by Hazel Kelly
Those same women had been keeping a close eye on us all night, but Brie was oblivious for the time being, her shoulders nestled under my arm and her nose stuck in a book of party questions Maeve gave us as a housewarming present. Meanwhile, her hot whiskey sat on the coffee table in front of us, steaming away next to a gingerbread man who was down two legs and an arm.
I brought my beer to my lips as I watched Pete and Tanner arm wrestle on the table while Quinn and Maddy shared a secret in the recliner by the corner window. Across the room, Maeve and her “don’t call him my boyfriend I don’t know what we are” were admiring our Christmas tree, which was strung up with nothing but lights and pine cones because it was the best we could do on short notice.
“I think your rustic tree turned out really well,” I said, admiring the job I did on the lights.
Brie glanced up from her book. “It’s the gold cones. I should’ve made them all gold. Crystal was right.”
“Sorry she couldn’t make it.”
Brie shrugged. “Me too, but her nephew’s christening is on the South Side tomorrow, so I can see why she’d rather stay at her mom’s tonight.”
I dropped my fingers to her hair and lightly scratched her scalp, smiling when her lazy eyes met mine. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” she said. “You?”
Pete and Tanner’s dates came back from the bathroom deep in conversation, took one look at the guys arm wrestling, and wandered into the kitchen. I turned my attention back to Brie. “I feel like we should kick everyone out and go to bed.”
She nestled closer, the lights from the tree twinkling in her eyes. “We could go to bed either way.”
“What about candle watch and punch watch and cheese board watch?”
“Pffff.” She waved a hand at the guests. “These people are too full of weenies and wine to cause any trouble.”
In a final push, Tanner smacked Pete’s arm against the table, shaking the popcorn in the half-empty bowl.
“Besides, I trust Maeve to lock up.”
“I can’t believe she’s still here,” I said, eyeing her date. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but there was something a little slippery about him that set me on edge. “What do you think of the not-boyfriend?”
Brie glanced at him without turning her head. “Too soon to tell.”
“Agreed.”
“You guys good?” Tanner asked, pointing at our drinks on his way to the kitchen.
I nodded.
“Oh, here’s a good one,” Brie said, reaching for her whiskey. “Ready?”
“Shoot.”
“If you could wake up anywhere tomorrow, where would you pick?”
“Easy,” I said. “Upstairs with you in our bed.”
She cocked her head. “Besides there.”
“Anywhere with you.”
She shot me a look like she wished I’d play along.
“Ask me another.”
She dragged her finger down the page till she found a question she liked. “What’s the most useless thing you know?”
“Probably the fact that you prefer a mechanical pencil with .7mm led to .5mm lead.”
“That’s not useless information,” she said, her brows furrowing. “You’re not very good at this.”
I laughed. “Third time’s a charm. Lay another on me.”
She sipped just enough whiskey to wet her lips before handing me the glass so she could focus on finding another question.
“Here we go,” she said, pointing to her next selection. “Would you rather go back in time or forward in time?”
“That’s easy. Back, for sure.”
Her chin crept closer. “When to?”
“Whenever you would’ve started dating me.”
She tutted. “What if you had to go forward?”
“I’d jump to the part where I give you the present behind the couch.”
She straightened up. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“This couch?” she asked.
I tilted my head towards the wall behind us. “I don’t know. Why don’t you check?”
She turned around and wrapped her hands over the back of the couch, her socks sinking into the grey cushion beneath her as she peeked over the edge. “Oh, it’s big!”
“That’s what she said,” Pete commented as he walked over to the stereo.
“Should I open it now?” She looked to me for permission.
“Don’t see why not.”
She fished an arm over the back of the couch, and I watched to make sure her dress didn’t ride up as she hoisted the wrapped frame. “What is it?” she asked, lowering it onto her lap.
“It’s a housewarming present.”
She feigned a scowl. “You shouldn’t have.”
I smiled. “Let’s see if you still feel that way after you open it.”
