Clare seemed to notice me looking. She glanced around, making sure her mom wasn’t listening before she murmured, “They probably went to smoke.”
“They both smoke?” I whispered.
“Eric more than Jordan, but yeah,” she nodded.
I wondered how that would affect Jackson’s attempt to quit. Clare seemed to guess the direction of my thoughts. “Jackson will manage.”
I hoped so. I doubted it would deter me from kissing him in the future, but I wasn’t fond of finding out what ashtray mouth tasted like.
Dinner with the Harts was interesting to say the least. The table seemed to always be booming with conversation and lots of laughter. It was such a stark contrast from dinner with my family, but it also reminded me a bit of the Tylers. Thinking of them made me wonder if Tegan had made it back home yet. I was anxious to tell her about all of the recent developments in my love life.
After dinner Jackson and his dad cleared the table, and Jordan and Clare did the dishes. I offered to help, but none of them would hear of it.
“You’re the guest,” Siobhan said, smiling brilliantly. “Sit.”
I realized there was a hint of an accent to her voice. At first I thought she was just a very precise speaker, but the more she spoke the more the faint accent seemed to come through. It was just another curiosity I wanted to ask Jackson about later.
Jackson tried to steer me back downstairs while the others cleaned up, but Jordan insisted we stay. “You two can neck another time.”
“Shut up,” Jackson hissed. His embarrassment only seemed to please Jordan.
“Lay off already, Jordy,” Eric sighed, rubbing his temples.
“Sure, Ari,” Jordan spat back, and I guessed that Jordan liked being called “Jordy” about as well as Eric liked “Ari.” I noticed Jackson didn’t involve himself in this little tiff, and I wondered if it was so they wouldn’t call him “Jackie.”
Clare, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes. “You guys are ridiculous.”
“Oh, yes, because you’re so wise and mature, Clarissa,” Jordan answered.
I glanced at Jackson in surprise. I hadn’t realized Clare was a nickname. She seemed to be the only one in the family who went by one. Probably thinking I was surprised by the behavior of his siblings, Jackson shrugged as if to say this was nothing new.
Jackson steered the conversation into a discussion about what gifts we’d all received after that, probably hoping to curb the familial antagonism. We then moved onto music, and by the time the clean up was over, we’d all decided to watch a movie.
Because of Chloe, we stuck with a Disney theme, but I found watching a movie with the Harts was never a quiet affair. Commentary and debate seemed to be mandatory.
“Come on,” Eric scoffed as we were watching The Little Mermaid. “How can Ariel possibly be in love with some dude she’s only ever interacted with while he’s unconscious?”
“I don’t know,” Jordan shrugged. “That’s usually the best part of my relationships.”
I wasn’t sure what to think of that, but I suspected anyone dating Jordan was probably the happiest when he was unconscious as well.
“Shut up, you guys,” Clare glared. “This is my favorite movie.”
It was one of my favorites too, but I didn’t have a chance to speak up because Eric jeered, “Really? This crap?”
“It’s not crap,” Clare retorted.
I glanced at Jackson and he raised an eyebrow. “What do you think, Silly?”
Everyone—except for Chloe, who was ignoring everyone in favor of actually watching the movie—turned to me, and I immediately felt put on the spot. I considered for a moment. “Well, I think Eric’s probably right. You can’t fall in love with someone you don’t really know, and I’d never be willing to give up who I was for someone else,” I began. “I mean, Disney’s idea of romance should probably be taken with a grain of salt, but I still like the movies.”
“Very diplomatic,” Jackson grinned and my heart about beat out of my chest when he put his arm around me and pulled me closer to his side. Embarrassed by the watching eyes, I ducked my head as I snuggled up to Jackson.
After The Little Mermaid, Chloe insisted we watch The Lion King. It was decidedly less controversial, as far as the romantic aspects were concerned, and I was actually able to watch the majority of the movie.
