29. Brie
Stricken by panic at the sight of the mistletoe, knowing what it meant to find myself beneath it with Ezra at my side, I looked at my mom, who wore a massive, self-satisfied grin.
“Mom!” I shouted. “What are you doing?”
“Forcing you two to figure your shit out.”
“Lena…” my father warned in a low voice.
“What?” she asked him, feigning innocence.
“You’re meddling.”
Mom waved a hand, dismissing him. “She’s my baby, and I want her to be happy.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not right here!”
“If it makes you feel better,” Rik said, “I warned them this was a bad idea.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Ezra muttered.
Poking his head out from behind his grandfather, Hansen said, “Papa, what’s happening?”
Rik rested his palm atop Hansen’s messy curls and said, “Nothing you need to concern yourself with, ?lskling .”
Ignoring them, Mom said to me, her expression softening, “It’s time, my sweets.” Then, she pointedly turned and left the room through an arch on the other side, the rest of my family following behind her.
“Time for what?” I yelled after her, but everyone ignored me. Exasperated, I turned to Ezra and buried my face in his chest. “That little—”
“Brie,” Ezra warned.
“She’s manipulating us!”
“It only works if you want to be manipulated.”
My gaze flew to his, dazzled by the honest-to-god twinkle in his eyes. A small smirk played on his lips, drawing my attention there. To the plump bottom one and thinner top one. Remembering how they felt against mine—against my entire body, electrifying my synapses with each new connection, wringing endless pleasure from me with them.
Did I want to be manipulated? Did I want to let my mother shove me into participating in this tradition?
“What do you say, honey?” Ezra asked, the old nickname sliding over my skin like the sweet, sticky substance. “You gonna let me kiss you?”
“Do you want to kiss me?”
“More than I want my next breath.”
Who was I to deny this man air?
Tentatively, I stepped closer, trying to take things slowly.
Ezra, apparently, was done waiting, because the second I moved, he was on me. His arms slid around my waist, palms warm, spanning my back, pressing me closer.
Then his lips were on mine, and everything in me went lax, a sigh escaping me as we came together. I’d missed this, more than I wanted to admit, which was wild given we’d really only kissed a handful of times. But that first time, the caving to our most carnal desires, that morphed into those months of phone calls. Getting to know him over that distance and span of time…I knew Ezra better than I knew anyone in the world save my family, and I think he knew me better than even my sisters did.
I found my way home in his kiss, and I couldn’t remember why I’d deprived us of it for so long.
I opened for Ezra, and he swept his tongue into my mouth. I sank further into him, reacquainting myself with his scent and his taste and the way it felt to be wrapped in his arms.
But I pulled away before we could get too deep, before his hands could wander lower than the small of my back. Before I lost myself entirely to him.
Ezra made a noise of protest when I extricated myself from his grip.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t want to do this here,” I said, and he bent to rest his forehead against mine.
“So let’s go back to my place,” he whispered, angling his head to nip at my ear.
With a giggle, I shoved him away, needing some air to breathe, but I gripped his hands in mine.
I squeezed his fingers. “There’s no reason to rush.”
He guided one of my hands to his lap, pressing it against the thick length of his cock straining against his fly. “This seems like a pretty good reason to me.”
I hissed at the contact, at the reminder that I turned him on this way. That something as simple as a thirty second kiss had him hard as stone.
Quickly, before a member of my family could walk in on something so private and intimate, I snatched my hand away, but I soothed Ezra’s frown by rising onto my tiptoes and giving him a light kiss.
“I promise it’ll be worth it,” I said before shooting him a wink and striding away.
I only had to hope he didn’t decide I wasn’t worth the wait.
The bell over the door to the bakery chimed, and since it was slow enough during these colder winter months that I was the only one running the shop, I moved from the kitchen and behind the counter, ready to greet my latest customer.
I pulled up short when I found Ezra waiting for me with a massive bouquet of flowers.
“What’re these?” I asked when he held them out.
“My way of asking you to go on a date. I even asked Ella what your favorite is.”
I couldn’t help the startled laugh that burst from my mouth.
Ella hadn’t steered him wrong, and I lifted the fragrant tulips to my nose, inhaling deeply.
