“Yes, please!” Her eyes twinkle, and she rubs her hands together.
“Me too.” Mom chimes in, and I laugh.
“Fine, freeloaders.” I turn off the kettle and go to get ingredients. Only then I notice the absence of a certain loud voice. “Where is Justin?” I ask sourly.
Kayla exchanges a look with Mom. “He’s getting the last gift.”
“Where? Everything is closed already.”
And I mean it. Everything in Little Hope is closed at midday on Christmas Eve.
“Dunno.” She shrugs and bites a huge chunk off an apple she picked from the glass fruit vase on the table. She’s chewing too aggressively, and when I ask her if she’s okay, she nods and bites into the apple again, even though she hasn’t swallowed the first bite. Weird, but okay.
A few minutes later, the mulled wine is poured into pretty glasses that Mom saves for special occasions, and we go to set the table in the dining room. Mom put so much work into decorating the room and picking the plates that we must set everything by the rules, meaning we have three sets of knives, spoons, forks, glasses… and the list goes on.
The table is ready, the food is ready, we are ready, and Justin is still not here.
“If the garlic knots go cold while we’re waiting for him, I’m gonna riot.” I sit on a chair and sulk. And I mean it. I’m always serious when it comes to my grandma’s garlic knots. It’s a famous family recipe.
At this moment, the door bursts open, and Justin walks in, a huge smile on his face.
But he doesn’t come alone. No. Mark is hot on his feet. I stand, taking them both in, looking for signs of a fight. I mean, why else they’ll be here together, right? After that fateful dinner, I asked around, and turns out my brother and Mark could never spend two minutes in each other’s presence without trying to murder each other. And here I thought I knew everything, living in the samesmalltown. I didn’t even know they were enemies.
But they don’t look like they’ve been in a fight. In fact, Mark looks good. Very good. His beard is neatly trimmed, and his hair is gathered in a bun at the base of his head. He lost some weight, but he looks great. His ugly red sweater with a dancing green gnome makes him match the decor of the room. Even though my mom is a good decorator, she tends to go overboard when holidays are concerned.
A huge German shepherd runs in and nearly knocks me on the floor. Giving me a thousand doggy kisses, he runs around my legs like a crazy Chihuahua. I can’t resist his love and crouch next to him, hugging his furry neck.
Justin walks by and takes off his winter coat. Under it, he’s wearing the same sweater as Kayla. He walks to her as if they haven’t seen each other for days, grabs her from the chair and gives her a deep kiss. Right here. In front of my parents and me, in their dining room.
My mom clears her throat, and Justin lets go of Kayla; her cheeks are flushed, and she’s trying to fix her sweater after Justin’s wandering hands. He walks back toward Mark and puts his hand on his shoulder. I expect Mark to shrug it off, but he doesn’t. Instead, he’s frozen with his eyes fixed on my face. He feels out of place. I know it by the way his shoulders are squared back and how his eyes are slightly squinted, as if he’s searching for an escape route. But that’s not what he’s looking for. He’s looking for something on my face.
Justin pushes Mark farther. “This is my Christmas gift to you. Sorry I forgot to wrap it up ’cause the package is pretty fucking ugly.”
“Looks good if you ask me.” Mom chimes in, and my father groans.
“You’ll be the death of me, woman.”
Mom is known to have crushes on celebrities, and she’s clearly crushing on Mark. We all chuckle.
I clear my throat. “Looks perfect to me too.”
Mark’s cheeks above his neat—a rarity—beard pinken, and the corner of his lips tilts up.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“He’s my guest. So too bad if you don’t want him here.” Justin chuckles and goes to pick a garlic knot from the plate. He instantly gets smacked on the hand by Mom. “Ouch! I just can’t win this house.” He pouts like a baby.
“I’m here to see you, if that’s all right.” Mark voice is firm but careful.
“Is it all right, sis?” Justin’s voice loses all playfulness. He’s my big brother now, the one who’s been protecting me all these years.
I nod, and he gets up from the chair.
“Cool. We’re gonna go and start opening presents.”
“Nonsense!” Mom cries out, offended. “Before the dinner? I don’t think so. Let’s go fix some lights in the living room. I have a couple more to put on.”
Everyone groans but follows Mom. She’s the queen of the house, and you don’t come to a queen’s house with your own rules. Trust me, I learned it the hard way.
