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“We’re having our friends over on Christmas Eve, and you won’t be drinking any champagne. She’ll have us figured out in five minutes.”
“Alannah hasn’t figured it out yet.”
“Alannah has three kids and a husband distracting her.”
“It’s a big assumption,” Molly insisted.
“Justine’s very presumptuous.”
“I’ve seen her at work every day since we found out.”
“You’re right,” Aster agreed. “She probably already knows.”
Molly rolled her eyes, grinning stupidly as she battled Pawntès over the jingling bells he threw such a fit over wearing on his collar every Christmas, only to throw the same fit when she tried taking them off afterward.
As if summoned by the jingle of those festive bells, Jessa came running into the living room to remind Pawntès how much she adored him. A good sport, he hung limp from her arms as she scooped him up and toured him around his own home. The rest of her family trailed not far behind, including little baby Bree, blissfully asleep while bundled in Roy’s arms.
“Poor old cat,” Alannah said before gently redirecting some of Jessa’s enthusiasm. “The chocolate chess tarts aren’t nearly as good as I could have made,” she added. “But my optimism about time management this week with three kids was very misplaced.”
“You were told not to worry about bringing anything,” Molly reminded her.
Alannah raised her brows in challenge, a smile growing. They both knew that was never going to happen.
A moment later, the doorbell rang. Before anyone could approach to open it, Eli sauntered in with Bentley in tow, hand in hand and beaming.
“I see you made it almost a full year before copying our keys,” Molly said.
Eli lobbed her a mischievous smile, bending to greet Jessa and Pawntès. “Are you sure your husband didn’t just give me one?”
Molly tilted her head, shifting her gaze from Eli’s infuriating grin to Bentley’s neutral expression. “How guilty does Aster look right now?” She couldn’t see him from where he’d started filling champagne flutes at the bar cart behind her.
“Enough.”
“You can’t be mad at him. He’s helping me facilitate the best Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten,” Eli said.
“Is he now?”
Eli hummed an affirming sound, clearly far too pleased with himself. “I have a very large library at my house, as you know, and I’ve been wanting to do some renovations. As it turns out, most of the library has to go. Which means a lot of books have to go too. Which means I have two very big trucks filled to the brim and scheduled to deliver next week.”
“Two trucks?” Molly asked as Aster delivered champagne to their friends, sipping his own to disguise his obvious smirk.
“One for here,” Aster said.
“And one for the book drive you’ve been planning all quarter,” Eli finished.
Molly had to sink onto the nearby ottoman, hand pressed to her chest. She nearly broke into tears right there.
Justine arrived just then, also without knocking, and unabashed about it. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the configuration of people in the living room. Her gaze stuck on Molly the longest.
She shrugged off her coat, righted her bangs, and then asked, “Why aren’t you drinking, Graham?”
The next evening, after a full day involving Christmas breakfast, a quiet afternoon of gifts and lounging, and a nearly two-hour video call with Molly’s dad that covered everything and nothing at the same time, Molly sat at the kitchen table nibbling on a leftover chess tart. Fiddling with her phone, she engaged in something she found peaceful: list-making.
“What’s that?” Aster asked, kissing the crown of her head, fingers casually playing with her braid.
“Feeling a little nostalgic,” she said. “Grateful mostly—for what we have.”
Aster sat in the chair next to her. “We have a lot to be grateful for.”
