Sizzling Hot Apple Cider

by Jaliza A. Burwell

  “Surprise!” Bryce said.

  I reached out and touched the tree. “Is this real?”

  “What else would it be?” Dayton asked.

  “Maybe a fake tree that can easily be folded up and shoved into a box?” I had planned on doing that this year. Usually, we did real trees, but reality was hitting hard, and keeping up with a live tree would be difficult. I’d kill it before twenty-four hours even passed.

  Was that even possible?

  Still feeling dumbstruck, I stepped back and held the door open as they maneuvered in.

  “What is that?” Lawson gaped.

  “A tree.” Lee looked way too excited.

  “It’s tradition in my family to decorate a tree after Thanksgiving dinner,” Dayton said.

  “I hope you’re okay with this?” Koen asked.

  “Wait, day of Thanksgiving? Not even day after, but on the very day?”

  “Yup.” Dayton chuckled. “Christmas is huge in my family, and because we have the orchard, they go all out every year. As soon as the festival ended, they began decorating the property. By the end of November, it’ll look like a fancy park. Couples like to stroll around by the time we’re done.”

  “Wow.” That was impressive. I’d have to sneak back up there to take a look.

  “Where do you want it?” Koen asked.

  I pointed to a corner in the living room by the window. Koen and Dayton maneuvered it over while Bryce carried a huge box.

  “We brought the basic decorations,” Bryce said. “Lights, ornaments, a star if you need one. We figured we can use this, and then you can add anything else you want.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered, gripping my shirt. My heart felt like it was going to jump out and give them all kisses. This was beyond thoughtful and all the tension that had been between us since the weekend disappeared.

  This was beyond anything I’d ever expected from them. I thought they’d come, eat my not so great food, and then run away when they realize they should never eat anything I cook.

  Then again, they were always going against my expectations. They were always doing more when they didn’t need to. They were teaching me what it truly meant to be treated like a human being, like someone deeply cared for.

  What the heck was I supposed to do with this information? They were spoiling me.

  And if they kept up with this kind of treatment, I was going to begin relying on them. That scared me.

  “Can we decorate now?” Lawson asked.

  “We’re supposed to do it after dinner,” I said.

  “Aw.” Lawson glanced toward my kitchen. More things should have been happening in it, but there was still nothing productive going on. “When is dinner?”

  Everyone looked at me.

  I looked out toward the window, pretending something nice was out there. “Um. Once food is done?” I finally answered.

  “When is food done?” Koen asked. He had that annoyingly knowing tone to his voice. He knew. He knew exactly what was going on, but he was going to drag it out of me.

  “When the turkey finishes cooking?”

  “Oh? Is it in the oven already?”

  I bit my lip and sniffed. “It’s marinating.”

  “Marinating?” Bryce asked, the skepticism clear in his voice. They moved toward the kitchen, not noticing anything when they first walked by to get to the living room.

  “Wait, no, stay out of the kitchen.” I pulled on Bryce’s arm to stop him, not that it did much. Darn, he was strong. “Isn’t that a law, to stay out of the kitchen so you’re not in the way?”

  “Yes, but that also means you would be in the kitchen doing something that we could get in the way of,” Koen answered, throwing logic back at me.

  “What is that?” Dayton asked.

  I bit back a groan.

  “Are those sunglasses?” Bryce asked.

  “You realize this isn’t cooking, right?” Koen finally spoke up, giving me his wise words. I didn’t want them. He could keep them. “The turkey needs to actually be in the oven to cook.”

  “I know that.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I rolled my eyes and went over to the oven, stabbing at the buttons to turn it on.”

  “Whoa, wait,” Koen said and came over. He used his hips to nudge me to the side, and ignoring my glare, hit more buttons, lowering the temperature. “You’re going to burn the turkey that way. How many pounds is the turkey?”

  “Um, eleven pounds.”

  “For every pound of turkey, you want to cook it for about fifteen minutes. So it’ll take about two hours and forty-five minutes.”