After the movie was over, I realized just how late it was getting to be. I’d still make curfew, of course, but I still wanted to talk to Tegan if she made it home, and I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep in the next morning either, so as much as I didn’t want to leave Jackson, I mentioned that I should probably be getting home soon.
The goodbyes were long, and both Siobhan and Chloe hugged me at least twice before we made it out the front door with Eric, Jordan, Clare and Mr. Hart calling out goodbyes after us.
The ride was quick and quiet as snow fell down around us. From the inside of the car, I felt like I was traveling in a snow globe. The whole day had been utterly surreal. The last time I’d had such a good day was probably when I went to the art museum for my birthday with Tegan’s family.
When we pulled up in front of my house, Jackson finally broke the silence. “So are you and your sister still giving each other the silent treatment?”
“Mostly.” It wasn’t as deliberate on my part, but I hadn’t gone out of my way to speak to her either.
“You should probably talk to her, you know,” he said. “I don’t know if you were just fighting about me or if it was about something more, but staying mad at each other isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Yeah, I know.” I breathed out slowly. “She’s hard to talk to sometimes.”
“Family can be that way sometimes.” I glanced over at Jackson to meet his eyes. I wasn’t sure what he knew about that since his family seemed to get along so well despite their antagonistic nature, but I knew he was right.
“I might try to talk to her tonight,” I finally said. “I don’t know how it’ll go, but at the very least I should probably break the news to her that you do actually like me.”
“Do you want me to tell her?”
I shook my head. It was sweet of him to offer, but this was something I wanted to do. My motivation may not have been pure, but I felt like I’d earned it. “I can do it.” I smirked a little. “Besides, you’d probably let her down too easy.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Jackson grinned. “She’s the one that got you pissed off at me in the first place, and that wasn’t a happy place to be.”
“But I wasn’t really mean to you or anything until we had that fight,” I pointed out.
“You were avoiding me,” he countered. “Which was sort of mean.”
“True.” I scrunched up my nose in distaste. I really had acted like an idiot about the whole thing. “It was stupid too,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.” He flashed a smile to prove he meant it. “It all worked out in the end.”
“Yeah,” I blushed, “it did.”
“So, I’ll talk to you soon, right?”
“Definitely,” I nodded. I reached to push the car door open, but Jackson cleared his throat. Confused, I turned back to him. “Yes?”
He didn’t speak. Instead, he leaned over and brushed his lips against mine.
“Oops, I’ll have to work on remembering that part.”
“That’s something I can definitely help with,” Jackson volunteered.
Grinning, I rolled my eyes and told him goodbye before I climbed out of the car.
I hurried through the snow up to the house and turned to wave goodbye to Jackson before I slipped into the house. Mom popped her head into the hallway, looking hopeful, as I was taking off my shoes at the door. “Things go well?”
“Better than,” I grinned, blushing at the admission.
“I’m glad,” she said before reminding me again what time we’d be leaving in the morning. I then made my way up the stairs, plannin
g to call Tegan before I went to bed, but I met Skylar in the hallway.
She eyed me curiously. “Where’ve you been all day?”
“At Jackson’s.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Hart?”
“Do I know another Jackson?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “How should I know?”
“Oh, that’s right,” I rolled my eyes. “Nothing I do matters unless it directly affects you in some way.” Skylar narrowed her eyes, but the heat of her glare couldn’t touch me. Not after the amazing day I had. “To answer your question, yes, I was at Jackson Hart’s house.”
I moved to walk past her. It seemed that now wasn’t the right time to talk to her as intended, but instead of letting it go, Skylar followed me into my room.
“Listen, can we just stop fighting?” Her voice was softer and more resigned, as if she were truly tired.
I turned to face her. “I don’t know. Can we?”
“I was wrong about Jackson, okay?” she sighed and some of the annoyance seeped back into her voice. “I get it now. He doesn’t like me. He clearly likes you. It was stupid of me say those things to you, okay? I’m sorry.”
