Natalie felt a nudge on her leg and she glanced over to see Janessa watching her with raised eyebrows. “Like what you see?” she whispered.
Natalie blinked guiltily. “What? I zoned out.”
“Right. Zoned out. Checked out my brother. Same thing.”
“Stop it.”
“I don’t care if you like him. Actually, it would be awesome.” She held her hands up in pleading motion. “Dump Grant. Date Jimmy. Please.”
Natalie swatted Janessa’s hands down. “You know better than anyone I don’t like Jimmy like that. I’m with Grant. We’re in love.”
“Whatever.” Janessa rolled her eyes. “Grant could never love anyone more than he loves himself.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. If he was going to love anyone, it would be you. You’re amazing. It’s Grant that’s the jerk.”
“I think I’m going to head up to bed after all.” She didn’t want to hear Janessa badmouthing Grant tonight. Natalie pushed the blanket aside so that she could stand, but Janessa grabbed her arm.
“Wait. I’m sorry. I’m the jerk. I won’t say anymore bad things about Grant tonight, I promise.”
Natalie hesitated. She hated fighting with Janessa. And Grant wasn’t on the top of her good list tonight, anyway. Maybe that’s why it bothered her so much to hear Janessa bash him. She could usually brush it off, but when Janessa’s words mirrored her own fears, it was just too much.
“I don’t know, Janessa.”
“Please. Don’t let my big mouth ruin your night.”
“Can you just try to get along with him?”
Natalie could hear Janessa swallow. “Yes. I can try.”
“Thank you.”
“Shhhhh,” Brody said, irritation lacing his voice.
“Sorry,” Janessa and Natalie said together, then looked at each other and giggled at how serious he was. Natalie pulled the blanket up and around her shoulders and snuggled into it to watch the rest of the movie, glad that things were right again with her and Janessa. Natalie had never been able to stay angry at Janessa for long. Janessa was too good of a friend.
The movie came to an end, and Stan stood and stopped everyone before they could migrate from the room. Natalie used her foot to nudge Jimmy awake.
“Movie’s over, Sleeping Beauty,” she teased.
“Hmm?” He rubbed his eyes in a way that reminded her of a cute little boy.
“Before bed, we have one more English tradition tonight. Everyone, take a paper and a pen,” Stan announced, taking a strip of paper for himself and then passing the stack on to Anne. Natalie took a strip when they came her way.
“Now, I want everyone to write down one wish. Any wish you want.”
Natalie stared at her blank sheet of paper. A wish. That was easy. I wish that I’ll win the ad competition and get my dream job at Alderman.
“When you’re done, come throw it into the fire and the smoke will carry your wish up,” Stan finished, tossing his own wish into the fireplace. The kids excitedly got in line to put their own papers into the fire.
“Like incense?” Janessa asked.
Stan nodded. “Yeah, kind of like that.”
“So what’s your wish?” Jimmy asked when Natalie stood in line to throw her paper into the fire.
“That I’ll win and get my job. What’s yours?”
He stuck his paper behind his back. “I’m not telling.”
“I told you mine.” She held out her hand. “Give it up.”
“Nope.” He leaned forward and threw it into the fire before she could grab it.
“That’s so wrong.”
“You didn’t have to tell me yours.”
“I didn’t realize they were supposed to be this big secret.”
“They’re not. He’s just trying to drive you crazy,” Janessa piped in, the last to toss her paper in the fire. Angie and Jenny rounded their kids up to take them to the bathrooms and get them ready for bed. After a quick goodbye, Kristine and David headed home.
“I think I’m going to bed,” Jimmy said with a yawn. He didn’t look like he’d ever quite awoken from his little nap during the movie.
“Me, too. You coming up?” Janessa asked Natalie.
“In a little bit.”
“Goodnight,” Janessa and Jimmy said before heading upstairs.
“You want a minute?” Anne asked. “I can put the fire out after I get ready for bed.”
“That would be great. Thank you.” Natalie stood in front of the fireplace, soaking in the warmth and quiet. Aside from the shuffling above her, only the crackling of the flames filled the silence of the room. She sat on the floor, wondering why she still felt off. She didn’t know if it was her conversation with Grant or Janessa, or if it was even Jimmy’s teasing. It could have been seeing all of Stan’s family gathered so close. An unexpected wave of homesickness for her parents washed through her. Even with all of these people, she still felt alone.
The grandfather clock in the corner struck midnight, shaking her from her reverie. It had been a long day and night. She needed to go to bed. Before she left the room, she spotted the stack of papers that Stan had left behind. On a whim, she grabbed one and wrote one more message. She didn’t know if this actually worked toward making a wish come true, but it was worth a try.
All I want is to be successful.
She threw her paper into the fire and watched the flames lick around her words until they finally swallowed them up and sent the smoke toward the sky.
“THIS IS A DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN.” Natalie peered down the line at everyove wearing white shirts. Some of the kids already had streaks across theirs from lunch. Actually, a couple of the adults did, too.
“Mom got the shirts cheap, so I wouldn’t worry about it,” Janessa murmured back.
“Yeah, but who plays capture the flag in white? We should be in camo or brown. Maybe if there was snow . . .”
