Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 63174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 316(@200wpm)___ 253(@250wpm)___ 211(@300wpm)
As he grabbed our luggage, Devon said, “Sorry about that. I know she’s a lot.”
“She’s really nice. I see where you get it.” That made him grin.
The inside of the house looked like a Hallmark Christmas movie. Devon left our bags at the foot of a staircase decked out in swags of pine and red ribbon, and on our way to the back of the house, I spotted four Christmas trees and all sorts of holiday decorations.
When I commented on it, Devon said, “My mom hires a designer to decorate the house every year. It’s nice that they went with red, green, and gold this time, because sometimes they get a little too creative. I’m sorry, but lime green, neon orange, and yellow just don’t scream ‘Christmas’ to me. That’s what happened last time I was home for the holidays.”
I teased, “I had no idea you were such a traditionalist.”
“Only about this. I want Christmas to actually look like Christmas. If that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.”
After a minute, we arrived in a beautiful ivory-colored kitchen, with stone countertops that looked like huge slabs of something rare and precious. The kitchen had its own little tree on a side table, decorated with white lights and tiny cooking implements, like a red mixer and a dainty sheet pan full of fake, miniscule cookies. It was the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
While Devon’s mom pulled some milk from a huge refrigerator that was designed to blend in with the cabinets, Ed dug through the gift basket. I’d barely noticed him while getting swept up by Hurricane Belinda, but now I saw he was significantly older than his wife, with thinning hair, glasses, and kind eyes.
He held up two of the fancy cheeses with a huge smile and told us, “You got the good stuff! Thank you. Your mother’s going to tell me I need to go easy on it, but it’s the holidays, right? What better time to indulge a little?”
Belinda reminded him, “Now, you know we have dinner tonight with the Fishers. You don’t want to be all gassy.” She turned to Devon and said, “We were invited to a holiday dinner tonight with a few of our friends from pickleball. I said yes because I didn’t know when you were arriving, but we can cancel—”
“No, it’s fine. Go have fun,” Devon said. “Kit and I can amuse ourselves for a few hours.”
“Well, if you’re sure.”
She found a fancy tin of cocoa in the cabinet, and Devon grabbed four mugs. As the three of them chatted about Belinda’s new pickleball obsession, I took a seat on the far side of the kitchen island and watched them.
What I saw made me happy. There was so much love here, and it was obvious they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. They laughed and joked and acted like no time at all had passed since they’d all been together. It was a beautiful thing.
Belinda pulled me out of my thoughts when she called, “Come here, Kit, and take over with the cocoa while I find the miniature marshmallows. You need to keep stirring while it heats up, or it gets all clumpy.”
I hurried around to the other side of the island and joined in. And just like that, I felt like I was part of the family, too.
It was a good four hours before we finally made it upstairs with our bags. Devon closed the door behind us and face-planted onto the queen-size bed as he muttered, “I can’t believe they busted out the photo albums and the slide projector. You must have been bored out of your mind.”
I was grinning as I sat down beside him. “Definitely not. I loved getting to see your entire evolution, from dorky kid to awkward teen to hot adult.”
“Oh god, there were so many photos. And then, they made you look at the slides from six separate family vacations!”
“Ed was so excited when he talked about your first family trip to Europe. He told us the entire history of the Roman aqueduct system.”
“He’s a history buff. Once you get him started—well, you saw for yourself.”
“He’s very sweet,” I said, “and he and your mom seem like a wonderful couple. They’re so in love that they remind me of newlyweds, even though they’ve been together for years.”
“I know. Even though they’re very different people, somehow it just works.” I stretched out beside him, and Devon turned to face me and ran his knuckles over my cheek. “You really are such a good sport for putting up with my quirky family.”
“Thank you for letting me be a part of it. I’m having fun, and I’ve learned so much about you, even though we’ve only been here a few hours.”
Devon sighed. “I’m not sure how many more embarrassing stories my mom can dredge up, but if she missed any I’m sure you’ll be hearing them soon.”