“Ten years ago, you had braces and made Christian and me watch and score your dances with what was her name… Delsey, that’s right.” I smiled at the memory. “Which was totally normal for a fourteen-year-old. Asking me for beer was not.”
“What’s the point of having an older sibling if they don’t sneak you the good stuff? Delsey and I got into some trouble after Christian and you went to college.” She released a small chuckle, almost like a sigh. “It’s strange and cool that we have so many memories together.”
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat, her words feeling heavier than face value. “So, about Garrett. Can we ice him out of the group?”
“Nah. He’s generally harmless. Plus he’s gonna meet someone one day, and they are gonna kick his ass. I need to stick around until I see that happen.” Charlotte stretched her legs out and groaned. “If we don’t do something, I’m going to fall asleep. Should I go grab my laptop so we can work on the wedding playlist for our DJ debut?”
“Great idea. I can keep an eye out.”
“I feel like you’d be better at trying to stop a stripper than me? She’d be nicer to you. Just smile at her and be kind about it.” Charlotte stood, and I tried, and failed, not to stare at her glutes and the way her jeans hugged her thighs. They were made for her strong body, and her thighs were a foot from my face. “Be right back.”
“I’ll be here.”
I used the few minutes of alone time to text my mom. She was a night owl and confirmed that Gwen went down without a fight. My baby girl’s latest thing was to stay up until ten, asking no less than one hundred questions a night.
Can I have a pool party?
Can I have a bubble machine?
Does Santa poop?
Endless questions. I needed to start writing them down and creating a book to embarrass her when she got older. A buddy of mine suggested starting an email to write a message to send to her once she’s a teenager. Is that when kids needed emails nowadays? I didn’t know. I did know I wasn’t going to let her create a dumbass email address like I did.
That shit followed me around for years.
The elevator pinged, and I bolted up, my pulse racing as I prepared to say something. Stopping a stripper in an effort to save a wedding wasn’t something I had ever done before.This was new territory. Should I say please and thank you? Fuck. I scrubbed a hand over my face as soft laughter hit me.
Charlotte had returned.
“I take back what I said. You shouldn’t be the one to stop her.” She grinned like we shared an inside joke. “You look torn between constipation and murder.”
“I do not,” I replied hotly. “You’re teasing me.”
“No.” Her grin grew as she ran a finger over my forehead. “Your face is so damn serious. There’s a reason you’re a good coach that has something to do with your character and all that, blah blah, but you also look scary as hell.”
“I’m not scary.”
“Hop, you have a very intimidating stance and face when you don’t smile. Either wear the glasses because you look good”—her voice dropped lower—“or smile.” She held up her laptop and cringed. “We can see if there are already solid playlists to steal and edit?”
“I like your thinking.”
She sat back down next to me, crisscrossing her legs so her knee touched my thigh. She logged in, and I admired the stickers all over her device. It was such a Char move to have stickers ofSchitt’s Creek,The Office, andAbbott Elementary. She also had aWhat We Do in the Shadowssticker right in the center. I had zero clue what that even was, and I had the urge to ask her a thousand questions. I wanted to learn about this version of Charlotte.
Once she fired up Spotify, she pulled a hair tie off her wrist and put her hair up. There was nothing inherently sexy about the gesture, but a few curls escaped, and her bareneck was exposed. She would always be sexy to me. End of story.
“Okay, I found a playlist called Christmas Wedding Reception. It has the classics. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with ‘Cheek to Cheek’ and ‘O Tannenbaum.’ But I don’t… These are perfect for background music.”
“Hm. Christian and Penny don’t strike me asbackgroundpeople.” Christian self-described as a maniac and an epic dancer. The one year I went clubbing with him, he would be on the floor for hours. “As much as I wish we could copy another one, they will want people on the dance floor.”
“I agree with you. We need some ‘Last Christmas’ and ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You.’ Hell, Christian learned dances from NSYNC when they were big. He’d never admit it, but he’d blast NSYNC’s ‘Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays’ without shame.” She hummed and snapped her fingers. “We need a DJ name. It’d help inspire me. Rowdy Rudolph? Simpin’ Santas? DJ Mistletoe?”
“Mistletoe Mixmaster,” I said, quite proud of myself. “That can also be the title of the playlist. Titles matter.”
“Oh, I love it.” She smiled as she started a new playlist and typed in our title. “I’m gonna email the link to you so you can add to it too. Okay, best Christmas dancing songs?” she said.
I typed the question into Google. “Here’s a starting point.”
