“Are you planning to be a journalist?” Lavi asked.
“No.” I took a sip of the latte, which was just as good as the one at Ackerson’s, and swatted at Leo’s wrist as I caught him trying to steal my food again. “I’m an English major. I want to write novels, actually. Mostly romance. I think I get the creative writing bug from my dad.”
“Is your dad a writer too?” Sutton asked.
“Yep, he’s written three romance novels. The third one comes out soon, I think. I stopped reading after the first one.” I shuddered.
“That bad?” Sloane laughed.
“Do you have a desire to read about your parents’ sex life?” I asked, between bites of food.
Sloane gagged. “Gross. No. Can you imagine?” she asked, looking at Adrian.
“I wouldn’t make it through the first on-page kiss,” Adrian said. “Better yet, I’d just never open it.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, I was sixteen and made mistakes. My parents have never been together, so his first book was about him and my stepmom, and the second one is about my mom and stepdad. Now he’s wrapping up the one about my aunt and uncle.”
“Wow. No wonder you were unphased by the sex talk,” Lavi said. “You’ve already been thoroughly traumatized.”
I shrugged. “They’re all super in love. It’s kind of great to be surrounded by people who love each other as much as they do because it makes me know exactly what I’m looking for someday.” I looked at my latte and tried to hide the sadness washing over me. I was pretty sure I’d found what I was looking for, and I’d just found it at the wrong time, in the wrong place. I tried to shake it off. “Anyway, what is Christmas like here?”
“We eat a lot,” Adrian said. “We’ll do snacks tonight and then a big dinner tomorrow to celebrate both Christmas and the last day of Hannukah. You will not be hungry.”
“Sounds great. And Leo said it’s just you two, right? No younger kids?” I asked, looking at Jace and Leo.
“Yep,” Jace said.
“That’s probably what I’ll miss the most. I’m used to the excited screams of kids on Christmas morning,” I said thinking of the twins. There would probably only be another year or two when my brothers acted like kids on Christmas before they turned into preteens who were too cool for toys.
“Hey, if you want to hear excitement, I can work up my best delighted screams for you,” Leo said. “You in, man?”
Jace took a sip of beer and smirked. “Hell, yeah. Been looking for an excuse to squeal about the new Tom Ford sweater your mom’s getting me.”
“Keep predicting your gifts and I’m going to change it up one year,” Sutton said with a stern glare. Leo had told me that his mother’s one single vice in life was designer fashion. I was pretty sure most of Leo’s clothes were Tom Ford and other designers that I’d never seen anyone wear before.
Jace put his hands up in surrender. “I’ll knock it off. Please never stop buying them for me. I can’t bring myself to buy them, but I need them.”
“Look at you, you rich little street rat,” Sloane said, shoving his shoulder.
“Sophia, what’s Christmas like with your family?” Sutton asked.
In a lot of ways, it’s exactly like this.
A grin spread across my face as I thought about our traditions. “It’s amazing,” I said wistfully, avoiding Leo’s eyes. “My whole family is really close, so we’re basically one huge family. I have a little sister on my mom’s side who is fifteen, and twin brothers on my dad’s side who are nine.”
I twirled the straw in my iced coffee and looked down, picturing my typical Christmas experience and avoiding looking at the one person who made me question everything about wanting to be home with my family. I may not be with them, but I was withhim, and that felt amazing for a different reason.
I continued, “My aunt and uncle don’t have kids, but they’re part of everything too. On Christmas Eve, my stepdad makes a big Hawaiian feast at my dad’s house, and we all sleep over there. Even the adults. Everyone goes way overboard with presents because the adults buy foreach other all year long. My stepmom makes eggnog lattes, and we spend all of Christmas Day eating leftovers and opening presents.”
“That sounds really wonderful.” Sutton smiled at me.
“It’s one of my favorite things. I hate missing it. I’ll see them all plenty when I get home for the rest of break, but it won’t be the same.”
Leo put a hand on my shoulder, giving me his mock-serious face. “I will make you an eggnog latte—even though it sounds disgusting. You will never be uncaffeinated on my watch, Hawaii.”
I snorted, instantly pulled from my memories and focusing on the here and now and his beautiful blue-gray eyes. “Thanks, but you won’t beat Kennedy’s. You’re starting with the wrong coffee.”
Adrian groaned. “Are you also a Starbucks coffee snob?”
