Page 408 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
KARI
The flight was delayed a little, so they didn't get home until three in the morning. Kari begged Jake to spend the night with her, though he much preferred them stay together out at his house. Getting up around her friends weirded him out for some reason.
She woke before him and turned on her side, smiling. He was beautiful, lying beside her on his stomach, his dark hair tousled and lips so damn kissable.
Reaching over, she ran her fingers down the side of his face. How did she ever get so lucky? Life with him was going to be fully alive, feeling and experiencing so much more than she thought possible.
Now if her mother and brother could find the same type of relationships, everything would be great.
"Speaking of," she whispered softly and rolled over, carefully getting out of the bed and pulling on her robe. Marc was most likely rolled up with Lisa, but she hadn't talked to her mom in a few days. The conversation outside of the church on Christmas Eve was almost too short for her liking.
She walked out into the hallway, and closed the door behind her. It was almost nine, but everyone would most likely still be asleep. Sicily's little compact car wasn't out front the night before, which meant she was most likely over at Drake's place near the edge of town. Kari had very little doubt that as Sicily and Drake got more serious, that Sis would end up moving in with him, leaving Kari and Lisa with the big white house.
Some part of her wanted to have an honest conversation with Lisa about finding another place to live so she and Jake could move in together, but it wasn't fair. Marc would be out of school and hopefully in Maine by May the next year if everything worked out. Kari could hold on until then.
She found her phone and walked to the kitchen, making herself a quick cup of coffee before walking down the hall to the back door. She slipped on a pair of big furry slippers that had to belong to her brother. No one else would wear something so ugly.
She laughed at the thought and walked outside as the winter wind blew around her. Thick pockets of snow covered the ground, but the porch wasn't too bad. Marc had to have shoveled it off the night before.
Kari brushed off the bench seat below her, pulled her robe close and sat down. She took a quick sip of her coffee and called her mom.
"Kari? Is everything okay, baby?" Her mother sounded far too worried.
"Hey, Mom. I just wanted to call to check in. I got up before everyone else and figured it would be a good time to check up on you. You doing okay?"
Her mom sighed. "Yes. You worried me. I can't remember the last time you or Marc called before noon."
"I remember." Kari snorted and picked up her coffee. "Marc was seventeen and he was at the police station. He called at six that morning in November years ago. Remember that?"
Her mom laughed softly. "I do remember it."
A deep voice sounded softly in the phone. "Who's that, baby?"
Kari stiffened and glanced around. "Mom? Who was that?"
"Charles, sweetheart. He came over for coffee and hot rolls this morning."
"Whose hot rolls?" Kari felt overly protective all of a sudden. Her mother just started dating this guy. Had he spent the night? She tried to pull back the need to throw a million questions at her mom and simply listen.
"Kari. Really?" Her mom's voice was filled with joy. "He came over this morning, honey. We've just decided to try dating."
"Oh. All right." Kari turned as the door opened behind her. Marc walked out and gave her a look.
"Are those my slippers?"
Kari laughed. "I'll let you go, Mom. Just wanted you to know that I was thinking about you. Call me later, okay?"
"You bet. Love you, baby."
Kari dropped the call and swatted at her brother as he bent over and tried to take the shoes off of her feet. "Stop it. My feet will be cold."
"I'm barefooted." He stole one and put it on the ground, trying hard to keep both his feet on it as he shivered.
"For shit's sake." Kari got up and gave him a look. "Now we're both going to catch our deaths."
"Shouldn't have stolen my shoe." Marc reached over and picked the shoe up before running back toward the house. "Now whatcha gonna do?"
"Kill you." She tossed the contents of the coffee over the side of the porch and tried to hop to the door. After almost slipping and busting her ass four times, she finally decided to make a run for it.
