could I ignore him this time too?
Teagan elbowed me in the ribs.
“Uh, yes.” There. I’d said words to him. Sure, I hadn’t looked at him or addressed him specifically or even said an intelligent sentence. But I had spoken.
Progress!
“She’s staying with me,” Teagan boasted as if her brothers would be devastated that I wasn’t going to move in with one of them. “And I got her a job at the school. I’m basically her wealthy benefactor.”
It was my turn to snort. “I’d like an allowance then, Sugar Mama.” She mimicked making it rain.
Linda had leaned forward to tell me congratulations a third time, and Tom murmured something about how good it was that I was finally here, but Sam’s next question muffled them both. “What are you going to do at the elementary?” It was another demand. Another barked order.
“I teach first grade,” I said to my stuffing. “Ms. Belcher had her baby a few days early, so I’m here to cover her maternity leave. Meet Mistletoe Elementary’s newest long-term sub.”
“You’re back then? For good?” Everyone seemed to pause with food halfway to their mouth as Sam’s severe question rang through the room.
Enough was enough. I couldn’t cower from the idiot forever. I lifted my gaze, along with my chin, and met those intense green eyes from across the table. “Yes. I’m back.”
He held my stare, a muscle in his jaw ticking. The Meyer’s family faded away. The Thanksgiving feast disappeared. It was him. And me. And this tight rod of tension that had always existed.
Something flashed across his face. An emotion? A thought? “What does Hudson think of that?”
How did he know Hudson’s name? I wanted to glare at Teagan, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from Sam. “I don’t care what Hudson thinks of that.”
“You broke up?”
I resented him a little more for bringing up my ex. I’d come crawling home with my tail between my legs, and Sam wanted to drag my shit through the mud here? Now? At Thanksgiving?
My jaw hurt from how tightly I had my teeth clenched. “Yes. We broke up.”
“Let’s go around the table and say what we’re thankful for!” Linda announced happily, breaking the spell that had transported Sam and I elsewhere for just a moment.
A ghost of a smile passed over Sam’s mouth, but he quickly took a bite of his meal, effectively hiding it while he waited his turn.
Meanwhile, I was left to wonder if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life returning to Mistletoe.
CHAPTER 3
Ex Games Gold Medal
The Thanksgiving festivities wrapped up the way they always wrapped up at the Meyer’s house—with an ultra-competitive game of basketball in the driveway. Sure, we were stuffed to the gills with turkey and pie, and could barely move, but it was tradition.
And it was non-negotiable.
“You told me it was only going to be your brothers,” I hissed at Teagan as we cleared the table.
She glanced back at the three boys who were her blood relatives and the one exception who was most certainly not an actual Meyer. She shrugged, and my heart made the same movement. “It is just my brothers.”
“And Sam?”
She busied herself with carefully rinsing the fragile plates. “Sam might as well be. You know he’s always here.”
