Her eyes sparkled as the rest of us about died laughing.
Dash’s glee when he opened his couldn’t be contained. “Fuck, yeah! That’s what I’m talking about.” He held up his socks that read: “Actual superhero.”
“Language, Dash,” Mom reminded him with a look from beneath her brows.
He winked at her and held his socks up higher.
When I opened mine, I wanted to put them on right away and aim them at my brothers. The socks were covered in pizza slices graphics and across the soles read: “If you can read this, bring me some pizza.”
“These are awesome.”
It seemed only minutes had passed as we reduced the mound of presents beneath the tree to a mess of wrappings, ribbons, and boxes in the middle of the living-room floor. Dad headed to the kitchen to mix up a batch of hot toddies, an addition to our tradition after Ryan started college, and Mom started cleaning up. She’d only managed to pick up a handful of ribbons before the three of us brothers jumped up and went to work.
For as long as I could remember, Dad had drilled it into us that we were a team. As a team, we all pitched in to help, leaving no one person to do the household chores. He bristled at the idea of “pink jobs” and demanded my brothers and I help with cooking, cleaning, and laundry from the time we were able. After hearing some of my friends describe the domestic battles between their parents about helping around the house and watching how my parents seemed to have a pretty hot fire going even after being married for almost thirty years, I kind of figured out Dad might be onto something.
“Gonna save my toddy for later, Dad, if that’s okay,” Dash called out from the mudroom after he came inside from dropping the garbage in the container by the curb.
Dad glanced up from where he was dipping drinks from the mixing bowl into tumblers. “Why’s that?”
Dash’s shoulders hunched up as he shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “I promised Kara I’d meet her after we opened presents.”
A grin ghosted over Dad’s features. “You did, did you? Huh.” He handed me a tumbler of foamy sweetness that experience had taught me held a more-than-generous shot of whiskey in the bottom.
I smacked my lips in anticipation as I watched my brother squirm.
“You moved all the way out to Seattle so you could fall for a local girl. Go figure.” Dad dipped out another toddy. “This is for your mom.”
I wanted to wait around to find out more about this mysterious relationship my brother apparently had with a girl he’d never paid attention to since her family had moved in next door fifteen years ago. But Dad nudged me with Mom’s drink—a not-so-subtle hint I needed to make myself scarce right as things were getting good.
“What’s going on with Dash and Kara?” I asked as I handed Mom her toddy.
“Thank you, sweetie.” She sipped her drink, licked her lips, and grinned. “Your dad’s a toddy wizard, isn’t he?”
“Mom.” I dragged that syllable out for half a minute.
“Your brother hasn’t said anything to you?”
“Um, no. We usually talk about his latest game designs and football.”
A little grin kicked up the corner of her mouth as she sipped from her drink. “It seems your brother ran into Kara Stone at a party last summer. He didn’t know she’d relocated to Seattle. They started reminiscing about growing up here, one thing led to another, and I think Dash wants to pop the question while they’re both home.”
Thefuck?
“Wyatt! Language.”
Oops. Guess I said that out loud.
“What’s the hurry? They’re only twenty-five.” I mean, Dash was only two-and-a-half years older than me, and I sure as hell couldn’t imagine being married.
A picture of a violet-eyed, purple-haired hottie who rocked my world in the sack like no other woman ever had flashed through my head, the timing weirder than shit.
“That’s how old Dad and I were when we married.” Her eyes sparkled over the rim of her glass.
“So you’re good with this?”
“Kara’s carried a torch for your brother since the Stones moved in next door. Dash was slow to catch on.” She set her glass on the table beside the couch. “Once he did catch on, though, it was a done deal. All we’ve heard since last summer is ‘Kara and I did this’ and ‘Kara and I are doing that.’ It’s adorable.”
All my life, I’d looked up to my older brother, but the idea of Dash getting married? It was going to take some work to wrap my head around it.
