While the men mostly wear sports jackets, polo shirts, and slacks, the ladies wear pretty cocktail dresses. I love the ones with sequins on them because they shimmer.
We stay like this until our dad catches us. His voice is firm but gentle: “Back to bed, you two.” He leans close to us and whispers, “You can stay up and play video games in the loft if you don’t tell Mom.” He winks and watches as we go back upstairs.
Ethan and I sit on the couch in the loft, playing video games and singing along to the holiday music drifting up fromthe party.
***
Present Day
“I’m headed to the doors now. What are you driving?”
“It’s a blue Toyota 4Runner. I’m right out front; you can’t miss me. Fuck, hurry up, I can’t wait any longer.”
A smile creeps across my face at Sam’s impatience. “Patience, my dear Watson. I’m nearly there.” I’m dragging my carry-on behind me and trying to navigate the slow walkers in front of me. I want to shout at them to move, but I maintain my cool. “Oh, I see your SUV! Oh my God, Sam. You drive the same SUV as your dad!”
“Yeah, well, it’s a good vehicle. Wait, why can’t I see you yet?”
As soon as the words leave his mouth, I finally spot him walking around the front of the SUV. I nearly drop my bag as I rush the rest of the way to him and wrap my arms around his neck.
He picks me up and twirls me around while placing a rough kiss on my cheek.
“I’ve missed you. Now get in the car so I can give you a proper welcome without all these people watching.” His words cause butterflies to form in my stomach.
Once my bag is in the car, Sam helps me into my seat, and takes off his jacket, he pulls away from the curb.
I keep fiddling with my hands when Sam takes one of them in his, brings it to his lips, and places a small kiss on my palm. “Why are you nervous?”
I avoid his gaze when I speak and look out the window. “Just, I don’t know, you and me, spending the entire weekend together.”Alone. I don’t say the last part.
“Nothing to be nervous about, Kitty Kat,” he says, kissing my palm again before lacing his fingers through mine and settling our interlocked hands on the center console. “I have some cool thingsplanned, but we can also skip all those things and spend the entire weekend watching Disney movies, if you want. I’m just glad you’re here.”
He gives me a shy smile.
I shift my focus to him and watch as he navigates the traffic. My gaze catches on the tattoos on his right arm, peeking out from under his light grey T-shirt.
“I’m dying to know what your tattoo is,” I blurt out. “The one on your right arm.”
He smiles over at me and lifts his sleeve to give me a full view of his tattoo. The bottom is a chain of daisies, and above the daisies—“Is that the Space Needle? And the Seattle skyline?”
He chuckles softly, “Yeah. It’s one of my favorite places. I got this a little after I broke things off with Claire. I guess I wanted a memory of happier times.” He shrugs.
Happier times. Seattle, with him, were some of my favorite times, too. “And the daisies?” I trace the flowers lightly with my fingertip—his bicep flexes as his body shivers. I quickly pull my hand away from his arm. “Sorry, my hands are cold from the airplane.”
He clears his throat. “The daisies were my mom’s favorite flower. I wanted something to remember her.”
I trace one of the flowers with my index finger again, holding myself back from dropping a kiss on each one. “I’m sorry, Sam. I can’t imagine how it’s been for you without her. I don’t remember much about her, just that I loved to hear her laugh.”
“It was a long time ago. But I miss her.” He shrugs and pulls down his shirt sleeve. “Are you hungry? I was thinking about taking you to one of my favorite restaurants.”
“That sounds great.” He laces his fingers through mine again as he drives. “You gonna tell me what version of Britney Spears you dressed as for Halloween, yet? Ididfly all this way.”
He smirks at me before responding, “Not a chance.”
Twelve Years Old
Ethan and Sam are so engrossed in playingMario Kartthat I know I have enough time to sneak into Ethan’s room and read his new comic books.
Ethan’s always been hesitant to let me touch his comic book collection because he “doesn’t want me to mess them up.”
