I pad barefoot across the tiles and open the door.
Jade is standing there. Wind in her hair. Red scarf knotted at her throat. And beside her—Aunt Susan, carrying a tray of something wrapped in foil.
“What…” I step back, blinking.
“Merry Christmas,” Jade says, grinning, cheeks pink from the cold.
“You—what is this?”
“I told you I missed talking to you,” she says, eyes shining. “And I figured… if I was going to spend Christmas with someone, I wanted it to be someone who made me feel like home.”
A lump rises in my throat, unexpected and brutal.
“But the staff’s gone,” I say stupidly. “There’s no food. No decorations upstairs. No plans.”
Susan shrugs. “We brought pie.”
“And matching pajamas,” Jade adds, holding up a ridiculous red-and-green set with a candy cane print.
I laugh—an actual, real laugh. I haven’t done that in weeks. “You’re insane.”
She smirks. “Maybe. Or maybe I just realized that I’m done letting other people decide how I spend my holidays.”
I grab her hand and pull her into the house, ignoring the blast of cold air that follows. Aunt Susan follows with the pie and a wink.
“We get the good wine?” she teases.
“Of course,” I say, breathless.
Jade looks up at me. “I didn’t come to fix everything… or to start again. But to just spend time with someone I miss. Someone who meant so much to me. I wanted to show you Christmas can be more than fancy things. ”
I cup her cheek, my thumb brushing a snowflake from her skin. “You already did.”
Outside, the wind keeps howling. But inside, for the first time in a long time, it’s warm.
And I’m still reeling from the sight of Jade in my doorway when I hear the sharp click of heels behind me. I turn just in time to see my mother sweep into the foyer like she owns the night.
“Merry Christmas, darling,” she says with a gleam in her eye. “Surprised?”
She’s wearing Chanel—what else? Head-to-toe winter white, pearls at her throat, not a hair out of place. Classic. Untouchable. A queen surveying her court.
“Mom, what the hell—I thought you left?”
“Language,” she says crisply, breezing past me to kiss Jade’s cheek like they’re old friends. “I assume you’re both staying?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Aunt Susan says, suddenly appearing with a pie in one hand and a knowing smile.
“Good,” my mother says. “The caterer is setting up in the dining room, and the quartet should be arriving any minute.”
Wait.Quartet?
I glance past her and blink as cousins, uncles, and -knows-who file through the front door with wrapped gifts and wine bottles.What is happening?
“You planned this?” I ask.
She turns to me with an arch of a perfectly manicured brow. “Don’t act so shocked, Leo. I may be cold, but I’m not heartless. You’ve been moping around this house like a ghost. I decided it was time to do something meaningful. And before you ask—yes, I apologized to Miss Bryan. And no, I don’t want to talk about it again.”
Jade just shrugs, looking amused. “She actually did. Said I was 'the right kind of trouble.’”
