Missing Christmas Eve for a crazy wedding she planned? Yeah, New Mom is all over that. On board, as they say. But missing the day?
Nah. I’m dead. I’m so dead when we get back in Key West.
Then we stop. I reach for my blindfold, convinced it’s time. But Emma’s hand stops me. Then she lifts one headphone away from my ear and says, “OK. We’re here. Are you ready for your Christmas present, husband of mine?”
I grin like a kid. “So ready. Hit me, Emma. Hit me with your best shot.”
She giggles. “I’m starting to think you have a thing for Pat Benatar.”
“I have a thing for you.”
“OK. Here we go.” She lifts the headphones off my head, then whispers, “Take off your blindfold.”
For a moment I’m super nervous and I hesitate. Because something about this place feels… familiar. And then… I know.
I know where we are.
I lift the blindfold up and off, holding it tight in my hand.
And I just look around in wonder.
A massive Christmas tree is in front of the window that has too many panes of glass. So many it looks like a checkerboard. Underneath are mounds of presents, some wrapped for Christmas, some for a wedding reception. And right next to it is the Santa Machine.
The entire dining room is filled with food. Turkey, and ham, and a seven-tier wedding cake. There is a roaring fire in the fireplace and hanging from the mantle are stockings.
A lot of stockings and these stockings have names.
But the names I really pay attention to are written in little-boy cursive with red glitter glue.
Then I look at Johnny and shake my head. “What’s going on?”
I know what’s going on. I just don’t understand it. We’re in the Bossy Building. Up on the family floor. The whole place is decked out for Christmas. Like… I’m starting to think Joey or Johnny ripped off a department store, that’s how huge this Christmas display is.
Johnny lets go of Megan’s hand and walks across the living room, his puppy, Jasper, trotting at his heels. It’s a massive room, filled with couches and chairs arranged into many mini-seating areas. And as he crosses, he passes many people.
All the people.
All my people.
The whole Dumas family. Silvia, Jack, Alonzo, Tony, and Luke.
The whole Boston family. Zach, and Joey, and Brooke, and Huck, and Wald, and even Maisy, and Malinda, and Michael Conner are here.
And Mila. And Diego. And Stephanie and Donny.
And Hannah and Darrel.
Even Natalie and her two boys.
Hell, even Key West Naked Girl is here, standing right between Luke and Zach. Everyone is here.
Johnny finally reaches me. He places both hands on my shoulders, just like he did last night. And he looks right into my eyes. “I know what I said last night. We are allowed to love each other any way we want. And we don’t need”—he pans his hand at the room and all it contains—“we don’t need all this to show that love. But you know what, brother?”
“What?” I whisper, searching his eyes for the answer.
“It’s time we let go of what we missed out on and embrace what we have.”
And that’s when I realize something.
I knew that already.Chapter Twenty-TwoThere’s a long moment of silence when I fear that I’ve overstepped. Jesse left this place. He left the Bossy Building behind and he said he never wanted to go back. All four of these Boston boys left this place and never wanted to come back.
But… why? Why walk away from your home just because that home looks nothing like it should? Why give up on who you are just because it’s hard to define and even harder to understand?
I have been planning this for weeks now. It took me several conversations to get Johnny and Joey on board. But Zach was my ally. Zach was the only way this Christmas present happened. He talked to them for me. He convinced them that this was a good thing and Jesse—hell, all of them—deserve to be here. This is their home. Good or bad, like it or not, this is where they grew up. Nothing can ever change that.
“But you know what can change?” Zach told them. “Us. We can change. We can look for the good in our past instead of the bad. And we can start doing that this year by picking up where we left off and making it better. Even though there’s never been a Christmas tradition at the Bossy, there can be now.”
I was so sure this was the right move.
And then Jesse told me how sad this place made him and I second-guessed.
But by Christmas Eve, it was too late. I had already convinced my parents and brothers that we needed to be here, not down in Key West, for Christmas Day. I had already put my foot down and told them we needed to share this holiday from now on. And even though everyone grumbled about it right up to Christmas week, after that wedding they planned for me, they knew they had to do this.