  I blinked at him. “Right.”

  His lips twitched as he held in his amusement. “You know what, why don’t you cook the other stuff, and I’ll take care of the turkey.”

  “Oh, Koen can make a mean turkey,” Dayton said, a little too enthusiastic.

  I narrowed my eyes at Dayton in suspicion. The man was too happy about having Koen take over that job, not that I was going to say no. I didn’t even like touching the turkey to put it in the sink.

  “Fine. But I’m only letting you do this once,” I said. “I can’t have you thinking you can run my kitchen whenever you want.”

  Koen chuckled as he dug around for a huge deep pan.

  “I’m surprised you have a roasting pan,” he said, staring at it.

  I stared at it too. Where did that come from?

  “Do you have time to stuff it?” Dayton asked.

  “No, not if we want it done before the kids go to bed.” Koen grabbed the turkey and tossed it in the pan. “We’re lucky we came here early. What would you have done if we came later?”

  “Tacos,” I replied confidently. “The meat is already thawed.”

  “Tacos?” Bryce asked, barely containing his mirth as he stared at me. “For Thanksgiving?”

  “Well, if you really abhor tacos that much”—I narrowed my eyes against my future enemy—“then we could have gone out for Chinese food. Chinese restaurants are always open on holidays.”

  Bryce must have sensed that I was ready for war because, while laughing, he lifted his hands up. “Tacos sound almost as good as a turkey.”

  “Right.” I didn’t believe him. He was just trying to save his own butt. His butt didn’t need saving, I’d never hurt something that was so delightfully wonderful to stare at. His face was safe too, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

  Frankly, I was woman enough to admit, I’d never dare to hurt him at all.

  The rest of the afternoon flew by. Koen practically took over the kitchen, which was great. It meant I didn’t need to train him; he came already trained. Those kind of men were the best.

  We did have a moment. I was digging around for a snack, and he was determined to get the boxes of pasta that somehow managed to find their way onto a shelf too high. I turned and his chest was there, all in my face.

  “Oh,” I mumbled. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” Koen said, grinning down at me. My mouth went dry as my heart rate picked up.

  He looked so good in my kitchen. I was tempted to ask him to move into the room so I’d always have a nice view. Without any conscious effort on my part, I leaned forward, feeling his heat, taking in his scent.

  Koen screamed masculinity, and it put me under a spell. I wanted to sway to the beat of his existence, to feel the burn of his touch. My mind fogged over as all the thoughts of Koen hit me harder than I had expected. I was ready to jump up, wrap myself around him, and never let him go. They’d need a crowbar to separate us.

  “Maddie, are you going to help us with the tree? We’re setting up so after dinner we can just decorate,” Dayton asked in a low voice so unlike him that he shattered the spell Koen had weaved. Dayton was on the other side of the counter, staring at me a little too hard, his eyes a little narrowed. “Lawson wants you to help him with the lights. He said you guys have a process?”

  “Oh.” I cleared my throat. “Right. We do.” />
  Koen stepped back, giving me enough room to slip by him. I went into the living room where Bryce and Lawson were currently at war against the lights. They were in a huge tangled mess.

  “Dude, I thought you packed these right so this didn’t happen,” Bryce said, glaring at Dayton.

  Dayton looked like he needed to force himself to look away from Koen. The tension that had slipped away with their surprise arrival came back swinging, and I sucked in a breath.

  I had made another blunder.

  Again.

  The stiffness in Dayton’s body told me so.

  “I did.” Dayton shrugged. “But it’s been a year. Bound to get tangled.”

  “How does that work exactly?” Bryce asked. “It’s been sitting in a box in storage for a year. They don’t tangle themselves.”

  I eyed the lights. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Do you have other decorations?” Bryce glared at a line and yanked hard. “We might as well make sure everything is in working order before dinner.” A grin played on Bryce’s lips. “Then we can decorate to our heart’s content.”