It was five days after Christmas. Five days since my mother had forced us into kissing under the mistletoe. Unbidden, my hand went to my mouth, lips still tingling all this time after, the memory lingering.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Ezra groaned. “I’ve been giving you your space and time to sort your feelings out, but yes, I think it’s the best idea I’ve ever had. I want to see where this thing goes, honey. Badly. ”
“What about Hansen?”
“What about him?” he asked, stepping closer. “He’s not going anywhere, obviously. He’s my son, and my world will always revolve around him, but it’s a world that’s significantly darker if it doesn’t include you too.”
“What happened to being just friends?”
“Fuck ‘just friends.’” He moved around the counter and took the blooms from my hand, setting them aside so he could wind his arms around my waist. “Can’t you see now that ‘just friends’ was never going to work for us? We’ve always been destined for more. Let me show you how good it can be.”
Awfully pretty words that settled deep into my bones and suffused my body with heat.
So I replied, “Yes, Ezra Wendt. I’d be happy to go on a date with you.”
The grin that broke out across his face could’ve melted all the snow on the streets outside with its warmth.
“Thank you,” he said, leaning close and dropping a kiss on my cheek. “Meet me at the winery tomorrow night at seven.”
“See you then.”
With a wink, he was gone, and before the door fully closed behind him, I was already tapping out an SOS text to my sisters. I needed their help figuring out what to wear, so I planned on inviting them over tonight to plan.
As I pressed send, another message appeared in the group chat.
Three letters. The same three that started my own.
Ella: SO S
I didn’t think before throwing myself into action. The beauty of being a business owner was making my own hours, and it was slow enough right now that I didn’t feel an ounce of guilt for potential lost business as I clicked off the neon OPEN sign and rushed onto the slush-covered sidewalk, locking the door behind me.
I power-walked three storefronts down to the flower shop, the bell jingling above my head as I pushed inside.
“Ella?” I called. The show room was empty, but after my greeting, footsteps scuffed along the worn hardwood floor from the back.
“Brie?”
“Fanny,” I said as the woman came into view, too concerned for my sister to worry about pleasantries. “Where is Ella?”
“She called in sick,” Fanny said, eyes rolling briefly toward the ceiling and the apartment above where my sister lived. “She wasn’t supposed to work today in the first place, but we had several funeral orders come in last night, so she offered to come down and help me this evening.” Fanny held her hands up, knuckles swollen with age. “I’m not as spry as I used to be.”
“She sent us an SOS text,” I explained. “Is there something I should be aware of before I go up there?”
“Well…it’s not really my place to pry,” Fanny started. “But you know these walls are thin. I heard some arguing up there a bit ago. One of the voices was male. Then a door slammed, and footsteps pounded down the back stairs. I didn’t get a good look at who it was, but…”
“Alfie,” I breathed.
Fanny nodded solemnly. “You better get up there.”
I reached for her and pulled her into a brief hug. The woman was an institution in Apple Blossom Bay, sort of a community grandmother, and had taken great care of my sister both as a boss and a friend. I was certain if Ella hadn’t contacted us herself, Fanny would’ve done it eventually.
“Thank you,” I said, squeezing her hands before letting her go, moving into the back of the shop and out the door then rounding through another and up the stairs to Ella’s apartment.
I found Delia at the top, waiting.
“Ella,” my middle sister said, following it up with a light knock. “It’s Delia and Brie. Open up, please.”
There was an extended silence, then a hoarse voice said, “It’s unlocked.”
With a shared look of concern, Delia twisted the knob and admitted us into Ella’s space. Everything appeared normal. The kitchen was spotless, a vase of winter irises decorating the otherwise-bare countertop to the right. The TV was off on the left side, a blanket strewn over the back of the couch.
But beyond that came the unmistakable sounds of muffled sobs, and Delia and I crossed the small room in a heartbeat, finding Ella curled into a ball on the floor in the narrow space between her couch and coffee table.
Instantly, we shifted her upright and wrapped our arms around her. The moment we enveloped her, she cried harder, her entire body shaking. The panic in Delia’s eyes surely mirrored my own, but we could do nothing except hold her, rubbing soothing circles across her back and smoothing our hands down her hair as she purged whatever emotional distress she was experiencing.
