Page 29 of Take Me Home for Christmas

Of course, he’d left out a few details. Like how at first, he refused, but I could tell how starving he was, and so I pushed the sandwich at him as I continued reading about the little green room and the cow jumping over the moon. He took a bite and then made a terrible face that told me he literally had never tasted almond butter before, which prompted me to say, “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“Yeah. You’re right,” he said, chasing it with a little container of apple juice. “Actually, it’s not bad. In fact, it tastes as good as a loaded pizza right now because I’m famished. Thank you.”

“I have to finish the story,” I told my family. To Brax, I said, “You felt bad that you ate half my sandwich. So a few hours later, you showed up with a warm sausage and egg sandwich and coffee.”

My family gave a collectiveaww, which made Brax look a little twitchy.

“You two are the cutest,” Dina said.

Brax was quite the storyteller. But as I returned to my mercifully pea-less plate, I sternly reminded myself that it was just a story. A simple act of taking care of each other between people who were in a kind of war zone together.

And a nice thing to tell people when the truth was way too painful.

It didn’t mean anything more.

But part of me couldn’t help wishing that it did.

Chapter Ten

Mia

As dinner ended, I shook the stardust from my feet and got back to reality because I had an important fire to put out. I cornered Liam in the kitchen while he was loading his plate into the dishwasher and pulled him over to the little nook near the back door. “Maybe you two shouldn’t take Brax…”

He gave me a sweet, older brother smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll go easy on him, sis.” He chuckled at my concern. “We just want to get to know him better.” He extended his arms and cracked his knuckles ominously just to torment me.

“Okay, but—” I opened my mouth to say—no, to beg—Please don’t tell him about Charlie. But then I stopped myself. What kind of girlfriend wouldn’t tell her serious boyfriend about the Charlies in her life?

I mean, I would have if we’d had more than a handful of dates. After that, I purposely kept the personal info to a minimum. With all the trauma of getting him here, I’d avoided giving him the course on Mia 101. How were my brothers not going to see straight through this sham?

“What’s going on?” Caleb asked from the top of the stairs. “What’s the huddle for? Is Mom okay?”

“Mia’s worried about us roughing up Brax tonight.” Liam’s mouth turned up in a smile. “I told her we’d be nice—for the most part.”

“I just—I just don’t want you guys to get into the past.” I tried not to plead, but I could hear it in my voice.

“The past?” Caleb looked puzzled. “As in Charlie?”

“Yes, numbnut,” Liam answered. To me, he asked, “What’d you decide to do about the party? That’s got to feel awkward.”

“No, it’s not,” I said firmly. “Because I’m not going. I wish Charlie well, but I don’t need to show up to do it.”

“That’s okay,” Liam said. “Do what you want.”

“You don’t have to show up,” Caleb said. “Butshouldyou?”

I rolled my eyes. This was why I loved Liam and hated Caleb. Caleb always poked the bear.

“Back off, Cay,” Liam said, giving me that concerned older brother look that almost made me spill everything. If I confessed it all now, maybe they’d understand. But they’d never be able to keep it from our mom. “You found someone better. Screw Charlie, right?”

With a sinking feeling, I realized that I would have to tell Brax about Charlie, fast. “Don’t discuss Charlie, okay?” I asked. “It’s—over and done with. I just don’t want?—”

Liam gave me a giant side hug. “Hey, we won’t embarrass you. Brax seems like a nice guy.” He flashed a handsome grin. “And if he’s not, we’ll find that out in the barn. Then we’ll take care of him.” He laughed just as Brax sauntered over. “You ready?” Liam asked. “You can help us with the firepit.”

“Okay,” Brax said. He’d gotten his jacket and was wearing a multicolored knit ski cap with earflaps and a giant pom-pom. He saw me staring at it. “What?” he said, giving it a tug. “Caleb let me borrow it.”

I caught Caleb’s eye just as he turned to leave. He was biting the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing. Because Caleb had given him, of all the hats, my mom’s. But I didn’t dare tell Brax. Besides, I was too busy trying not to laugh myself to be able to talk.

He looked dopey and silly and somehow very earnest, and for a second, I just wanted to run into his arms and kiss him. For being a good sport. For being willing to subject himself to the whims of my brothers. For sneak eating my peas and making up a sappy story at the table.

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