  “Sure. I’ll get it out of storage.”

  “We want to help.” Lee jumped up from his own pile of lights. Lawson followed. I didn’t blame them. The storage space was a wonderland of goodies. One never knew what they were going to find in them. And it was far better than trying to untangle lights.

  “Sure. But remember, don’t touch what isn’t ours. And no knocking down piles. I refuse to listen to our neighbor lecturing me for an hour.” I shuddered at the thought.

  “Need extra help?” Dayton asked.

  I shook my head. “Naw, I got this.” I lifted my arms, pretending to flex the muscles that were definitely not there. “It’s just down the hall.”

  Each floor had a storage space. Our wonderful owners didn’t want us to lug things up and down from the basement, and it made it easier to find the culprit if anything was stolen. A lot of Mandy’s things were there, along with a couple odds and ends, including a box of Christmas goodies.

  “Lee is in charge,” I said and gave him the key.

  He bowed. “I will protect it with my life.”

  “I know.”

  We shared silly grins and went down the hall. Lee unlocked the door, and we slipped inside.

  The storage space was essentially what amounted to a big square with cages on either side and doors. Each cage belonged to an apartment. There were four apartments on my floor. Our stuff was tucked in the back, in the corner.

  I stared at it and winced. “I forgot how much stuff I shoved in there,” I said.

  “Oh! I see it.” Lawson pointed at a box. On the side was Mandy’s nice handwriting marking it as Christmas decorations. She even drew Christmas decorations all over it. She had always been organized like that.

  “Son of a bunny,” I said. It was at the very bottom of the stack and the boxes on top were marked books. Because putting books on top of Christmas decorations made so much sense. I’d talk with the idiot who stacked it like that, but then I’d have to lecture myself. I wasn’t even sure how I did that.

  “We’re going to need help,” I said. “Don’t touch anything, I’ll be right back. If the boxes tumble on top of you and squish you, I’m leaving you there.”

  “We’ll be good,” Lawson said.

  I narrowed my eyes. “This is our territory. Protect it with your little bodies and souls.”

  The twins gave me sharp nods, taking on my challenge. I smiled and headed back to my apartment.

  It was still unlocked so all I had to do was slip inside.

  “That’s messed up,” Bryce snapped, anger in his voice.

  I froze and frowned.

  “She’s not like that. She’d never act like that.” Koen’s voice was hard.

  “But isn’t that what’s happening. Admit it, you guys like her too,” Dayton said.

  “What exactly are you trying to say?” Bryce asked.

  “I like Maddie. I like her a lot. Frankly, I haven’t felt like this for anyone before. I refuse to step aside. Not this time.”

  My eyebrow raised wondering what was going on and what he meant about this time.

  “So we should cater to you? Ignore our own feelings?” Koen asked.

  “I’m not doing that,” Bryce said. “I care for Maddie. I can see a life with her. Why would I give that up?”

  My feet refused to move as the arguing grew louder and meaner. My heart ached, hearing the three of them go at it. This was never supposed to happen.

  How? What could I do to stop this? I blinked back tears, fear shredding my innards as three best friends essentially argued over me.

  Women always daydreamed about moments like this, but I wanted nothing to do with it. They were childhood best friends and I managed to come between them.

  That was so wrong.

  “This argument is pointless. It isn’t up to us anyway,” Bryce said. “This is up to Maddie.”

  “You really think she’d choose?” Koen asked.

  No one responded for a moment, and I stepped closer, my ears straining to hear them. I couldn’t see them from the hallway, and I was glad for that.

  “Either she chooses or nothing happens,” Bryce said.

  “And if she chooses?” Dayton asked. “I don’t know about you, but I cannot hang around and watch her date someone else. Just seeing her flirting with the two of you is hard enough already.” He was silent for a moment. “And we all know she’s going to choose Koen.”

  “You don’t know that,” Bryce asked.

