Page 37 of Better Than the Beach
She winks and saunters past me on her way to the car, sliding into the front seat without looking back at me. My girl has worked incredibly hard in this program, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Her thesis is nearly finished, and she’ll likely be graduating with honors in May. She even already has a job lined up for after graduation. She’s thriving, and it’s such a beautiful thing to witness.
I don’t bother trying to tame my smile as I climb into the driver’s seat and pull onto the street. I reach over and take Cassie’s hand in mine, she puts Christmas music on the radio, and then I drive us to Golden with jolts of excitement building in my chest with each mile of highway we cover. When we pull up roughly ninety minutes later, I’m practically giddy.
“Oh wow, it’s beautiful,” Cassie says as she takes in Ma’s Christmas decorations. “She really went all out this year.”
I nod as I pull into the driveway and put the car in park, then survey the house. Every single window is lined with white lights and adorned with a classic pine wreath sporting a red bow. The trees in the front yard are also covered in twinkling lights, and there is a whole Santa’s sleigh and eight reindeer tableau on the highest ridge of the roof. Add in the candy canes, nutcrackers, and snowmen scattered about the front yard, and Ma’s house is something straight out of a holiday bedtime story.
“She definitely didn’t pull any punches,” I agree. “With Oliver finally able to be home for holidays this year, I think she wanted to create her own little Christmas wonderland.”
“She succeeded,” Cassie says, then grins at me. “I’m excited to see Oliver and Bev. I bet Wyatt is huge by now.”
It’s been almost a year since we’ve seen my brother Oliver and his family, which means their youngest son is almost two. I’m excited to see them, of course, but it fills me with immense joy that Cassie is just as excited. She loves my family, and they love her.
Ilove her.
“You know Dunc is going to give you a hard time about being the favorite brother,” I tease, and Cassie rolls her eyes.
“You just keep Duncan and the boys occupied and I’ll hang with the spouses. Then Dunc will be your problem, not ours.”
She bats her eyes innocently, so I wrap my hand around her neck and pull her toward me until her lips are just a breath from mine.
“Boys?” I say, my voice a low rumble. “My brothers are almost twice your age.”
We’re so close that when she smirks, I can feel the motion better than I can see it.
“You six are no better than children when you’re together. I said boys, and I meant it.”
“Hmm,” I hum, then lean forward and take her lips with mine.
I coax her mouth open with my tongue and sink my fingers deeper into the hair at the nape of her neck. When she whimpers, I consider forgetting the plan and pulling her straight to my old bedroom to kiss her some more, but then a loud CRACK has us jumping apart with startled gasps.
“What the fu—” I start to shout, but then stop short when Duncan throws another snowball at my windshield. Craig, of course, is cracking up beside him, which gets Cassie giggling.
“I said what I said,” she sings, then she hops out of the car.
Cassie makes it five steps in the direction of my brothers before Oliver grabs her from behind and spins her in a circle, causing her to let out a shriek that quickly turns to giggles.
“Oliver, put my girlfriend down,” I say dryly, so he turns and hands her off to Duncan.
“Nolan says to put Cassie down,” Oliver says to Dunc, so Dunc takes her and turns to Craig.
“Professor Dweeb says to put Cassie down,” Duncan repeats, and hands Cassie over to him.
Her giggling hasn’t stopped, and when Craig turns and acts like he’s going to unceremoniously drop Cassie into a snowdrift, she yelps and clings to him in a way that makes her laugh harder. I have to bite my cheek, so I don’t also start laughing, and instead I stalk up to Craig and put my arms out. Craig grins.
“Professor Dweeb said to put his girlfriend down,” he says, and then he hands Cassie over to me.
She threads her arms around my neck and raises a sassy eyebrow at me.
“See?” she teases. “Children.”
I sigh and press a quick kiss to her lips before setting her back on her feet. When she quickly scurries away from me, I realize my mistake a split second before Oliver tackles me right into a snowdrift.
By the time I make it out of the snowdrift, my three brothers and I are all soaked from the snow, and my mom sends us straight upstairs to change. She doesn’t even say hello. Just points to the stairs. So, me, Craig, Oliver, and Duncan clomp up to our old rooms in a solemn line, leaving little puddles of melted snow behind us.
When my feet hit the landing again, this time dry and wearing a pair of my old hockey sweats, I find Cassie standing in the family room chatting with a very pregnant Mallory, her husband Patrick, and Craig’s husband Andrew. I kiss Cassie on the head and take her empty hot cocoa mug, then head into the kitchen to refill it.
I’m popping the hot cocoa pod into the machine when Oliver slides up next to me.