I stared, blankly, at my sister for a long moment. I tried to remember the last time Skylar apologized to me. Nothing came to mind. At least not anything our parents hadn’t coerced her into apologizing for, which didn’t count.
When I still hadn’t answered after another long moment, she prompted, “Silly?”
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed. “I’m just trying to embed this moment into my memory for the rest of my life.” It felt like a very Ron Weasley-like thing to say, but I was sure such references would be lost on Skylar.
Skylar rolled her eyes. “Seriously, Silly, what do you say?”
“What changed your mind?” I had to ask. There had to be a reason behind Skylar’s abrupt turnabout.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess maybe I always knew Jackson wasn’t really into me, so maybe I was just a little bit jealous of you.”
“What?” I nearly laughed at the strangeness of her confession. “You have guys falling all over themselves over you all the time. How could you possibly be jealous of me?”
“Yeah,” Skylar scoffed, “stupid guys that can’t carry a normal conversation for more than five minutes before wanting to get into my pants maybe, but not guys who actually care about anything I have to say.”
I’d always thought that was the kind of guy she preferred. I didn’t say anything, though, and let her continue on. “Jackson actually listened when we talked. It was nice, you know?”
I did know. That was the same thing I liked most about Jackson too.
“But,” Skylar sighed, “he probably just thought I was blubbering idiot since you were the one he was interested in all along.”
“You’re not a blubbering idiot.” She was a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them. Skylar rolled her eyes. “Stop being nice all the time. I’m a bitch. And I’m a shitty sister, too. You and all of your goodness can just get to be a bit too much at times.”
“I’m sorry?” I had no idea how I was supposed to answer that.
Skylar waved me off. “So, are we done fighting now?”
“I am if you are.”
“Deal,” she nodded. She looked uncertain for a minute. “We’ve never made up after a fight before. Should we shake hands or something?”
“Well.” I eyed her for a moment to see if she was being serious. She raised her eyebrows, obviously looking for an answer. How odd. I considered pointing out that this was just as new to me as it was to her, but I figured her annoyance threshold only went so far. “They always hug on Full House,” I pointed out.
“Okay.” Skylar looked out of her element, but she crossed the room purposefully and pulled me into a somewhat awkward embrace. It might have been a sentimental and somewhat monumental moment if Luke hadn’t shown up then. “Um,” he began from the doorway, “did something really tragic happen?”
“Shut up, Luke,” Skylar spat, stepping away quickly as if she’d been caught doing something terrible.
Luke rolled his eyes. “Well, before you two get all weepy eyed or try to hug it out with me or something, Dad wanted me to remind you both to set your alarms for tomorrow.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
If anyone knew how to really celebrate Christmas, it was the Sawyer clan. For one thing, they had a working furnace, so there were no hell-like conditions to contend with inside the crowded house. For another thing, Grandma Sawyer didn’t knit. Of course, I knew even if she did, she’d never give out hideous sweaters she expected us to wear.
It also didn’t hurt that the Sawyers, unlike the Grangers, gave personalized gifts they put some effort into instead of generic gift cards. Another thing that set them apart was the cheerful atmosphere that seemed to radiate throughout the entire house. When someone said they were happy to see someone else, they usually meant it. It didn’t even seem to matter we’d just been gathered together a month earlier for Thanksgiving either.
When we congregated at my grandparents’ house on Tuesday, everyone came bearing food. We always had a pitch-in dinner for Christmas. It was supposed to be so Grandma Sawyer wouldn’t have to cook as much, but she still insisted on cooking like crazy.
We still had a ton of cookies from Mom’s and my baking frenzy to contribute. Even with Luke sneaking cookies every chance possible, we hadn’t even begun to put a dent in them. Everyone else seemed to bring huge amounts of whatever dish they brought as well. Minya always brought deviled eggs, claiming they were her specialty.
“More like they’re the only thing she knows how to make,” Mom always muttered when Minya showed up and went on and on about them. “They’re not even that hard to make.”
