Page 120 of Perfectly Complicated
“I asked myself the same thing this morning,” she says, beaming up at me.
I still can’t fathom how this incredible woman brought Christmas to my doorstep, then scrounged up cinnamon rolls too.
When I reach for a roll, she slaps my hand away lightly. “You’re going to make Aria wait for her presents?”
I open my mouth, then think better of it. Breakfast can wait, although I’m not sure my stomach agrees. When Aria lets out a happy squeal of agreement, I crumble. She’s got me wrapped around her little finger. “Of course I wouldn’t make my little princess wait.”
She takes Aria from my arms and heads toward our little Christmas plant, where a small pile of gifts sits underneath. She sets Aria on the floor before placing a wrapped gift in front of her, which Aria just stares at.
“I don’t think she knows what to do,” I say, settling on the floor next to her and loosening an edge to show her how to rip paper.
Then Aria tries. As soon as she gets the paper in her hands, she tears it and then…cackles.
It’s the cutest thing. And then she does it again.
“I think she’s more interested in the paper than the actual present,” Janie says around a laugh.
By the time Aria opens the gift, a copy ofHow the Grinch Stole Christmas,she’s still shredding leftover paper.
Just as I’m about to suggest digging into cinnamon rollsbefore they get cold, my phone buzzes with a video call notification from our Crushers group thread.
“Should I answer it?” I ask Janie, holding up my phone. Luckily, Janie brought a charging cord with her, so by morning, I had no less than twenty-five messages waiting for me, most of them frantically asking where I was.
“They probably want to know if I made it,” she says, getting up to pour herself another cup of coffee. “And if you’re still alive.”
I accept the call, and immediately a grid of squares fills the screen, showing me my teammates in various states of holiday chaos.
Brax and his brother, Vale, are at Rose & Thorn with what looks like a wrapping paper explosion behind them. Tate is in the car with Lauren on their way to her family celebration. Miles is at the airport waiting to catch a flight home. Leo is on the couch with Victoria, cuddling in that ridiculously happy way. And Brendan is offscreen, but judging by the obnoxiously lavish tree behind him, he’s most likely at Mr. Marco’s house. The only one missing from our usual conversation is Jaxon, who’s probably still asleep.
“Well, well,” Leo says. “Look who’s not sulking alone on Christmas morning.”
Brax appears in the frame. “Janie! You made it.”
“With a little help,” she says.
“Jaz and I were worried about you and Aria. We were catching up Vale and Sloan on the situation.”
We wave to our old teammate Vale, who now plays for the NHL team in Tampa and lives there with his wife, Jaz’s sister.
“Tate, how’d you even know where to tell Janie to find me?” I ask.
“The process of deduction,” Tate says. “We figured if Janie was crazy enough to drive there on Christmas Eve, she’d probably track you down.”
Janie leans into the camera view. “Honestly, it was a teameffort.”
“Wow, she’s wearing your jersey?” Miles blurts out, then immediately turns red. “Sorry.I thought she hated hockey.”
Leo snorts. “Smooth, rookie.”
Miles frowns. “Well, there’s this girl from high school who still won’t wear my jersey, and I’ve been trying for like three years…”
“Miles,” Janie says gently, “the secret isn’t the jersey. It’s the game-day suit.”
My head whips toward her. “You never mentioned that before.”
“Wasn’t it obvious at Marco’s party?” She gives me an innocent glance.
“Speaking of that party,” I say, scanning the screen, “where’s Brendan? I want an update on the Scarlett situation.”
