Sara’s smile softens and she hurries over to scoop him up. “We don’t have to kiss, Gagey. That’s just if people want to.”
“No, you do,” Gage says, and the light catches a tear trembling on his lashes. “It’s the rule or you don’t get your Christmas wish.”
I throw a confused glance at Taylor. I haven’t heard this tradition.
“That’s what my dad tells my mom so she has to kiss him,” Taylor explains.
Mrs. Bixby gets up from the sofa and walks over to Sara and Gage. She gives his leg a squeeze. “That’s not the real rule, Gage. It’s just Grandpa being silly.”
But Gage is shaking his head. “No, there has to be kissing.” His face crumples as he says with even more distress, “But that’s not Daddy.”
Not being Dean suddenly feels like the biggest failure of my life as Gage’s tears fall. They’re big, and he’s not making any noise, but he looks absolutely brokenhearted.
Taylor jumps to her feet. “Your mom was just saving my place for me.”
We made some questionable decisions the last time she and I were near mistletoe. I should find a way to get us out of this. But I watch her hurry toward me, already mouthingSorryas Gage lifts his head, and I don’t want to get us out of this. A reckless part of me takes over and wants to see if I imagined how it went the last time.
“You’re going to kiss?” Gage asks.
If every single one of our parents wasn’t already paying attention, their heads would have swiveled toward us in perfect sync, I’m sure.
“They sure are,” my mom says, her eyes gleaming. It’s a distinctly plotty kind of gleaming.
Sara leaps at the lifeline Taylor has thrown her. “It’s okay that I was saving Tata’s place, right, little man?”
I dart my eyes to Taylor, who is now standing next to me, squinting up at the mistletoe. Does she realize she’s frowning? Makes a dude feel awesome. “Tata?” I ask quietly.
“Don’t even start,” she mutters.
“It’s okay,” Gage says. “Do a kiss now and fix Christmas.”
I drop my voice even lower and smirk at Taylor. “Stop making this awkward. You heard him. Christmas is on the line.” Then I lean down and drop a kiss at the corner of her mouth, getting a strong whiff of cookies for my trouble. She’s wary, and I don’t want to push this only to satisfy my curiosity.
It’s over so quickly that Taylor doesn’t even have a chance to react, her eyes barely starting to widen as I straighten. I give her a big close-lipped smile, likeSee? Painless. But I’m also keeping them pressed tight because if I don’t, they’ll soften and seek hers out again. This is not ideal.
I smile at Gage, trying to smooth over the nervous energy buzzing between Taylor and me. “Thanks for helping us remember the rule, buddy.”
But he’s frowning. “That’s not how Grandpa and Grandma do it.”
My dad snorts, and Sara shakes her head at her parents. “Y’all been married thirty-five years. Your conduct is unbecoming.”
“Ask me if I’m sorry,” Dr. Bixby says, grinning.
Taylor mutters again, and I scold her, barely above a whisper. “That’s a no-no word, Tata.”
She pokes me in the ribs, and I grunt.
“Gage, buddy, maybe you best explain how I should do this so we don’t go around messing up Christmas wishes,” I say.
Taylor glares at her dad.
“You have to push her almost all the way over and then do a long kiss that sounds like—” and he makes a noise that for as many sounds as I’ve had to describe from foreign lands, I wouldn’t even know how to replicate. Maybe a combination of humming and lip smacking?
“It’s a dip-and-smooch thing,” Sara says, her voice fading as Taylor directs her wrath-filled gaze her sister’s way.
I keep my expression grave even though I can tell my dad is about to lose it. “I understand,” I tell Gage. “It sounds like this is very serious. So I dip back Tata, give her a loud, long smooch, and then we’ve got it?”
He nods his head. “Then when you’re done, you pat her bum.”
