Page 108 of Anti Player
I nod and we all laugh.
Sky places the extra presents by the tree and then Liam says grace. We all dig into the festive meal Sky made.
“Have you been in touch with Willow?” Eden asks Amelia.
My eyes are on my brother, and I watch him pause his fork on the way to his mouth. That’s strange. He waits to hear Amelia’s answer.
“Not for the past week,” Eden says, looking oddly from side to side.
“Where is Willow?” Brett suddenly asks. “It’s like she fell off the face of the planet.”
The girls give each other a look of warning. “She’s back home visiting,” Amelia answers, clearing her throat.
“For how long? I haven’t seen her with you guys since last winter,” Brett says. It’s weird to be seeing my brother taking interest in one specific girl. I clearly haven’t met Willow since she left before I arrived to the city.
“She’s helping on her family’s farm back in Tennessee,” Eden adds with a smile I hate to say looks forced.
“Right, she’s from Tennessee,” Brett mutters. The whole conversation seems suspicious to me but I can’t say why. Kaleb looks over to me with raised brows, clearly understanding that I am trying to dissect what is going on.
Sky gives Eden a weird look and then smiles and turns her attention to the whole table. “What should we do after dinner?” She clearly changes the subject. “I was thinking we could do a little sing-along with the kids and open some of the gifts, but there are some we need to keep for the morning,” she says looking at Crew, who looks disappointed.
“Sounds like a plan,” I say.
“We are good with that,” Ellie agrees too.
We finish eating and I help clear up the meal. With only me and Ellie in the kitchen, I ask her what all that talk of Willow was about because everyone was being so evasive.
“I really shouldn’t say,” Ellie hedges, dodging my question. It’s not the answer I was expecting with how close we’ve become, but they are all clearly covering something for their friend.
I head back to the table to get more empty dishes. Brett is helping with the cleanup too.
“What’s the story with this Willow girl?” I ask my brother.
“Not one of my brighter moments and not something I want to discuss with my sister,” he replies.
“But something is going on, Brett. I was getting weird vibes,” I whisper.
“Me too. Look, I kind of hooked up with Willow at a club, we spent the night together. Like I said, not one of my brighter moments. I haven’t seen her since,” he said. “She didn’t even show to Ellie and Connor’s wedding, and they’re best friends.”
I bite my lip. “So, the girl just took off?”
“No clue.” Brett shrugs. “It’s not my business, Maddie. I just asked because they mentioned her name but there wasn’t much between us.”
“Really, there wasn’t much, and yet you were curious about her after all this time?” I ask incredulously.
“Look, I appreciate you’re happy but settling down isn’t for everyone. You know me, it isn’t going to happen. Let well enough be.”
I blow out an exasperated breath. We all sit for dessert and then after we are done, we gather around the tree in the living room and sing songs. Asher sits on my lap and Kaleb sits beside me. I’ve never had a Christmas like this before, filled with so much family, friends, and love. I start to feel a little choked up.
Once we finish singing, the kids take turns giving each other gifts and since they are impatient, they also tear into all the pretty wrapping. It’s cute how the boys hug each other and say thank you for the gift. Syd being the only girl gets a lot of attention on her, which is completely adorable.
“There’s one more,” Asher grins, pointing to a small box. “It has my mommy’s name on it.”
“No, sweetie.” I lean forward. “That’s not for Mommy.”
Asher looks to Kaleb for guidance and Kaleb nods. Asher then picks up the gift. “It’s for you, Mommy. Merry Christmas.”
I take the gift, which is wrapped in gold paper with a red ribbon. Kaleb and Asher are clearly in cahoots. I remove the paper to reveal a red velvet jewelry box. My eyes sting.