Page 104 of Holiday Romance
Christian studies me for a moment before bringing his finger to his lips in a shushing motion. With exaggerated slowness, he opens the door next to the bathroom, revealing a boiler similar to the one my parents have. With a wink, he flicks the switch, turning the hot water off.
“Happy Christmas,” he says to me, and pads toward the stairs, sipping at his tea.
I wait until he’s gone before turning the water back on and then I scurry back to the bedroom where I use Andrew’s deodorant and get dressed in the same clothes I slept in. I’m barely covered for five seconds when Hannah calls through the door.
“Heard you needed supplies,” she says when I open it. She tosses me an unopened packet of underwear as she steps into the room. “Don’t worry,” she says. “I’ve got hundreds. I’m making a dress out of them for school.”
There’s a lot to unpack in that sentence. I decide on the easiest option.
“You make clothes?”
“Yep,” she says cheerfully. There’s no hint of shyness or faux modesty about her and I love it. I wish I had been that confident at her age. “I thought you could wear this with your jeans,” she adds, laying out a soft blue sweater with a subtle shimmer of silver thread throughout. “It’s a little big but—”
“It’s perfect,” I say, touched by her kindness. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” She adds a pair of socks and a plain vest to the pile. “So are you dating my brother?”
“I—what?” I blink as she bounces onto the bed.
“He hasn’t brought a girl home inyears,” she says innocently, stretching her long legs out before her.
Andrew brought someone home with him? A spike of jealousy runs through me as I think through his last couple of girlfriends and who was the most likely candidate. He definitely letthatlittle detail slip by.
“Mam hated her,” Hannah continues, smiling when I stare at her. “But she likes you. I can tell.”
“You can?”
“She gave you the good towels.”
The door opens before I can respond and Andrew thankfully appears. His eyes immediately find mine with a soft look that drops as soon as he notices Hannah.
“Get out of my room.”
“This is Liam’s room.”
“Then get out of Liam’s room.”
“I was just talking to—”
“Out,” he says, grabbing her arm.
“But I’mhelping.”
He pushes her into the hallway, shutting the door on her raised middle finger.
“Are you going to have sex?” she calls through the wood, and he bangs on the wall until her footsteps sound, moving toward the stairs.
“She’s sweet,” I say when he turns back to me.
“When she wants to be.”
I pick up the sweater Hannah left me, wrapping it around the packet of underwear that I’m suddenly ridiculously shy about. Andrew immediately notices something’s up.
“She didn’t say anything to you, did she?”
“No,” I lie. I keep my eyes on the window, pretending to be captivated by the view of a field outside as I listen to him unzip the suitcase behind me. “What’s the deal with your brother?”
Andrew sighs mournfully. “I knew you’d like him more. It’s the dark brooding thing he’s got going on, isn’t it?”
