Felix swings his keys around one finger. “I won’t be long, promise. I’ll be back in time for Boggle.”
Stella sinks down in her chair beside me. Things are still tense between her and Felix. If they’ve talked it out, they haven’t come to a resolution.
Stella says she still believes he’s a good guy, but she can’t deny that Felix got in her head a little, so she’s letting things simmer. As I look closer, her phone is mysteriously not in sight. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen her texting all day. That would make two of us. After checking every hour, on the hour, for a text from Teddy, I gave up around dinner time and left my phone upstairs, so I couldn’t torture myself with it.
Maybe everything is fine and he’s just busy with Emmett and his family. Maybe what we had at the cabin was a moment, and nothing else will come of it. It’s the not knowing that is the hardest.
“Ugh, you’re killing us,” Dad groans as I get a triple-word score. My second of the game and I’m officially out of letters.
“She cheats,” Stella teases. “I swear she cheats somehow.”
“I need more coffee.” Mom covers a yawn as she stands. “I think I have jet lag.”
Headlights flash in the front window.
“Back just in time,” Dad says as he starts to put away Scrabble, and Stella gets Boggle from the game cabinet. “And it looks like he brought a friend.”
My head snaps up. Sure enough, a second set of headlights turn into the driveway. My heart beats wildly, hope rising with it. I push out of my chair and heads to the front door.
Teddy’s truck comes to a stop behind Felix’s car. My feet have a mind of their own, moving quickly toward him. My brother grins as I round the front of Teddy’s truck.
The driver’s side door finally opens, and Teddy hops out with a hesitant smile. “Hey.”
“Hi.” I’m frozen three feet away from him. “What are you doing here?”
Felix shuffles toward the house, giving us some privacy.
“I wanted to call, but I wasn’t sure what to say. I’m sorry about how we left things.”
“Me too.”
He steps closer and takes my hand.
I’ve missed him. After two years of dreaming of being with him, the reality was so much better.
“I want to be with you. Do you want to be with me, or did you just take looking out for your best friend’s sister a little too far?” I add in a little laugh at the end, like I’m half-joking, but my pulse races while I wait for his answer.
“Felix is like a brother to me. He’s my best friend. I owe him a lot. Of course, I’m always going to want to look out for you and Stella because of that.”
“But?”
“I like you. I’d like you even if you weren’t his sister. And it’d be a hell of a lot less complicated.” He smiles tentatively. “I want to be with you too.”
“We could have had this conversation over the phone, you know?”
Quiet laughter slips from his lips. “What can I say? I like how the Walters family does Christmas. And I also needed to deliver your present.”
My parents and Stella file out of the house.
“Theo!” Mom calls from the front porch. She is the only one that calls him that, but he doesn’t seem to mind. “I’m so glad you could join us.”
“Sorry to impose on your Christmas game night.”
“It’s no imposition,” my dad says. “Come in, come in. Holly was just destroying us at Scrabble.”
Teddy’s lips twitch with amusement as he looks to me. “One second. I need to grab something out of my truck. Felix?”
My brother nods and he and Teddy go to the back of the truck. Felix lowers the tailgate and then the two of them pull out a tree. I gasp and move closer. A Grand fir.