She kept her eyes on me and poked a nail through the Christmas paper. Then she ripped across the length of it, which got a few people’s attention. When she dropped her eyes again, she used both hands to rip away the candy cane paper, revealing a framed Scrabble board with the letters glued to it.
She beamed at me. “James.”
“I did good, didn’t I?”
She nodded. “So good.”
I leaned over and touched my forehead to hers, whispering quietly so only she could hear. “Thanks for making it true.”
Her smile widened before she leaned back to admire it again.
“What does it say?” Maddy asked.
Brie held it up so everyone could see.
“Home Sweet Home,” Quinn read aloud. “Well, isn’t that sweet.”
Brie blushed and glanced back at me. “I love it.”
“I thought you might.”
She raised the frame and whispered behind it. “And I love you, too.”
I leaned behind the board to answer her.
“Get a room!” Tanner yelled from the other side of our makeshift wall.
“Or a house,” Quinn added, the jeering around us blending into the cheery Christmas music. “Oh wait! You already did that!”
Brie kept smiling at me, her attention bouncing between my lips and my eyes.
“I love you, too,” I said, the world blurring around us like we were in a secret fort a million miles away.
Mischief danced in her bright eyes. “I might need you to spell that out for me.”
My lips tugged towards a smile. “It would be my pleasure.”
E P I L O G U E
- Brie -
I knew something was up when I heard music. Smooth jazz, to be specific. Also, the whole house smelled like melted cheese. “James?” He was never home before me. Especially since his promotion at the start of the summer.
“Wine?” he asked when I entered the kitchen.
“Is it a special occasion?”
“It is,” he said. “Poker night’s cancelled.”
"So the special occasion is that I’m your second choice drinking buddy?”
He stepped up and handed me a glass of red. “Will you just humor me and go in the living room?”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He clinked his glass against mine. “I’ll be in in a second.”
“Is that Lou Malnati’s?” I asked, my nose filling with the scent of sweet tomato sauce.
“Jeez, you’re like a bloodhound.”
“What kind did you get?”
His eyes sharpened. “Go sit.”
I licked my lips, my long day forgotten at the promise of Chicago deep dish.
“Chili flakes?” James called from the kitchen.
“You know it,” I said, throwing my coat over the back of the couch before slumping onto it, my feet suddenly aching.
“How was your day?” he asked, strolling in with two plates and his beer.
“I sold another article to BELLE.”
“Nice,” he said, sitting down beside me. “Which one?”
“The one about the nurse who paid o
ff her medical school debt by stripping.”
His brow furrowed. “I suppose if you’re already used to long hours…”
My eyes scolded him as I relieved him of a plate. “Thanks for dinner.”
"Sure.”
“So why was poker night cancelled?”
“Pete’s at a digital marketing conference, and Quinn’s got manflu.”
“Poor Maddy,” I said, eyeing the steam coming off my pizza.
“How’s Crystal?” he asked.
“Oh gosh, I forgot to tell you! Derrick proposed to her. They’re going to get married next summer before she starts her PhD program.”
“That’s great. He seems like a cool guy.”
“If he’s not, he’s got everybody fooled,” I said, thinking of the way he won her family over at their Fourth of July party.
“I still think our dance off was closer than people let on.”
I studied his expression and tried to guess if he was serious.
“Kidding,” he said. “That guy danced circles around me.”
“Someone had to be the white guy with the embarrassing moves,” I said, picking up my pizza. “You took one for the team.”
He tilted his beer bottle towards me. “You’ll live to regret that statement.”
I laughed.
“Just wait until their wedding.” Playful fire filled his eyes. “You think I was embarrassing at the barbeque.”
“Forget I mentioned the wedding. We probably won’t even be invited.”
“Speak for yourself. The guy who’s willing to rip his pants on the dance floor always gets an invite.”
I was smiling so hard at the memory I could barely chew my pizza, and when I recalled the face James made when he realized he’d ripped his pants, my eyes started to water. “God, that was funny.”
