Page 47 of The Mistletoe Mix-up

“Hopefully, he makes an appearance sooner rather than later,” Elizabeth said, arching. “My back is killing me.”

Wren stared wistfully at her sister-in-law’s belly, wishing she could use that excuse for why her back hurts.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. It will happen soon enough.

She patted Lukas on the back and said, “Should we go inside and say hello to everybody?”

Wren carried Lukas inside with Elizabeth leading the way and Duke trailing behind. The first thing she saw was Luke, Pete, Garrett, and her father all sitting on the couch, watching football and stuffing their faces with various sandwiches and chips. The open room with the high ceiling was wall-to-wall cedar, with vinyl flooring nearly identical in color. Sports memorabilia hung on the wall between the windows, and a huge, curved TV took up nearly an entire wall. The kitchen island was covered in food, and the stairs that led up into the loft were blocked off with a baby gate to keep Lukas from climbing up and taking a tumble.

“Hey, who decided to start the party without us?” Wren called out, but none of the men turned her way.

Duke whined, and her dad finally looked over, holding his arms out. “There’s my dog.”

“My dog,” she grumbled before she released Duke. He rushed into her dad’s arms, the traitor. The two of them had fallen for each other the moment they met. Her dad hadn’t replaced his last canine companion, Ralph, because he said he was too old to own a dog. Wren knew that Robert missed having one, though.

“Alright, buddy, go to bed,” Robert said, pointing to the giant fluffy dog bed in the corner. Duke trotted over, picking up the stuffed duck her dad had bought him, and curled up in the middle.

“We started eating because you were late,” Pete said.

“I was not.” She pointed at Luke, who finally looked away from the TV long enough to acknowledge her existence. “You said noon.”

“But like Dad always says”—Garrett paused and lowered his voice, doing a near perfect imitation of their father—“Fifteen minutes is early, ten minutes is on time, and five minutes before, don’t even bother showing up.”

Robert Little reached out and smacked his middle child on the back of the head. “Smart-ass.”

Wren rolled her eyes. “How could I forget?”

Although Luke had the darkest hair among them, all the Littles had a similar, light coloring. Her father’s golden hair had turned nearly white, and he’d started shaving his mustache and goatee when Lukas told him that he looked like Santa Claus. Garrett was the only one with facial hair, and he had a reddish hue to his hair that Robert swore came from their mother’s side of the family. None of them was particularly tall, but if they all stood up, Pete would have several inches on all of them.

It was clear as she settled in across from them on the couch that her presence was required to round out the family aspect of “family lunch” but that her father and brothers were perfectly content watching their sports program and ignoring her and her sister-in-law. Elizabeth was in the kitchen with Lukas, washing his hands, and while she felt bad bailing on her, Wren wished she was anywhere but here.

“So, Wren,” Luke said, turning his attention her way with a mischievous grin on his face. “Been staying out of trouble since you got back to town?”

Resisting the urge to scowl at her oldest brother, Wren pasted a sugary sweet smile on her face. “Doing my best.”

“How about your love life?” This came from Pete, who was obviously looking for a little revenge after she’d stomped on his hookup last night. “Anyone special since you got back to town?”

“I’ve had a couple dates, but no one special.”

“Dates?” Pete asked, quirking his brow. “Is that what we’re calling them?”

Wren scratched her forehead with her middle finger, earning identical grins from two of her three brothers. Garrett glanced between the three of them and shrugged, returning his attention to the TV. He’d always been the one to stay out of their sibling squabbles and keep to himself.

Wren turned her attention back to Pete and grinned. “What about you, Pete? Did your friend get home okay last night after that rough fall?”

“If the three of you are gonna yip-yap, take it outside,” Robert snapped, directing his disapproving frown at his children.

While she settled back into the couch, zoning out on the program they were watching, her gaze flicked to the clock. Millie was going to text her in a few minutes, and if Wren sent back a banana emoji, Millie was going to call with a pretend emergency to get her out of there.

The show went to commercial, and Robert focused on her as he climbed to his feet with his empty paper plate in his hand. “You’re not gonna eat anything?”

“I will, but I probably won’t stay long. Millie needed my help this afternoon.”

Her father harrumphed and tossed his plate in the trash as he headed out of the room toward the bathroom.

Wren got up and smacked Pete and Luke on the shoulders, then planted her hands on her hips. “What did you two say?”

“Ow, nothing!” Pete protested.