Page 135 of Riding the Pine

“If you need one, you can borrow mine.” Her eyes glisten with mischief as she pats my arm. “Are you okay, Scott?” She cups my face with one hand and gives me a looking over including taking my temperature with the back of her hand. It’s adorable and makes me feel like part of the family. Something I don’t think I’ll ever feel with my own family.

That thought sends a pang into my chest. I should call Mom. She’s just broken up with her third boyfriend of the year after she caught him stealing from her. I wish she’d learn that she’s worth so much more than those deadbeat, wife-beater-wearing assholes she gravitates too. But I don’t think she ever will.

She’s taken to drinking her way through life ever since her brother joined his son behind bars. There doesn’t seem to be a way to reach her the way the de la Peña family reached me. But I’ll keep trying.

“I’m okay, Abuelita. Gracias.” I offer her a morsel of my terrible Spanish. “I’m just taking a moment to enjoy Athena from above.”

“She’s a force of nature.” Abuelita leans forward to get a glimpse of her granddaughter. “What are your intentions with her, Scott?”

“I figured you all knew. I’m going to marry her. I’d do it right now if I thought she’d have Tinkerbell in her wedding pictures.”

That makes the old woman laugh, then cough. She’s looking older than her years lately, but no one’s said anything, so I’ve kept the stray thought to myself.

“Would that be okay with you?” I risk a sidewards glance at the woman who terrifies me more than my girlfriend.

“Are you asking my permission to marry my granddaughter?” She arches a brow at me.

“God no.” I snort. “The only person I need permission from is the woman herself. Can you imagine what she’d do to me if she thought I asked anyone for permission for her hand?” I press a hand over my chest. “She’d rip my heart out of my body, Abuelita.”

She nods. “She would indeed. But you have my blessing.” She digs into her pocket under her dress. “And now you have my ring.”

I stare at the navy-blue, velvet box she’s pressed into my palm. It’s heating my skin, warming my insides. I don’t know what to say. I look between the box, and the woman Athena looks up to as one of her greatest role models.

She doesn’t wait for me to open the box. She simply pats me on the back as she moves toward the stairs. “She’s going to need you when I’m gone, Scott.”

Gone?

My insides turn to ice. She means in like years, right? Like in a long way from now kind of timeline?

She’s already floated to the bottom of the staircase like a real witch, elegant, quiet, and nimble. She can’t have meant anything by those words, right?Right?

CHAPTER 59

Scott

DECEMBER

“Deck the halls…” Apollo hands a Christmas decoration to Ares.

“With hockey sti-icks.” Ares hands it to me.

“Fa-la-la-la-laaaaa.” I hand it to Athena.

“La-la-la-la.” After she’s finished singing, all our heads turn to Artemis who’s sitting on the loveseat across the living room in Mamá’s house.

He holds his hands up. “Nope.”

Most of us roll our eyes, but Ares throws a cushion at him. “Fuckin’ Grinch.”

Artemis flips him off.

“Not even Xavier can turn his Christmas frown upside down.” Apollo mutters, making Ares snort.

“There aren’t enough ghosts in all the land to make Arte’s heart grow three sizes.” Athena’s deliberately mixed up her references which makes me chuckle as she hangs another decoration on the tree.

I’m glad we opted to do this together this year. Watching her string those lights by herself last year never sat well with me, but I didn’t need to say a word this year. It was Artemis who asked if we could all get together to decorate the tree.

Gabriella is in the kitchen making cookies with Abuelita. A few of us started in there but we were kicked out for nibbling at the different kinds of dough.

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