28. Sienna
SIENNA
“It’s Thanksgiving,” Garrett bellows as he throws my bedroom door open and then launches himself onto my bed just like he used to as a kid. Only, he’s a grown-ass fucking adult now who takes up way too much space.
“Really?” I groan, pretending to be annoyed.
He looks up at me, and the second our eyes meet, I crack. A wide smile breaks across my face.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” I say softly.
“That turkey smells so good already.” He groans, rolling onto his back and pressing his hand to his stomach. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to wait.”
“Ugh, put that away.”
“What, this?” he teases, tensing his abs and making his six pack more pronounced. “I thought chicks dig this?”
“Firstly, I’m your sister. I don’t and never will dig anything about your body. And secondly, what the fuck do you care what chicks think?”
“I don’t. Guys lose their minds over these V lines, and that’s all I need to know.”
“Gross,” I mutter.
“Just saying as it is, Sisi. You’re just jealous because that mystery boy you’ve been messaging doesn’t have all of this going on,” he says, gesturing to his bare upper body.
“Maybe his is better,” I deadpan, realizing too late that I’ve just confirmed what I was trying to avoid yesterday.
“I knew it,” he says, jumping to his knees and staring down at me with a wide smile and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
I stare at him, wondering just how badly he’d lose his shit if I casually dropped that I was dating Calvin Keller.
I am dating Calvin Keller, right?
He’s planning date number two, and we video called last night until I almost fell asleep on him. We’re definitely dating.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I lie.
“Says the girl who spends all day smiling at her cell like she’s met the most amazing man in the world.”
“It’s…” I bite down on my bottom lip as I try to find the right words. “We’ve only had one date. It’s early days.”
“Hmm…” he says suspiciously. “It must have been some date to have you grinning like that.” His brow quirks. “Did you put out?”
“What? No, I did not.”
He narrows his eyes. “Really? Because that look on your face…I recognize it. You’ve been dickmatized.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I huff.
“What? It’s a thing. I should know.”
“Give me strength.”
“Was it good? Was he big?”
“I’m not having this conversation. It’s not even 9 a.m., Gare.”
I throw the covers off, ensuring they hit him in the face.
“Rude,” he grunts as I pull a hoodie on and march toward the door so I can pee. “You’re not going to get away with keeping all of this to yourself.”
I pause in the doorway. “Watch me,” I taunt before darting away.
The truth is, there might not be anything to tell after what I did once we ended our call last night.
I want to think he’ll be happy, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned that my meddling in his life is going to piss him off.
As I stand at the sink brushing my teeth, my anxiety grows.
“Oh shit,” I gasp, dropping my toothbrush into the sink with a clatter as I picture my cell sitting on the nightstand in my bedroom.
I yank the door open and race back into my room—but, proving that he is actually trustworthy, Garrett didn’t immediately grab it, hack his way in, and start reading mine and Calvin’s messages like it’s a romance novel.
“What’s wrong? Did the toilet bite?” he asks, watching me suspiciously.
“Spider,” I lie.
He rolls his eyes as I reach for my cell and check to see if Calvin has discovered what I’ve done yet.
I don’t have a message, so he either hasn’t found out yet or he’s so pissed he isn’t talking to me.
Brilliant.
“You think Mom’s started on the waffles yet?” Garrett asks.
“I dunno. Go and see.”
He watches me for a moment, I assume waiting to see if I’m going to confess anything. But when it becomes clear that my lips are firmly sealed, he finally relents, climbs off my bed, and disappears down the stairs in search of food.
I lower my ass to the bed and open my message thread with Calvin, debating what to send.
Sienna: Happy Thanksgiving. I’m thankful that you turned out to be my noisy upstairs neighbor.
I sit there and watch as it shows as delivered, but as the seconds tick by, it becomes obvious that he’s not sitting waiting for it, because it’s never read.
After pulling on a pair of sweats, I put my cell in my pocket and head downstairs to find some coffee. If Mom happens to be making waffles already, even better.
Calvin makes me wait hours before I get a response. And it comes through just as we’re about to sit down for our meal.
I swipe the screen as I walk toward the perfectly laid table, desperate to know if he’s mad at me or not.
“Sienna,” Mom snaps before I have a chance to open the message. “No phones at the table. It’ll have to wait until later.”
“Uh oh,” Garrett teases behind me. “You’re gonna have to keep lover boy waiting.”
“Shut up,” I hiss, having little choice but to hand Mom my cell so she can remove it from the room. But before she disappears with it, she holds her hand out for Garrett’s, too.
“Come on, you know the rules.”
“It’s fine. I don’t have a boyfriend waiting on the other end.”
I poke my tongue out at him before going to take my seat.
Meanwhile, Dad sits at the head of the small table, shaking his head at us.
“Some things never change, do they?” he mutters.
“You’d be worried about us if we weren’t bickering,” Garrett points out.
“Or giving your mother gray hairs.”
“Hey, I heard that. I’ll have you know, I don’t have a single gray hair.”
