Chapter 20 Hailey
Hailey
Nothing says Christmas spirit like getting caught mid–make-out by your best friend’s entire family and the neighborhood carolers.
One second, I’m on the Bristols’ front porch, pressed between the cold siding and Cole Bristol’s mouth hot and the next second, the front door flies open and Christmas pours out.
“and a partridge in a pear—”
The song dies. Every single person on the stoop freezes.
It’s Mr. Bristol in his coat and Santa hat, Marla Bristol right behind him, two of their neighbors in knitted reindeer beanies, three random kids with song sheets, and half the guests from inside who were apparently on their way out for the annual neighborhood carol sing-along.
All of them staring at me. At us. At Cole’s arm banded around my waist and my very obviously kissed mouth.
Marla’s eyes go wide. Mr. Bristol’s brows shoot up. And they both say at the exact same time, in the exact same bewildered tone, “Oh boy.”
I make a choking sound. Cole’s fingers tighten at my hip like, well… guess we’re doing this.
Before I can even inhale, Maddie barrels out from behind her parents like she’s been waiting her whole life for this reveal. Her cheeks are pink from the heat inside, her hair a festive mess, and her grin is absolutely feral.
“I KNEW IT,” she shouts, pointing at us with a gloved hand. “I freaking knew it. You two cannot keep anything from me.”
“Maddie…” Cole warns, voice low, already annoyed.
She’s not listening. Of course she’s not.
“No, no, no, this is my moment. I am vindicated. I said, ‘Mom, Hailey said his name weird on the phone,’ and I said, ‘Dad, Cole keeps looking at her like he wants to build her a house,’ and you were both all, ‘Oh, Maddie, you’re dramatic.’” She pivots toward me, eyes blazing, and for a second I think she’s going to lay into me, but she doesn’t.
She smiles the biggest grin I’ve ever seen.
“You were so damn obvious the second he showed up at your new place to help you move.”
I want to melt right through the porch boards. “I, okay, but in my defense—”
Marla presses a hand to her chest, smiling. “Hailey, honey… you are already part of our family.”
Behind her, Mr. Bristol loudly claps his hands once. “Are we caroling or not?” he booms, like that’s the part of this situation that matters.
One of the neighbors, a guy in a puffy coat holding a thermos, grins. “Nope. This is better.”
“Yeah, Carl, this is way better than ‘O Come All Ye Faithful,’” the woman in the reindeer beanie adds, leaning to get a better look at us. “We can sing later.”
“It’s not Carl, it’s Jim,” Mr. Bristol mutters, but no one cares because everyone is now laser-focused on The Porch Make-Out of 2025.
Cole exhales through his nose like he’d rather be shoveling the entire driveway in his underwear than explaining his love life to his family and half the neighborhood. He shifts so I’m more behind him, protective, but it’s useless.
Maddie is still going. “Also, don’t think I didn’t hear you both in Cole’s room earlier. I know he wasn’t alone!”
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
“And you.” She swings to her brother. “You thought I didn’t notice you suddenly having a personality every time Hailey walked in a room? Please. You’ve been walking around like someone gave you your dog back.”
Cole drags a hand over his jaw. “Can we do this inside?” he grumbles. “It’s freezing.”
“It wasn’t freezing when you were sucking face,” Maddie sings.
“Madison Rose,” Marla says, scandalized.
“What! We all saw it!”
Mr. Bristol, God love him, tries again. “Coats on, everyone. If we’re doing the carol route, we need to—”
“We’re not doing the route,” the neighbor dad says, openly laughing now. “This is better than the route.”
Another neighbor nods, stamping his boots. “Yeah, we’re staying for this.”
So now, in addition to the Bristols, we have multiple neighbors, three kids, and an entire living room’s worth of leftover holiday guests in coats, all clustered on the porch in thirty-degree weather to watch me be publicly exposed as the girl secretly making out with her best friend’s older brother.
Perfect.
I glance up at Cole. He’s looking down at me with that resigned, you’re worth the trouble look I’ve gotten addicted to. Our breath clouds between us.
“Well,” I murmur, “hi.”
The corner of his mouth lifts in a small smile, despite everything going on around us. “Hey.”
Maddie throws her arms wide toward the door like Vanna White. “Okay! Inside! Story time! Everyone wants to know how long you two have been sneaking around.”
“I don’t—” I start.
“Yes,” Marla says at the exact same time, cheeks pink, eyes bright. “Yes, let’s go in. I want to hear that too.”
And just like that, instead of caroling, the entire Bristol clan plus the neighborhood audience turns around and files back into the house, still in their boots and coats, like we’ve just announced a surprise episode of their favorite show.
