Chapter Twenty-One
By the time he was sitting down at the dinner table, Grant was ready to call today his best Christmas ever. He was surrounded by people he loved on all sides, he’d pulled off the impossible with the help of one of the most wonderful people he’d ever known, and everyone seemed happy.
All he had to do to make it perfect was pluck up the courage to actually tell Sunny how he felt. He’d gotten close before he’d been interrupted. He could do it again.
“Am I carving?” Joon asked, looking between Grant and Julia.
Grant shrugged. “Go for it, I’m happy sitting down.”
He was in the habit of letting Joon do things like this, partially because he was objectively better at it, and partially because he’d always liked watching Joon roll up his sleeves.
Grant was willing to admit that he’d been a very lonely man up until recently, and he’d taken whatever he could get.
This year, he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking glances at Sunny. Everything between them was so new and fragile, and right now Grant wasn’t sure of anything, but…
He knew what he wanted.
He didn’t know, exactly, how to go about making sure he got to keep it, but he thought he and Sunny were at least working from the same book, if they weren’t on the same page.
And he could wait. He’d waited his entire life for someone like Sunny.
“Okay, this is killing me,” Julia said. “I have to tell him.”
Grant looked over at her. “Tell me what?”
“We’ve got good news and great news,” Joon responded, a tiny, painfully fond smile turning up the corner of his lip.
He was still very pretty.
Grant was just in love with Sunny, so he didn’t care so much anymore.
“Wow.” Grant looked between the two of them. “So we’re waiting to tell me because…?”
“We wanted you to be sitting down,” Julia said. “First of all, we’re all moving to New York.”
Grant’s head spun, blood rushing in his ears.
It was probably a good thing that he was sitting down.
How many times had he wished this would happen? How many times had he told Julia about all the great schools and cute apartments, all the opportunities Hope could have, all the places he wanted to have time to take her to see?
He looked over at Hope, who was already grinning at him, and his heart melted.
He was getting his family back.
Tears sprung up in his eyes, forcing him to dab at them with the back of his wrist. He sniffed, clearing his throat in an attempt to force himself back under control.
He was okay with bursting into tears at the dinner table, but he wanted to hear the other news first.
“Is that the good, or the great? Because I’m not sure how you’re gonna top that.”
Julia smiled kindly at him, reaching across the table to take his hand. “There’s better.”
She glanced over at Joon, her smile growing, taking up all of her face. By the time she looked back at Grant, she was glowing.
Oh.
Oh.
