Felix returns, when it’s borderline uncomfortable, and I have never been so glad to see him.
“Hey,” I say cheerily.
“Morning.”
“Just barely.” The microwave clock reads ten fifty-eight. “I checked and there is a tree lot about a mile away.”
He doesn’t look stoked about my idea, so I continue to plead my case, “If we don’t get one soon, they’ll be sold out.”
Felix kicks off his shoes and pulls a sweatshirt over his head. “No can do. I’m going to jump in the shower and then I have to go to Scottsdale. Mom texted last night. Apparently, she has carpet cleaners coming today.”
“Did you tell her you were here?”
“No. Just said I’d take care of it.” He shrugs.
It makes me smile, thinking of Mom worried about the cleanliness of her floors while on the beach.
“Are you coming back?”
“Yeah, we’ll be back later tonight.” He raises his voice, “Yo, Em, Luc. We’re leaving soon.”
Stella comes out of the bedroom, her eyes still half-closed. “You’re going home?”
“Just for the day.” He grabs a Gatorade from the fridge.
“Can I come with you? I want to do a load of laundry and grab some warmer clothes. I forgot how cold it gets up here.”
“Uhh . . .” Felix starts, “it’ll be tight, but I guess we could squeeze you in.”
“She can have my spot,” Teddy offers. “I’ll stay here.”
I glance between Stella and Teddy. “Stell, you can’t leave. We were going to watch Home Alone and Home Alone 2 today.” My cheeks heat. I know it sounds silly, childish even, but it’s a tradition. We always dedicate one day in the week leading up to Christmas to watch those two movies together.
“We’ll do it another day,” she promises.
“I could come too, and we could watch it on the drive.”
“No,” she says too quickly, “you should stay here. We’ll watch the movies tomorrow.”
She smiles, eyes wide like she’s trying to communicate something. Usually, I know what she’s thinking, even without that look, but right now I have no clue.
“Okay. I guess I’ll bake cookies today and we can decorate them tonight.” That’s another one of our traditions I look forward to every year. I like to bake. Stella hates to touch the oven, but she sits and talks with me while I do it. Occasionally, she even helps decorate them.
My sister steps closer and grabs my hand. “Holly, can you help me find the concealer?”
“It’s in the makeup case.”
She takes a step toward the bedroom, tugging me with her. “Show me. I couldn’t find it.”
“We’re leaving in twenty,” Felix calls after us.
She drops my hand and shuts the door behind us. I walk straight over to the makeup case and pick up the concealer.
“I don’t need the concealer.”
“Then why did you ask me to help you find it?”
“So you would stop going on and on about cookies and movies. You are going to be alone all day with Teddy.”
My face floods with heat, and I glance to the door. “Shhh!”
“Holly, this is the perfect opportunity.”
“Spending the day alone with Teddy is the perfect opportunity to what?” I throw my hands up in the air. “I still haven’t mastered talking to him without feeling like I’m going to pass out.”
“So don’t talk. Tear off all his clothes and kiss the man.”
“Oh my god, Stell. Shhh.” My face is on fire.
She laughs as I continue to freak out. “Your face is so red right now. Teddy is hot and nice and just . . . good, ya know? He’s one of the good ones. Lots of girls want to tear off his clothes. I don’t know why you’re embarrassed that you’re among them.”
“Because he doesn’t see me that way.”
“I don’t believe that for a second. Though he probably won’t make the first move because of Felix. You’re going to have to do it.”
“Yeah, well, that’s never going to happen.”
Emmett stands from the couch. “Try not to miss me too much, Hol-Stell-whichever one you are.”
“Holly,” Teddy and Stella say at the same time.
“Geez, dude. You’ve known them as long as Teddy.” Felix shakes his head.
“Sorry.” Emmett shrugs one shoulder. “But you told me not to look at them twice when we met, so . . .”
“He gave us all that talk,” Lucas says, then looks at Felix. “So don’t go blaming us for not being able to tell them apart two years later.”
“Fair enough.” Felix laughs and tosses a chin jut and smile at Teddy. “You’re good staying?”
“I’m not squeezing into the back seat with those two,” he says and points at Emmett and Lucas. Then he gives my brother an easy smile. “I’ll be fine, man. I’m gonna ice my tailbone. Drive safe.”
The door closes behind them and silence falls over the cabin. I’m alone with Theo Radford.
An entire day, just the two of us, in this cabin? Sure, that sounds like a dream come true, but that assumes a lot of things. Including my ability to form sentences.
“I’m going to shower.” Teddy jabs a thumb toward the bathroom.
I’m rolling out cookie dough, proudly wearing one of my grandmother’s old aprons, and listening to Christmas music.
I’ve known Teddy too long to feel uncomfortable being in the same space, but there is definitely a different type of tension when he comes out to the living room in jeans, holding his T-shirt in one hand.
“Hey, can you help me? I need to put some of this balm on my tattoo.”
“You got a tattoo?” He’s one of the few on the team that didn’t have one. Felix has so many I’ve lost count at this point.
“Yeah.” He smiles and those dimples make my stomach flip. “Two days ago.”
Teddy invades my space in the kitchen and turns to show me. Over his left shoulder blade is an intricately drawn woman with large wings. She stands in profile with a fierce look on her face, a sword at her hip.
“It’s beautiful. Does it have some significance?”
“She’s my guardian angel. Figured it wouldn’t hurt for her to have my back on the field, ya know? Plus, she looked awesome.” He hands me a tub of tattoo healing balm.
“Your guardian angel is seriously hot and pretty badass.”
His upper body shakes with his laughter. “No doubt.”
I dip my fingers into the balm and then run it over the tattoo. His skin is warm and my heart races as I gently dab it onto the skin. The tips of my fingers linger there, tracing the outline of the black ink.
“All done?” His voice is deeper than it was a minute ago and the sound goes straight to my lower stomach.
“Yeah.” I drop my hand and set the tub of balm on the counter.
I move to the sink to wash my hands and then go back to rolling out the dough.
Teddy puts on his shirt and then takes a seat at one of the stools on the other side of the counter. “I was thinking, if you want, I could go with you to pick out a tree.”