After a while, her sobs quieted to intermittent sniffles, and that’s when Chloe and Amara arrived.
“What is going on?” Chloe asked, both of them waddling over to us as quickly as they could in their advanced pregnancies.
“We don’t know,” Delia whispered. “She hasn’t said a word.”
“I’m sitting right here,” Ella groused, and my shoulders relaxed fractionally at the irritation in her voice. If she was scolding us, she wasn’t totally lost to her pain.
“We’ve been here for a half hour, El,” I told her softly, “and that’s the first thing you’ve said.”
“I’m sorry,” she breathed, straightening so my and Delia’s arms fell away from her. “I…fuck, I’ve been so stupid.”
“What’s going on?” Chloe asked, dropping herself onto the couch behind Ella, who then leaned on Chloe’s legs.
“Alf—” Ella seemed to choke on the word, eyes once again welling with tears. She squeezed them shut enough to expel the liquid and gave herself a little shake, clearing her throat. Her voice was flat when she spoke again. “Alfie dumped me.”
I gasped, Chloe and Amara both cursed softly, and Delia jumped to her feet, moving toward the door.
“I’ll kill him,” she said, her hand reaching for the knob.
“No!” Ella said, expression turning pleading. “Please, Lia. Just…let it go.”
“He hurt you,” our middle sister said, venom in her tone and anger flashing in her whiskey-colored eyes. “He at least deserves to have his dick cut off.”
Ella snorted a laugh. “I’m not gonna argue that,” she said.
Delia’s eyes narrowed, and Chloe and Amara straightened, as if they’d all come to a realization that had gone right over my head .
“How many?” Amara asked softly.
“At least three that I know of,” Ella said.
“That little fucking weasel,” Delia spat.
“Now I ’m ready to kill him,” Chloe said, rubbing a hand over her womb. “Mama Bear is pissed.”
“This one too,” Amara said, mimicking Chloe.
God, it was still so strange to see not one, but two of my sisters pregnant and due so close together. Roughly five weeks separated their due dates, and all of us were so excited to be welcoming two little peanuts into the family at once.
But circling back to the matter at hand, I said, “Someone tell me what I’m missing here.”
Ella turned to me, her green eyes vibrant with pain. “He cheated on me, Bee. Repeatedly.”
I gasped again. “How did you find out?”
“Got a few ‘hey girlie’ Instagram DMs. When I confronted him about it, he flew off the handle, saying I didn’t trust him and just spewing all kinds of bullshit. Then, he told me he couldn’t be with me anymore and left.”
“Fuck, El,” Delia said, moving back into the small living room and sitting on the floor beside her. “I’m so sorry.”
Ella gave her a sad smile. “I’m sad, of course,” she said. “But I’m more pissed off than anything. I gave that man—no, that child —so much of myself. For three years, I suffered through strained relationships with all of you, put up with him repeatedly talking shit about Mom and Dad and the family business, let him belittle me and make me feel horrible about myself. And for what? For this?” She gestured to herself, to the ratty, oversized band tee and black, threadbare sweatpants hanging off her frame. “ I fucking hate that I wasted so much time on him. Time I’ll never get back.”
I was struck then by the contrasts of our situations. Ella had spent three years with a piece of garbage who had dimmed the natural, free-spirited light she’d exhibited all her life to the point where we hardly saw it anymore. Meanwhile, I’d been running from the man who wanted nothing more than to foster my own light, to be by my side and support me in whatever I wanted to do.
Going from the high of Ezra asking me on a date, finally putting into motion this relationship we’d once tasted and now wanted more of, to sitting here with my sister as she fell apart was jarring to say the least.
“That’s definitely a tough pill to swallow,” Chloe said. “But look at it this way: you’re still young, you’re hot, and now you’ve got all the freedom in the world to find a man who will worship the ground you walk on, exactly as you deserve.”
Ella gave her a weak smile. “I just don’t know if I’m cut out for dating.”
Delia rolled her eyes. “We didn’t mean right now,” she said. “You only just got rid of that douchebag. But when you’re ready…there will be someone out there for you.”