  “Has she given you the friends only talk?” Dayton asked. “I kissed her, but she still easily put me into the friends only category.”

  “Wait, you kissed her?” Bryce said, sounding furious. “What the hell?”

  “Please, and you haven’t yet.”

  Bryce didn’t answer.

  “I haven’t,” Koen replied in a low voice.

  Dayton snorted. “Of course you haven’t. You’re Mr. Gentleman. Women always throw themselves at you and all you have to do is glance at them to get them to do it.”

  “That sounds like jealousy.”

  “This is Maddie we’re talking about. Of course I’m jealous. I saw you two flirting with just your eyes in the kitchen.”

  “What?” Bryce asked.

  They went back and forth even longer. The blood in my veins turned cold as their argument dissolved from there. They voiced the same thing, all of them interested in me, none of them willing to step to the side, and if I were to choose one, I’d lose the other two. And so would whoever I chose.

  How could it be like this?

  Trepidation clashed with the brewing anger and frustration. Reality settled into the pit of my stomach.

  I could never choose one of them. Not if I wanted all three in my life. If that was as friends only, I was going to have to suck it up. I couldn’t cuddle with them anymore, I couldn’t flirt with them, or wonder what their lips would feel like, or their bodies. No more random texts or meaningful talking.

  Not if I wanted to survive. Not if I wanted them to remain friends.

  “Enough,” I whispered. I stepped further into the room, able to see them over the counter, standing by my bedroom door.

  No one noticed me as their voices rose.

  No. No more. This couldn’t continue. Not like this.

  I shook my head hard enough for my hair to whip into my face.

  This needed to end.

  They were now trying to prove who was more important to me.

  “She definitely cares more for me,” Dayton said.

  “Are you sure about that? You’re just an adult child. She doesn’t need to take care of another one when she has two kids already,” Bryce said.

  “And you’re better than me?” Dayton asked, a snort escaping him.

  “I’m capable of understanding her, of giving her the support she needs.”

  “She has enough going on in her life already with
out you there psychoanalyzing her,” Koen said.

  “Oh, and you’re better? You’re too bossy, always telling her what to do. She’s an independent, strong woman. She doesn’t need you telling her when to eat or what to do.”

  “What’s wrong with taking care of someone I like?”

  Were they seriously arguing these points? Was this where their arguments went? To who was better for me?

  Irritation helped nullify the mortification of what was going on. Enough. I’d had enough.

  It was Thanksgiving. The first without Mandy, and everything was going so well. I couldn’t take this anymore.

  “Get out!” I snapped. That got their attention, putting a stop to the world’s stupidest argument. Who argued about who liked who more these days. I thought I acted like a five-year-old, but these three were worse.

  All three turned, and when they realized it was me, their eyes widened in shock. Who else did they think I was? This was my apartment.

  I sighed, a headache pounding between my eyes. “If you guys can’t pull it together. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. There is enough drama in my life right now, and I have enough responsibilities. I don’t want to spend what should be a fun Thanksgiving listening to you three bicker.” I bit my lip before speaking. “Especially if it’s about me. I like all three of you. You guys came into my life when I was in a downward spiral. Your presence has helped me breathe.” I shook my head and straightened my spine, determined to make my point. “But I can’t be around that.” I waved my hand to encompass them.

  “That?” Bryce asked. Brave boy, talking when I wasn’t done.

  “You three bickering like that. It hurts. It makes me want to call Dr. Adam. So get out. Leave. I heard you three. I’m not choosing. I’m not even dating any of you, and to ask me…” I breathed out. “To ask me to make a choice I’m not sure I can make. It isn’t fair. It isn’t nice.”

  I clamped my mouth shut before I made an even bigger fool out of myself. They glared at me, and I stared back with wide eyes, heart pounding hard. I’d voiced my opinion, adding in my two cents. It was a question of what they did with that. Besides, talking about something like this without me wasn’t fair at all. Where in this secret conversation of theirs would involve my opinion?