“Stan’s trying to keep it authentic.”
That morning, Stan had explained to them that today they were celebrating Ethiopian-style, which included wearing the white shirts Anne had purchased for everyone the day before and playing family games. In Ethiopia, they had a game they played with sticks, but none of the adults wanted to learn a new game. Stan’s kids were all about keeping the Six Days of Christmas authentic, but everyone else was ready to have a day of unstructured fun. Out of all the alternative game choices Stan presented, capture the flag won. At least it was a beautiful day to be lined up, preparing to run around for a few hours. They’d driven out to the property of one of Anne’s coworkers—several acres of orange groves—and the citrusy sweet scent smelled delicious.
“So, how should we split the teams?” Stan asked, walking in front of them like a drill sergeant. Natalie wasn’t sure why they were all standing in a line. Something about Stan this morning inspired straight lines and straight spines.
“Boys versus Girls!” Kendall called out.
“Classic. I love it.” Stan grabbed Ben and threw him on his back. “Everyone okay with that?”
They all nodded. Natalie happened to love boys versus girls. Especially since she’d love a chance to rub a win in Jimmy’s face.
“I put James in charge of getting flags for the team. James?”
Jimmy smiled wickedly and stepped forward. “I stopped at the store on the way here.” He pulled a package from inside his jacket. “Now, no cheating, Natty.”
Natalie squinted at him. What was he up to? She’d never been a cheater.
The kids squealed with crazy laughter when he opened the bag. Big, white granny underwear.
Jimmy was so dead.
He pulled a black marker from his pocket and pointed it at Natalie. “I’m going to write Team Boy and Team Girl on them, just in case you lose your underwear again. I don’t want there to be any confusion.”
“What are you talking about?” Angie asked.
“Jimmy has an underwear buying fetish. We don�
��t talk about it much,” Janessa said.
Jimmy ignored her, instead smiling widely at Natalie. “Natty has an unfortunate habit of losing underwear. I just want to make sure we have spares.”
“Happening once does not make something a habit!” Natalie defended.
“Am I the only one who’s totally confused right now?” Angie asked.
Natalie waved her hands and tried to act super casual. “It’s nothing—just an embarrassing moment he won’t let me forget.”
“C’mon, you have to tell us,” Kristine piped in.
Everyone’s curiosity appeared piqued—except Janessa, who rolled her eyes. “Just tell them, Natalie. Jimmy’s going to make it sound worse than it is if you let him tell it.”
“Fine.” Natalie glared at Jimmy. Why did she have to relive this experience every time they got together? These people thought she was professional, driven. Now, they’d be disillusioned. “In high school, Janessa gave me a gift certificate to get a massage for my birthday. When I went to get it, I brought some granny underwear with me so that I could change out of the underwear I’d worn to school, just because I thought I’d be more comfortable semi-naked under a towel if I had extra coverage.”
“Why didn’t you just wear the grannys to school?” Angie asked.
Natalie’s face warmed up as she glanced at the kids. “I was wearing tight pants and didn’t want a line—not important. Anyway, after the massage, I changed back into what I’d been wearing before and stuffed the underwear in my purse. I was going straight to a party and I started worrying that my underwear would fall out of my bag and that would be embarrassing, so I pulled them out of my bag before going to the party and totally forgot about them.”
Jimmy jumped in at this point. “A few weeks later, Natty picked me and a few of my friends up from an afterschool thing—”
“A favor for Janessa that I should have said ‘no’ to.”
“And when the guys jumped in the backseat, they found a huge pair of white underwear.” Jimmy’s annoying smile split his face. “Anyone else and it wouldn’t have been as funny, but Natty was like this serious, unflappable girl back then. I don’t think I’d ever seen her flustered before—especially when the guys started speculating about how the underwear got back there.”
“Gutter-brains,” Natalie muttered. “And he’s never let me live it down—even though he knows the whole boring reason why they were there.”
Anne sighed. “I can’t believe Jimmy’s still teasing you about this. He brought it up almost every time she came to our house for the next year.”
Stan nodded knowingly. “Ah, the antics of a boy with a crush.”
Natalie choked on the water she was sipping. “What?”
“What?” Jimmy said nearly the same time. “No, no, no. It wasn’t like that.”
“Right.” Stan raised an eyebrow. “All guys like to relentlessly tease pretty girls for no reason.” And with that, he clapped his hands. “Boys, meet over by that crooked tree over there. Time to strategize.”
“Girls’ team over here.” Anne led them a few trees away. Natalie couldn’t help but glance back at Jimmy as Janessa linked arms with her and led her to the girls. He had Ben on his shoulders, and the little boy was laughing so hard his whole body shook. Jimmy happened to look back and catch her eye. He smiled his devil-smile—the same one he’d been smiling at her for a long as she’d known him—and wagged the pair of huge underwear at her. She looked away, fighting her own smile. He’d always had a way of making her not take everything so seriously. He was a good friend—always had been.
She pushed Stan’s random words away. Jimmy, a crush on her? Ridiculous.
Natalie groaned and collapsed on the couch next to Janessa. “When did we get old?”
“Speak for yourself. I’m still young.”