I thought it was hilarious since Hamburger Helper was usually Mom’s best meal, but I wasn’t about to say anything to her.
Because there would likely be a riot if she didn’t, Bryley brought her signature cheese ball. I couldn’t say what it was about a glob of cheese that we all liked so much, but I did know it was easily my favorite item on the menu. Kingston’s wife, Sharon, made some sort of sweet potato casserole that had brown sugar and pecans on top. While sweet potatoes weren’t my favorite, it was actually pretty good. I couldn’t say the same for the green bean casserole Hagen’s wife, Nanette, made. I’d never given much thought to any of Hagen’s previous wives, but I definitely preferred the second one’s cooking. The meal was rounded out with ham, turkey, cheese potatoes, and the homemade yeast rolls Grandma Sawyer made.
Dinner was loud and relaxed. It reminded me of the previous evening with Jackson’s family, and I wondered how Jackson’s day was going. He’d mentioned he had to work, and I wondered if the theater was very busy. I was sure the mall itself would be packed with people eager to return unwanted gifts. Jackson probably had to park his precious car in the farthest corner possible in hopes of keeping it safe.
Because there were so many of us, we did a gift exchange instead of buying gifts for everyone. It was chaos, of course, as gifts were passed out and the wrapping paper flew. We’d drawn names at Thanksgiving, and I’d picked Aunt Nanette, which I wasn’t particularly thrilled about. It wasn’t because I didn’t like her. I just didn’t know her that well. Given Hagen’s relationship history, I wasn’t sure it was worth it to try. At Mom’s suggestion, I gave Nanette a gift basket from Bath and Body Works, which she absolutely loved.
“How’d you know Sheer Freesia was my favorite scent?” she exclaimed.
I just smiled in answer. Talk about a lucky guess.
Bryley picked my name, and even though she said it was refurbished, I knew the iPod Nano she gifted me was well above the fifty dollar spending limit. Still, I wasn’t crazy enough to refuse the gift. I was anxious to get home, charge it up and start adding music.
Luke was also exceptionally happy with his gift. Hagen picked his name, and he gave Luke an electric guitar. Dad looked like h
e wanted to dispute the price, but Hagen quickly explained, “I bought it off an old buddy. He was getting ready to move, and he had several guitars he was looking to get rid of. He gave me a great deal.”
Luke was nearly beside himself with glee. When he was younger, he had an acoustic guitar he found at a garage sale that he begged Mom to buy. He’d even taken lessons for a while, but he was mostly self-taught. The guitar was broken when a couple of his friends were over and they were, as Mom would call it, roughhousing.
“Alex pushed Toby,” Luke had explained on the brink of tears, “and Toby landed on it. It was death by ass.”
Luke didn’t hang out with Alex much after that since he was the cause of Toby’s fall, but once Luke got over the initial upset, it became a running joke that Toby must secretly work out to his mom’s exercise videos because he had buns of steel.
After the gifts were all exchanged, most everyone spread out throughout the house because the living room was much too small for so many people. Still, most everyone sat back and tried to relax and let their stomach settle after stuffing it to full capacity.
I’d taken the seat beside Bryley on the couch, and Macon was on my lap. I was trying to get him to say my name, but he wasn’t cooperating.
I was only half listening as Bryley asked Skylar, who was seated at her other side, “Do you still have a boyfriend, Sky?”
“No,” Skylar sighed, shaking her head as our three-year-old cousin, Shaylee, came over to investigate the bracelets Skylar was wearing. “But Silly has a boyfriend.”
Bryley’s eyes shifted to me and her eyes widened with curiosity. She opened her mouth, I’m sure, to inquire about my boyfriend, but Dad, who was seated in a nearby recliner, sat up abruptly and demanded, “Silly has a what?”
Since I’d thought Dad was dozing, I was somewhat surprised by his sudden involvement in the conversation. I didn’t know how to answer, so Skylar answered for me. “A boyfriend.”
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