Page 15 of Meddling Under the Mistletoe
“Wait, how do you know what he looks like?” Lindsey asks.
Willow’s gaze locks on the mug in her hands. “We may or may not have stalked him on social media after we left your place.”
Lindsey side-eyes Willow and Lucy.
“Come on.” Lucy turns her empathetic eyes on her sister. “You’ve hardly even been out with anyone since Daniel. This guy’s hot, and so are you. You’re a catch, Linds. You need to put yourself out there more.”
“It’s true,” Rose says, taking a sip of her coffee. “Because the next thing you know, you’ll be pushing seventy, and the most action you’ll get is when you sit on top of the washer on laundry day.”
The girls and I shake with laughter.
“La, la, la, la, la.” Ben plugs his ears with his fingers, probably willing the recliner to open up and swallow him whole. “I’ll take things I donotneed to know for one hundred, Alex.”
“But seriously, the guy is a smoke show,” Lucy says. “Dark hair, brown eyes.”
Willow nods. “And he’s got this cute little scar over his top lip.”
“He’s gorgeous,” Ellie adds with a dreamy sigh.
“I’m sitting right here, you know.” Ben playfully pokes his wife in the ribs.
“Oh hush,” Ellie chides. “You are too.”
“Yes, you are,” I say. “You look just like your father.”
And just like that, all of the oxygen leaves the room, and the laughter fades as my eyes brim with tears.
“I should go check on the kids,” Ben says, coming to kiss my cheek before he leaves the room.
“I’m sorry.” I swipe my fingertips beneath my lash line.
“It’s all right, Mom.” Lindsey moves to sit next to me on the couch and clasps my hand in hers.
“You don’t need to apologize,” Ellie says.
Lucy gives me a wistful smile. “We miss him too.”
“You know what you need?” Rose grips my knee and turns to me with an expression so sincere it makes my eyes well up all over again.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“You need to go run a load of laundry.” She winks at me, and I immediately roll my eyes. “I’m telling you, sister. A little ride on top of the ole Whirlpool is just what the doctor ordered.”
“I heard that,” Ben says as he re-enters the room, and we explode into fits of giggles. My tears are forgotten for the moment, but Henry is never far from my mind.
5
LINDSEY
“I hopeyou’ve got some body armor under that sweater,” Lucy says to me as the breeze whips through her rose-gold ponytail, revealing the cluster of stars tattooed on her neck.
I roll my eyes. “I’m talking to our mother, not a mob boss.” We’re standing on the back deck of our childhood home on Thanksgiving, where we were not even a week ago, while the kids play in the yard. The late afternoon sun is casting a golden glow over everything it touches. It’s a pleasant, cloudless day. You’d never know a storm was brewing right here at the Haggerty house.
Ben smirks. “With the amount of cutlery lying around, I’d say this could be every bit as dangerous.”
“I think I’d rather meet Al Capone in a dark alley than talk to Mom about changing our Christmas plans,” Lucy says with a laugh.
The door to the back patio opens and Ellie emerges with Willow, their wine glasses freshly refilled. A crash, followed by a string of expletives and metal pots clattering, pierces the air outside, and Willow winces, closing the door.
