“Listen, you’re boney. Not my fault,” I tease.
That earns me another swat on the head, and I can’t stop laughing.
“I told you we have a ladder out back.”
“It’s snowing. I wasn’t going to make you go get that when you’re afirefighterand strong enough to hold me up.”
“Aly, I chopped down this tree in four inches of snow. I can sure as shit walk through a few flakes of it.”
Ayden moves to my other side, his hand sliding across my backas he does. I look down at him—chin tilted up, watching his twin place the final piece to complete the tree.
“It’s perfect,” he says, a bright, joyful grin spreading across his face.
I bend down to help Alysa off my shoulder. She sets her hands on her hips and smiles. “Perfect.”
“I think it’s a bit crooked.”
“Motherfucker, I just got down!”
“Kidding, Aly. Relax.”
As her feet rush away from us, I quickly wrap an arm around Ayden’s neck and pull him against my side.
“Great job, sunshine.”
“Thank you, baby.”
He’d been the one to get the tree prepped and ready. It needed trimming, and neither of us had considered the number of bugs that would come with dragging in a fresh tree.
That was fun.
But now, lit up in yellow, orange, and red, with ornaments perfectly aligned to the aesthetic, it’s all worth it. Alysa may disagree—she was bitten a few times—but everything has fallen into place.
I rest my head against his. “It’s perfect.”
He tightens his hold around my back and nods.
Alysa returns to my other side and wraps her arms around me, trying to grab onto her brother, even if it’s useless. Her arms are far too short.
“I’m going to say the sad shit tonight,” she murmurs, squeezing me tighter. “Then tomorrow, we’ll focus on the positive—all together, with Mom and Dad.”
I drag my hand up and down her arm.
“Grief fucking sucks. It’s persistent, and just when I think it’s done being a relentless asshole, it comes back. Leilani, you’d always say a star died when someone we loved left us, and that in time, others would come and help fill the hollow spot in the sky they left. But…” She pauses, taking a shaky breath. “It’s felt like a starless sky without you and Dad.”
She lifts her head to me, then to Ayden. “I see what she meant.Because until coming back here to be with you both, it’s truly felt like that.”
I release her as she tugs away and wraps her brother in a hug.
“It’s why I’ve decided to move back.”
“What?!” we both say simultaneously.
He pulls her away just to see the watery smile on her face. “What about Joshua?”
“He’s coming with me. Do you not want me back?”
“No, shut up. I do… but you aren’t actually going to move in here, into the cabin, are you?”