“Maybe Derrick and I should do a coordinated dance. Like, plan something in advance.”
“I think you mean choreographed,” I said. “And I didn’t think you guys were that close.”
“We will be after our dancing lessons.”
“James?”
He raised his brows.
“Let that dream die.”
“You just don’t want to share me.”
“That’s exactly right,” I joked. “Seeing you and Derrick do the sprinkler side by side makes me so jealous I could scream.”
James set his plate on the table and patted his lap. “Put ’er there.”
“Really?” I asked.
His fingers bent back in a gimme gesture, so I swung my feet onto his lap and propped a pillow behind me.
“This is so much better than poker night,” I said, closing my eyes as he massaged my left foot with his strong fingers.
“I thought you liked having the place to yourself?”
“Oh, I do,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong, my books are great company. It’s just that, lately, I’m happy outside them, too.”
He smiled. “Can you believe it’s been a year?”
“Since when?”
“Since I pressed my face against your butt in the basement.”
My cheeks burst into flames.
“I remember like it was yesterday.”
“That cannot be our anniversary.”
“Really?” he asked. “I thought you’d be excited. We could even reenact the whole thing later.”
“Why are you so obsessed with my butt?”
“Because it’s yours,” he said, his strong hands kneading my feet into dough. “And because the sun shines out of it.”
I laughed. “That explains why my boss cried when I gave him my notice today.”
James scrunched his face. “That must’ve been tough.”
“It was,” I said. “But I’ve learned all there is to know about making milkshakes. It’s time for a new adventure.”
“Have you heard back from that Italian place on Westin?” he asked. “I liked their sexy uniforms.”
“How quickly the paper hat is forgotten,” I said, shaking my head. “And no, I haven’t, but I’ll get something.”
“As long as it’s not something that will interfere with your writing too much,” he said. “Because you have to keep striking while the iron is hot. Keep up your momentum.”
“I’m striking, I’m striking.”
“You’re hot, too.”
A soft smile curved my lips. “So what are your plans for the rest of the evening?”
“Besides reenacting the cheek-to-butt moment?”
I rolled my eyes.
“I thought maybe we’d start watching the Harry Potter movies.”
“I thought we weren’t going to do that until you finished all the books.”
He turned an ear towards me and offered a cheeky smile.
“Did you really?” I asked, leaning forward. “You finished them all?”
“Could you ever truly love me if I didn’t?”
“Of course.”
He scoffed. “Now you tell me. What a waste.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “Admit you loved them.”
He fixed his eyes on mine. “I loved them.”
“What was your favorite part?”
“The part where we finally got to watch the movies.”
“Blasphemy!” I cried, throwing a pillow at him.
He ducked and lifted my legs like a shield, my body featherlight in his hands. But my laughter turned to squealing when he started tickling me, and he didn’t stop until I begged for mercy.
“I trusted you with those,” I said, pulling my feet back dramatically.
“And you’ll trust me with them again,” he said, his confidence making my insides clench. “And that’s not all you’ll trust me with.” His eyes fell to my lips and my belly boiled.
“What else do you want?”
“Every last inch of you,” he said, eyeing me up and down. “Twice.”
My heart raced. “Before or after the movie?”
“Both,” he said, crawling over me.
I looked up at him, my body relaxing under the weight of his as I admired his blue-green eyes. “Tell me something.”
“Anything.”
“Did you only rub my feet to get in my pants?”
“Too obvious?”
I laughed. “Not subtle.”
His smile pulled to one side. “That’s not a complaint, I assume?”
“You assume correctly.”
He dropped his face and dragged his lips across mine. “Let me make it up to you anyway.”
I snagged his bottom lip with my teeth, and he kissed me hard, his body rolling with mine in anticipation of what was to come.
And as the love of my life filled my heart with poetry, I surrendered every inch of my body to him along with every breath. Because I was in good hands, the best hands.
Hands that would hold mine through all the happy endings to come.
N O T E F R O M T H E A U T H O R
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Lots of love,
Xo Hazel
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