And Cole and me? We have to follow them in and tell them everything.
If there’s a hell reserved for people who make out on porches, I’m pretty sure this is it.
Because right now, Cole and I are standing in the middle of the Bristol living room, me clutching a mug of hot chocolate I don’t remember accepting, Cole grim-faced beside me, and every single person from the porch debacle is crammed inside, still in their coats, like we’re about to host a press conference.
The fire crackles. Bing Crosby hums softly from the speaker. A couple of kids are sitting cross-legged on the rug like it’s story hour. And Maddie? Maddie has perched herself on the arm of the sofa with her hands clasped in mock reverence. “Alright,” she says. “Spill it.”
Cole pinches the bridge of his nose. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Marla is smiling in that warm, too-sweet way that’s somehow worse than if she were angry. “Sweetheart, no one’s mad,” she assures. “We just… want to understand how this happened. You two have known each other since you were kids.”
Exactly. Which is why this is mortifying.
Cole’s jaw flexes. “Mom, maybe not everyone—”
But it’s too late. The neighbors are fully invested. Reindeer Beanie is sipping mulled wine like she’s watching a live soap opera. Mr. Bristol has given up trying to herd people out and is now standing by the fireplace, shaking his head in amused resignation.
“I’m not telling this in front of the neighborhood,” Cole mutters.
“Then you’d better start,” Maddie says, wiggling her eyebrows, “before they start making stuff up.”
Laughter ripples through the room. I bury my face in my mug and mutter, “We weren’t exactly trying to hide it, just… not broadcast it.”
“Oh, please,” Maddie says. “You absolutely were trying to hide it.”
Cole gives her a look that could melt snow. “You done?”
She grins. “Not even close.”
Marla gestures gently between us. “Start from the beginning. When did this turn into… whatever this is?”
I meet Cole’s eyes, silently pleading, Help me out here.
He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “When Hailey moved to Denver obviously.”
I nod, voice small. “He helped me move in. Maddie left that Monday and my couch was heavier than it looked.”
“Oh, I bet it was,” Maddie murmurs under her breath.
“Mads,” her father warns, but he’s clearly fighting a smile.
Cole clears his throat. “We grabbed dinner afterward. Then… one thing led to another.”
Marla gasps softly. “Cole Bennett Bristol, did you take your sister’s best friend on a date and not tell us?”
“It wasn’t a date,” he says too quickly. “It was just dinner.”
“Uh-huh,” Maddie drawls. “And how long after ‘just dinner’ did you end up—”
“Maddie!” I squeak, my face bursting into flames, “there are children present.”
Cole groans. “This is an actual nightmare.”
Marla waves a hand, cheeks flushed. “We don’t need the details.” In a quieter voice, she says to me, “Hailey, dear, are you happy?”
That question hits harder than I expect. I look over at Cole, this man who drives me crazy sexually and makes me feel more like myself than I have in years, even after just a few weeks. I nod. “Yeah,” I say, my throat tight. “Really happy.”
Something in his expression shifts. The frustration fades, replaced with that quiet tenderness he never shows in front of people. He sets his mug down and turns to face the room, his voice steady but low. “Look, I get that this is a lot. But I love her.”
The air leaves my lungs in a rush. Every conversation, every touch, every stolen look that we’ve kept behind closed doors suddenly feels so small compared to hearing him confess it to his family.
There’s a collective gasp, followed by Maddie’s delighted shriek. “Oh my God!”
Marla’s hand flies to her mouth, tears springing to her eyes. Even Mr. Bristol looks soft around the edges, shaking his head with a faint smile. “Well,” he says, “that’s one way to make an announcement.”
Cole glances at me. “So much,” he murmurs.
My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my fingertips. I step closer to him, our shoulders brushing. “I love him too.”
A few people actually clap. Someone whistles. The neighbors who were supposedly leaving hours ago start hugging each other like we’ve just delivered the season finale of some emotional play.
Marla laughs through her tears, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. “Well, Merry Christmas to me. I’ve always wanted another daughter.”
“Guess that makes this officially a Bristol Christmas miracle,” Mr. Bristol says, chuckling as he finally relents and raises his hot chocolate. “To the happy couple.”
“To the happy couple!” echoes through the living room.
Cole’s hand slides into mine, rough and warm. He leans in, voice low enough only I can hear. “Told you it’d be okay.”
I smile up at him, still dazed. “You also told me no one would find out.”
“Yeah,” he says, brushing his thumb over my knuckles. “I was wrong about that part.”
Across the room, Maddie snaps a picture, then grins. “Okay, fine, I approve. You two are disgustingly cute.”
“Delete that,” Cole warns.
“Not a chance.”