“Not possible. I’m younger than you, and I feel old.”
Jimmy plopped down between them. “Don’t get too comfortable, girls.”
“You’re on my arm,” Janessa complained, pushing him into Natalie. “And you need a shower.”
“Why can’t we get comfortable?” Natalie asked.
“Stan wants us to do the Twelve Days of Christmas run for him tonight. I guess the kids in the family are a little militant and he says he doesn’t have enough energy for this kind of thing.”
Janessa shook her head. “I can’t tonight. I promised Angie and Carl that I’d watch the baby so they could do some last minute shopping.”
“You up for it, Natty?”
“I don’t know. I should work.”
“It won’t take that long. Please? It’ll be a lot more fun if you come with me.”
Natalie fought her smile. He was so much like Janessa sometimes. Both of them always trying to convince her to do something with them. “You guys are a bad influence on me,” she said.
“Does that mean you’re coming?” Jimmy asked.
She knew she shouldn’t but . . . “Okay, I’ll come. It won’t take very long, right?”
“Thirty minutes, tops. Wear something dark.”
Natalie laid her head back on the couch. “I can’t get up. Let’s go in a little while.”
“C’mon, lazy.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her up to standing. “Meet me by the front door in ten minutes.”
“So, are you glad you came home with Janessa this year?” Jimmy asked as he looked over his shoulder and backed out of the driveway. The house already glowed with all of the Christmas lights that lit it up, and at some point, Stan had bought a blow-up cactus with a cowboy Santa to put in one of the few open spaces on the lawn. Natalie knew that as a kid, she would have loved driving past this house.
“I am. It’s been a lot of fun.”
“Janessa says that you’ve seemed more relaxed the past few days than you’ve been in a while.”
“When were you and Janessa talking about me?”
“This morning at breakfast.” He shifted into second and kept his hand on the gear shift. “Have you been working too hard?”
Natalie closed her eyes for a minute. “I’m just doing what I have to do to get my dream job. It’s a few months of stress and then I’ll be set.”
“You always were so serious.”
“I had to be. And speaking of work . . . when are you going to tell your family about your work?”
Jimmy scrubbed a hand across his face. “I don’t know. I don’t want them thinking I’m some screwball that can’t hold a job down.”
“You were laid off. That kind of thing isn’t your fault.”
“And yet they chose to lay me off over someone else, so . . .”
“Jimmy.” Natalie laid a hand on his where is rested on the gear shift. “Your family loves you no matter what. And more, I know how much they respect you. To be honest, I’ve been impressed by how much you’ve changed. You’re so different—in a good way.”
Jimmy nodded. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
They sat in comfortable silence for a moment before Jimmy ruined it. “So, tell me more about how much I’ve impressed you.”
“And, with that, I’m considerably less impressed.”
“Come on.” Jimmy winked. “You know you’ve had fun with me this week.”
“So much fun. Oh, by the way, thanks a lot for making me tell all of Stan’s family my most embarrassing moment.” She punched him on the shoulder.
Jimmy smiled to himself. “You’re welcome.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you can tell everyone my most embarrassing moment.”
Natalie thought for a moment. “I have no idea what your most embarrassing moment is. Do you get embarrassed? I mean, if your girlfriend breaking up with you just a few days before Christmas doesn’t get to you, nothing will.”
“It was mutual.”
“If you say so.”
“You’re not going to get a rise out of me, Natty. Good try, though.”
&n
bsp; “I did find bikini wax in your bathroom. Have you been busy?”
Jimmy shrugged. “It’s not mine. Stan’s daughters stayed in that room for a few weeks last summer. It must have been one of theirs.”
“Are you sure you didn’t use it in your swimming days?”
Jimmy laughed. “Uh, no.”
Natalie folded her arms. “Someday you’ll be embarrassed, and I’m never going to let you live it down.”
“I look forward to it.”
Jimmy pulled the car in front of a large, well-lit house and shut it off. Stan explained that it was a family that they went to church with and there were six kids in the family—the oldest one was fourteen all the way down to three.
“Okay, so what do we do? Just hand the present to them?”
“You’re kidding me right?”
“No.”
“Natty, have you ever done The Twelve Days of Christmas?”
“You know my parents. They were never into that kind of thing.” Most of the time they volunteered here or there, which was good, but some part of her had always wished they would do the traditional Christmas thing. Kind of like Stan’s family, only taken down about ten notches.
Jimmy opened his door and met her in front of the car. “Then I’m so glad that you came with me. You’ve been missing out.” He reached out and took the box from her. “Basically, we’re going to ding-dong ditch the present at their door. You have ding-dong ditched before, right?”
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Yes. I have dropped more than one plate of cookies at the doors of Janessa’s crushes in my day.”
“Does she still do that?”
“Not since freshman year.”
“The family lives just around the corner. We’re going to sneak up, I’ll drop the present while you ring the doorbell, and then we’ll run back to the car. Sound good?”
“Yup. Let’s do this.”
They walked quietly up to the door, adrenaline already pumping through Natalie’s veins. “Is it ridiculous how excited I am to do this?” Natalie whispered.
All I Want (Three Holiday Romances) Page 11