“You really think so?”
“I know so,” Delia confirmed with a confident nod. “In fact…I have an idea.”
She trailed off, and me and my other sisters groaned.
Ella held up a hand. “I love you, Lia, but…no.”
“No, what?”
“Whatever you’re thinking, the answer is no. I just got out of a three-year relationship that left me shredded emotionally. I need time before you decide you want to meddle.”
“Me? Meddle?” Delia asked, placing her hand over her heart in mock affront. “Well, I never…”
“You literally do it all the time,” I said. “And now you’ve rubbed off on Mom!”
Delia’s gaze swung to me, mischief dancing in her eyes as always. “How’d that work out for you, Baby Bee? You and Ezra get your smooch on?”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
“Except for the times you have kissed him and told us,” Amara pointed out.
I glared at my second oldest sister. “No one asked you.”
“The mistletoe clearly worked its magic,” Delia crowed gleefully. “You can’t mess with that kind of karma.”
I knew I wasn’t getting out of this without giving them something, but before I opened my mouth, Chloe piped up. “Oh, something happened alright. Did you guys see the text she sent us?”
I winced, hoping they’d missed it. I should’ve known better than to think anything would get past Chloe. She was a romance novelist, for crying out loud. She lived for stuff like this.
Each of my sisters withdrew their phones and read the text I’d sent at the same time Ella had.
Amara looked up at me, mouth open in surprise. “He asked you out?”
I nodded, unable to fight off the grin that overtook my face. “Tomorrow night for NYE.”
“Ugh,” Ella groaned. “Thanks for reminding me. Alfie and I were supposed to go to a party, and instead, I’m going to sit here crying and marathoning Anne Hathaway.”
I couldn’t help but choke on a laugh, and all four of my sisters glared daggers at me.
“I’m sorry!” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “It’s just… When did we decide Anne Hathaway was the cure for a broken heart?”
There was a beat of silence before we all burst out laughing, and though Ella didn’t stop crying, it morphed from sad to mirthful quickly.
“Anne Hathaway is a national treasure,” Ella said, wiping the tears from her face.
“You’re not wrong,” I agreed, my sisters nodding with me. “But that’s not the point. Now that this happened”—I gestured to Ella—“I’m not even sure I should go.”
My sisters’ dissension was instantaneous.
Ella wagged her finger in my face. “Don’t use me as an excuse.” With something other than her pain to focus on, color returned to her face, and I supposed I could be grateful for that at least.
“You need us,” I replied lamely.
Ella rolled her eyes. “You came when I called and reminded me that Alfie is a jackass who doesn’t deserve my tears. Am I still going to cry? Yes. But truthfully, he and I have been done for a while. He was just the one brave enough to set us free.”
I couldn’t argue with her, not as each of my sisters and I shared knowing glances. We’d all noticed that Alfie hadn’t been around as much the last month or so, and for that, we’d all been grateful. We wanted to support Ella in any and everything, but her relationship with him was something we’d struggled to get behind.
I hadn’t forgotten the night we’d gone to Birdie’s and he’d fought with my father and Owen, who owned the place. Then afterward, after all the drama had gone down with that crazed fan at Lawless, the way he’d shown up and thrown a fit until Ella had left with him… It hadn’t sat right with me or Delia. He’d made her cry more often than not, and I never understood what she saw in him.
Now wasn’t the time to ask—in fact, I’d be happy never to discuss the rat again.
“You guys really think I should go?” I asked softly.
They all chorused their agreement, and Ella reached out for my hand.
“Just because I’m unhappy right now doesn’t mean you have to live down in the dumps with me. This is your chance, Bee. You’ve been gone for that man since the moment you laid eyes on him. I think it’s time to let yourself be happy.”
Chloe, Amara, and Delia made gestures and sounds of agreement, and tears sprang to my eyes as I studied each of them in turn. I was more grateful than ever for them. We’d had our ups and downs as teenagers and in our early twenties, but they were my best friends and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.
“Then what do you say we head over to my place so you guys can help me pick out something to wear?”
I grinned as they squealed and tackled me, the five of us landing in a heap on the floor.