Chapter 19
jonas
Annie Oakley: You’re an idiot.
Jonas: Did my Christmas gift come?
Annie Oakley: I would hardly consider a box of five hundred fortune cookies a Christmas gift.
Jonas: They’re from the Golden Gate Cookie Factory.
Annie Oakley: Knox says Thank you.
“Well, Jonas. Did you enjoy your first Clarke Family Christmas?”
“Yeah, we didn’t scare you away for next year, did we?” Isabelle asks, pulling apart her empanadaita.
“You almost lost me for a minute there with the shark diving, but no.” I smile, raising my glass to the table. “To the next Clark Family Christmas.”
Stella follows the rest of her family, lifting her drink, and I don’t need to look at her to know that her eyes are on me.
Whether I’m getting ahead of myself here or not, after I saw the way her face lit up this morning, I’m more determined than ever to get her the Christmas vacation of her dreams. I place my left hand on her thigh, stroking my thumb against her skin, and take a sip of my wine.
“So how does the Christmas destination get picked? Do you just throw papers into a hat?” I ask.
“Basically, one person says, ‘we should go here next year,’ and then everyone else says, ‘ooo, yeah,’ and it’s decided,” Marco speaks up, and I’m taken aback because I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve heard him talk this whole trip.
It’s a short-lived conversation because I nod in understanding, and he goes back to looking at his phone.
“Well, not to intrude, I know I’m the newcomer here and all—”
“Ay, calla, ya formas parte.” Mariana’s full cheeks lift when she smiles at me.
The lines at the corners of her mouth are carved by years of laughter.
It’s a warm, quiet kind of smile that I haven’t had from my own mother in years, but coming from her, mixed with the words ‘Oh hush, you’re already part of us,’ feels like she has the love to spare and she’s already decided I’m worth sharing it with.
I reach a hand across the table, giving hers a squeeze, because I hadn’t realized how much I had been craving that until now.
I look around the table at the people I’ve spent my Christmas with.
Marco has an arm dropped over Isabelle, both of them grinning at me like maybe I do belong here.
Maya and Elle, with their matching wide eyes and even bigger smiles, sit beside their parents, and even their mom, who I thought might be a lost cause, is grinning at me.
Across the table, Mariana and Callum continue to show me the kindness they have since the day we met, and then I look to my left.
When I look into Stella’s eyes, I know in my bones that I’ll be seeing all of them again soon.
“Well,” I clear my throat, “we should try Aspen or Switzerland next. Both are beautiful this time of year.”
Stella’s hand squeezes my hand that’s still resting on her thigh, and I squeeze back, silently telling her, ‘Yeah, babe. We’re doing this.’
“Does Switzerland get snow?” Isabelle asks excitedly.
“I want to build a snowman!” Maya pipes up.
“And sledding.” Ella claps.
“Switzerland sounds good,” Callum says.
“To Switzerland,” I say, holding out my glass again.
“To Switzerland,” they cheer.
The night sky fills with colors of red, green, and gold, and their reflections ripple off the water below. Stella sits curled up between my legs, and the feeling of her wrapped beneath my arms is my favorite Christmas gift.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I whisper against her ear.
“I was just thinking about what you said earlier.”
Another firework cracks overhead, and Stella shifts, snuggling in closer to me. I tighten my arms around her. “No. I’m not too full to eat you out later.”
Even after the sun has gone down, I catch the blush that tints her tan cheeks, and she drops her head back to my shoulder.
“I meant what you said this morning, about there being nothing fake about us, and then at dinner… Switzerland.” She pauses, keeping her eyes out to the water ahead. “Did you mean it?”
I cup her cheek and turn her face so she’s forced to look at me. “Every word, Stella.”
Relief washes over her face, and I want to kiss those lips. “I want to spend this Christmas and every Christmas that you’ll have me with you.”
“I want them all with you, too, Jonas.” There’s a sheen in her eyes, the same one that was there this morning, and it’s so beautiful, I vow right now to always do everything I can to put that look on her face.
Keeping a hold of her face, I lower my mouth to hers, and her lips meet mine without pause.
It’s a kiss that echoes all the words we just shared, sure and without question.
Her hands cup the back of my neck, holding me to her in her own silent way of reassuring me that this is where she wants to be.
Where she’s meant to be. My chest aches with how hard I’ve fallen for her, and I pull back just enough to look into her eyes. “I love you, Stella.”
Her eyes are wide in disbelief, but her lips curl when a soft laugh escapes her. “Is this insane?”
“No more crazy than pretending to date someone you just met on an airplane,” I say, pressing my lips to hers again.
She wraps her hands around my wrists still holding her face, and she smiles, whispering against my mouth, “I love you, too, Jonas.”
That ache in my chest morphs into something I’ve never felt before, and it feels like I’m breathing fully for the first time.
I brush a gentle kiss to her forehead, closing my eyes at the contact.
This night with her is everything for me.