Page 58 of Mistletoe Meet Cute
Only it’s not Holly looking at me. It’s Emmie. “Hey. I just saw Holly outside. She seems good.”
“Yeah. She’s okay. She’s going to talk to her dad.”
“Things seem serious between you.” Emmie doesn’t ask a question. That’s not her style. “Hi, baby girl,” she coos at Sophie before picking her up and snuggling her to her face. “You seem happy, Cam.”
“I am,” I admit. “Wasn’t exactly expecting this.”
“I know. It’s kind of weird, right?” She brings Sophie over to the window to look out at the snow. “We spent so much of our lives in fight-or-flight mode. It’s almost not natural to be able to accept the good that’s right in front of you.”
“I never wanted you to live in fight-or-flight mode, Em. I swear to God, I tried to do everything I could to make sure you had a better life than that.” I fucking hate the sound of that for her. “I tried so hard to make sure you and Vivi didn’t have to live like that.”
“I know you did, Cam. But we were all kids.” She gets quiet for a minute as she turns toward me. “I think Vivi would like Holly. She’d like her infectiously happy personality.”
“She’d love how much Holly is obsessed with Christmas.” My heart hurts, thinking about my sister and how much I wish she were here right now.
Emmie smiles, and it doesn’t look sad the way it typically does when we talk about Vivi. “She’d love how much Holly’s Christmas chaos drives you crazy. Vivi loved driving you nuts.”
“She really did,” I laugh. “I wish she could be here to see Sophie and Rosie.”
“Me too. Her and Dad.” She kisses the top of Sophie’s head. “But they know, Cam. And I like to think they’re watching over us, and they can see we’re happy.” She drops her voice, a seriousness there now that wasn’t a second ago. “You know it’s okay to be happy, right? We’ve had a lot of bad in life. More than I think a lot of other people have. But none of it was your fault. You did the best you could. We were all kids.”
I nod, knowing she’s right. Even if it’s hard not to blame myself for a lot of the shitty years. “It’s so fucking hard to not feel like it was my responsibility to protect you guys better. I worry I’ll fail Sophie the same way. Maybe fail Holly too.”
“Hey.” She moves in front of me and gets right in my face. “Do not talk about my big brother that way. You’re here, and you’re pretty great, Camden. You did everything you could. We all did. Life happens. And sometimes, it’s bad. Sometimes, it’s not. Right now, it’s pretty great, so enjoy every minute of it. Don’t second-guess. Don’t wait for the other shoe to fall. Embrace living, Camden. Embrace happy. You deserve it.”
I wrap an arm around Emmie and Sophie. “How did you get to be so smart, kid?”
“I had some pretty great siblings to look up to.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “And I’m pretty excited we get to raise our kids together now.”
“Do you have plans for Christmas Eve, Em?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “We spend the whole year with Maverick’s family. I’m pretty sure I could convince him that we need to do Christmas Eve with ours.”
It’s been a long damn time since I’ve looked at my life and felt like it was more than just Emmie and me. Even over the past few years since Maverick and Rosie came into Emmie’s life, it’s taken me a while to feel like I deserved them. Like I deserved to be part of a family. I hadn’t even considered having one of my own until Sophie was placed in my arms for the first time. And now... Now, it just feels right.
“Good. I have an idea . . .”
HOLLY
I made Santa come twice last night... I always wanted to say that.
—Holly’s Secret Thoughts
Briggs
Where the hell is everyone?
Rainey
Working.
Ryleigh
Shopping.
Hadley
Could you do that for me too? Please?
