“Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “Plaid cover. The metal rings make a clicking noise if you spin them too fast. Mom would tell me to leave it alone.”
“Me too. She had to reinforce her favorite pages with clear tape. This is one Gideon found at some antique sale, but hers had this same cover. Same brand.”
“I remember.” Brandon had a far-off look in his eyes as he petted the book. “Her Santa ones were my favorite.”
“Mine were the stars.” My voice came out all gruff. I always forgot there were things he did remember. He’d been at that in-between age, where much of his before memories were fuzzy, but then he’d surprise me with something he did remember.
“With yellow icing.” A smile crept across Brandon’s face like remembering all this pleased him. Which was good. Last thing I wanted was for his throat to feel as raw as mine. I’d keep all the chest pangs to myself. We should have made cookies years earlier. I was always the one who couldn’t easily talk about our parents, not him.
“Aw. I bet you were such a cute kid.” Elaine gazed adoringly at Brandon before turning to me. “Do you have pictures?”
“Not many,” I said honestly, but then her face fell, and I had to backtrack. “I mean, a few. School ones and such.”
“Paul was late to the digital revolution,” Brandon teased. More like I’d been too broke for a fancy camera and never had much patience for the film kind, but Elaine’s expectant expression made me wish I’d taken dozens more.
“Hey, I have an actual smartphone now and everything.” My voice came out all defensive, which wasn’t how I wanted things to go, so I took a breath to try to let go of my guilt. “After we finish with the cookies, I’ll show you what I have.”
“I’d like that.” Elaine slid one of the makeshift cookie racks closer to her and Brandon as Gideon set out tubes of ready-made icing. He was also stirring up some sort of white glaze in a bowl.
“You must be so tired if you did a red-eye flight.” After placing the bowl of icing on the counter, Gideon bustled around, getting cups from the cupboard. Funny how he almost knew my cabinets better than me. Funnier still that I apparently owned four matching Christmas mugs. “Coffee?”
“Please.” Elaine accepted a cup with a grateful smile. Gideon was such an effortless host, supplying sugar and creamer in little containers I also hadn’t seen before.
“A French press?” Brandon was back to laughing as Gideon poured the coffee. “Did aliens kidnap my actual brother?”
“Gideon doesn’t like my coffee. He brought his own.”
“I don’t blame Gideon one bit. That’s the same coffee maker you had ten years ago.” Brandon pointed at my white one, which sat next to an equally ancient toaster.
“Guilty.” The whole not sounding defensive thing was hard, but Gideon discreetly patting my arm helped. He handed me a coffee, and the strong brew coupled with the distraction of cookie decorating helped me to relax more. Watching Elaine and Brandon was cute, the way they worked together.
“I can slip out when you help them take their luggage up to the guest room,” Gideon whispered as he added silver sprinkles to the white glaze I’d spread on a snowflake.
“What? Why?” The sprinkles looked good, and I turned the plate so the other cookie I’d iced could get some. Gideon wasn’t making a ton of sense. “You said the cat was fine, so why all this hurry to leave?”
“I don’t want to home in on your time with your brother.” Ah. Now it made more sense. He was worried about feeling like a fifth wheel. I patted his hand, but he continued to protest, “It’s Christmas Eve. It should be a family thing.”
“I need you here.” I had a feeling that I want wasn’t going to get me very far with Gideon and his weird sense of nobility, but he couldn’t argue with I need. And I did. No way could I enjoy myself knowing he was alone over at his house.
“Oh.” His mouth made a perfect circle before he nodded. “I suppose I can help.”
That wasn’t at all what I’d meant, but before I could explain that I needed more than simply his hosting skills, Elaine interrupted, holding up a cookie.
“Gideon, do you have blue icing? This guy wants a blue sweater.”
“Absolutely.” Gideon passed her the tube of blue. “Your snowman is too cute to eat.”
“Elaine always has an eye for detail.” Brandon rubbed her shoulder.
“She’ll like the soap then,” I said absently, which got me two blank stares from Brandon and Elaine.
“Paul and I disagree on the importance of things matching,” Gideon swooped in to explain. “I had some fun with the guest bath’s decor. You’ll see.”
“I’m team matchy-matchy.” Elaine gave a delicate laugh as she finished her perfect snowman and set him aside.
“I had too many years with Paul to notice matching. Give me functional.” Brandon’s gingerbread man-shaped cookie had buttons in some unfortunate places, and I laughed, even though I wasn’t sure whether that was a dig at me. Of course, I’d valued functionality. I’d had a kid growing like a weed, too many bills, and not enough time.
Back to decorating, I leaned closer to Gideon to whisper, “See? I need all the help I can get.”