Page 148 of To All the Guys I Killed Before

The instant I put the car in park on Felicity’s driveway, Quinn bursts from the back seat, her leather duster swirling at her ankles.

She reaches the back steps as Fi steps onto the porch to greet us.

“Hi, guys! How was⁠—”

“Disgusting,” Quinn says as she stomps past her into the house. The red-and-green jingle bell wreath tinkles merrily in the wake of her door slam.

Hugo unfolds himself from the passenger seat and exits the car, Cosmo trotting alongside him with a happy grin. I’m a little slower, making sure my keys and phone are all in my bag before turning off the engine and unbuckling my seatbelt. Some might say I’m stalling because I haven’t seen my sister in person since I stormed out to kill Overton a week ago. They… might not be wrong. But by the time I’ve swung my legs to the ground so I can step out on both feet, my two people are in a face-off.

“Hey, you two,” I call. “Play nice.”

Fi advances on Hugo, and I hurry forward to intervene, although I’m not sure if it’s to protect my untrained sister from my lethal boyfriend or my sweet boyfriend from my overprotective sister.

It’s neither, as it turns out. Felicity gets right up in his face, then breaks into a huge smile and flings her arms around him. “Thank you for saving her,” she says as she squeezes him tight.

Hugo awkwardly pats her shoulder, but he’s smiling as he does it. “I had no choice. She’s my whole world. But she pretty much saved herself.”

My two people. Hugging.

Dammit, I never used to be a happy crier.

“I did, you know,” I say as I walk over to them, my left ankle barely causing me any pain. “All it took was throwing myself out a window.”

Fi grabs me and shouts, “Never! Ever! Again!” directly into my ear.

“Never ever,” I say, wincing at the volume. “We always have each other’s backs, and we always make plans together. I promise.” She hugs me tight, and my eyes find Hugo’s over her shoulder so I can mouth the words, You too. His eyes crinkle at the corners, then he gives a serious nod and mouths, I promise.

Fi, who’s also happy crying, huffs and flaps her fingers at Hugo. “Quit communicating behind my back and get in here.”

His face lights up at the invitation, and he walks over to wrap his arms around us both, rocking us gently back and forth. He’s a good hugger for someone who went without his whole life.

“Oh my god.” Quinn pops her head out of the back door. “It wasn’t enough to spend an hour in the car with these two idiots saying they love each other every two minutes? Now there are group hugs?”

“You can get in on this,” Hugo offers, but Quinn just scoffs.

“I’ll start rearranging the kitchen if this meeting doesn’t start in the next five minutes.” Threat delivered, she stomps back inside.

Hugo gestures after her. “Felicity Mercer, meet Quinn Brady.”

“Is she serious about the kitchen?” Fi asks.

“As a heart attack.” Hugo grimaces. “And I mean that literally. She’s also Pell’s chemist.”

Fi’s mouth drops open, and she looks at me for confirmation. “It’s true,” I say.

“In that case, she can definitely rearrange my kitchen,” she says, turning and taking the steps two at a time.

Four minutes later, Hugo and I join Felicity at her big kitchen table while Cosmo snoozes in the corner on one of the cushions from her plaid couch and Quinn mutters darkly as she flips through a battered pile of baking sheets on the counter.

“How do you get even heat distribution?” She holds up a particularly warped one.

“I don’t!” Fi chirps.

As she does every year, my sister decorated for the holidays with maximalist glee, and Quinn’s pulling out the contents of every drawer and cabinet under an explosion of garland, twinkle lights, bows, and dangling ornaments strung from hooks placed near the ceiling for just this purpose. I catch Hugo eyeing the abundance with wonder, and I whisper, “The rest of the house is even more over the top.”

“Excellent,” he whispers back. “I’m taking mental notes for our place.”

“Our place.” I smile at him.