“Because you went to the hairdresser’s three days ago and they covered them all up,” Dad teases, making both Garrett and me snort a laugh. Mom, however, isn’t so amused.
“I don’t have any grays to cover up. And anyway, at least I have hair,” she says pointedly at Dad.
He shrugs and proudly rubs his bald head.
“I hope I get Mom’s hair genes. I don’t think a bald head will suit me,” Garrett states.
“Yeah, you’ve got a funny-shaped head,” Dad agrees. “Thought something was wrong when you were born.”
Mom sighs in exasperation as she hands Dad the knife to carve the turkey.
“Can we all stop arguing so we can eat in peace?”
“I mean, we can try. But your son is really annoying.”
Dad is forced to smother his laugh before Mom notices.
“Thank you, darling,” he says politely as he takes the knife from her, giving her a smile that makes me incredibly happy and jealous all at the same time.
Mom and Dad were high school sweethearts, and after all these years, they’re just as happy as they were as teenagers.
“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,” Dad says before carving up the turkey that’s large enough to feed at least five thousand, not just the four of us.
I can already predict a phone call with Dad in a few weeks in which all he does is complain about the amount of turkey Mom has forced him to eat.
He is nothing if not predictable, and I love him immensely for it.
“This looks incredible,” Garrett says as he begins helping himself to a little bit of everything on offer on the table before us.
I rush to do the same. I might have filled up on waffles this morning, but that was hours ago, and it’s Thanksgiving.
It would be rude not to eat my body weight today.
I’ll regret it and have to spend every day between tomorrow and Christmas Eve trying to shed the extra pounds, but it’ll still be worth it.
“Ah ah ah,” Mom chastises, catching Garrett before he shovels a forkful of yams into his mouth. “You know the rules.”
He huffs in faux annoyance.
“I’ll start,” Mom continues as she looks each of us in the eyes one at a time. “I am thankful for my family. I’m thankful to have two incredibly successful and happy children who are still willing to come home and spend the holidays with us.”
It’s the same version of what she says every year. And as predicted, Dad follows up with a similar sentiment, but also adds how lucky he is to have such an incredible wife.
“Someone wants some tonight,” Garrett mutters under his breath.
“Ew,” I complain as Mom snaps his name. Dad, however, lets out a full belly laugh.
Oh God. He does.
Of course our parents have sex. It’s probably one of the reasons why they still laugh so much with each other. But the less I think about what happens when they’re alone in this house, the better.
“Honey, what are you thankful for this year?” Mom asks, her focus on me, quickly followed by the other two. But it’s Garrett’s eyes that really bore into me.
My stomach knots. I don’t need to think too hard about what, or should I say who, I’m thankful for right now. But there’s no way I can say his name without everyone at the table losing their minds.
“I’m…um…thankful for Bea and the salon and how it’s growing. And…” I swear, Garrett actually leans forward in his chair. “I’m thankful for…new friends.”
I can’t help but laugh at the dramatic way my brother rolls his eyes.
“Garrett, leave your sister alone. She’s allowed to have secrets,” Mom chastises.
“I know, but the smile he puts on her face…I’m dying to know more.”
“When the time is right, she’ll share. Isn’t that right, honey?”
I hold Garrett’s stare. “Maybe.”
“Ugh.” He throws his hands up in despair.
“I can’t wait for you to find someone who’s willing to put up with you for more than a night. I’m going to annoy the shit out of you.”
“No cursing at the table, please,” Mom says under her breath. “Garrett, what are you thankful for?”
“Well, obviously my wonderful parents and my delightful sister.” I poke my tongue out at him.
“You love me, really.”
“I do,” he says. “And I’m incredibly thankful for you, especially now that you’re friends with the Vipers and I get to hang out with them.”
“About that…I’m still waiting to hear your suspicion about which member of the team is gay,” I remind him. I’ve asked a couple of times since our night out with the guys, and he’s still withholding the information.
He snickers. “Let’s make a deal: you tell me about your man, and I’ll tell you who I think is secretly scoring in the other goal.”
“Can we just eat now?” Dad complains, looking at the food on his plate longingly.
“Yes,” Garrett agrees before grabbing his knife and fork and inhaling his dinner with the kind of enthusiasm I’m becoming used to seeing from Calvin.
Although I also pick up cutlery, I don’t immediately dive in; my mind is on that message sitting unread on my cell.
My stomach knots as I think about him being mad at me.
I didn’t mean to interfere, but the thought of him sitting alone in his apartment today just didn’t sit right with me.
Not when he’s got friends close by that would do anything for him.
I’m not sure why he’s kept his holiday plans from his friends, and I know it’s not my place to get involved, but I had a feeling that they’d have been as upset as me at the thought of him being alone today.
I just pray he sees it that way.
It feels like hours pass before we finish up our meal and I’m finally allowed my cell.
Garrett is busy complaining about me bailing on the cleaning up, but I don’t care. I’ll do all of it alone if I get a few seconds to check this message.
I swipe my thumb across the screen.
All the air rushes from my lungs as I stare down at the two words.
Calvin King of the ice Keller: Thank you