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Not paying attention to her sister’s reddening cheeks, Charlotte continued, choking down her laughs. “Grandma was getting Emmy ready for a shower and had stripped her to her panties when the phone rang. She left Emmy in the bathroom and went to her room to answer the call. The doorbell rang. I was watching TV in our room and, knowing it was bridge night, I went to open the door to Grandma’s friends. When I got to the living room, Emily was there, welcoming the group of women buck-naked. When the minister’s wife asked her why she was walking around naked, she answered . . . ”

“Because Nana said ladies don’t let people see her panties,” the two sisters said in unison.

“If you still do that, I finally understand why Tay stays at your house so much.” Gabriel’s voice was raspy and uneven from laughing. After throwing a pillow at his brother, Taylor turned to his best friend to mouth the word douche, which she agreed to, mouthing the word back at him.

The laughs coming from the adjacent room called the four people that were still talking in the kitchen. At the arrival of Chuck, Taylor and Emily moved to the loveseat, allowing him to take over massaging his wife’s swollen feet. The Webbers and Poppy also settled down as the stories continued.

Charlotte shared yet another embarrassing story of when Emily was about three years old and decided she wanted to be a time traveler. According to her, all time travelers need to have luggage and a helmet, that in her case were a black shopping bag filled with her toys, clean underwear and a yellow plastic potty that she stuck over her head like a hat. With her face glowing with embarrassment and feeling out of breath from how hard she was laughing, Emily fired back with stories about her sister.

For the rest of the night the eight of them sat in the cozy room, retelling childhood stories and allowing the sound of their laughter to mix with the crackling of the fireplace. At some point during the night, the storytelling morphed into a game and, by the end of the night, Gabriel had reached double digits on the “shame board.”

It was after one in the morning when the six guests said their goodbyes to the Webbers. Johanna and Simon hadn’t had that much fun in years. They had also never felt closer to their two girls as they did that night. During the many years they’d known them, every story they’d had heard about their younger years was sad and terrible. Finally hearing joyful memories was refreshing, and filled their hearts with joy. The clear change in Emily’s behavior, not only with them, but in general, was also reason to rejoice, which they did, offering a tight hug to Taylor after each one of them received a loose hug and soft kiss from their baby girl as they said goodbye.

Taylor followed his best friend’s car to her apartment but, with both vehicles filled with people, they didn’t get a chance to talk until he arrived at Penelope’s and called her. As wonderful as the day had been, it had also been incredibly frustrating for both of them, who weren’t used to being together and not being able to talk the way they normally did.

With both of them incredibly tired, their phone call lasted only a few minutes while they changed into pajamas and brushed their teeth. They talked about the day and their siblings and general stuff, until they were all tucked in and their lids became heavy.

“I hate that you’re not here, Tay.”

From the other side of the line, Taylor smiled. He loved that moment, when she was so sleepy that all her guards were down, and she was extra loving toward him. “I do too, Ems.”

A soft, tired moan sounded in Taylor’s ears, and he could almost see the sweet smile that accompanied it. “Will you come over for breakfast tomorrow?”

“Yes, but not in pajamas. I’ll save that for Saturday.”

“Darn it, you look cute in pjs.”

He completely ignored the snicker in her voice and replied with a simple low grunt that made his disapproval at her adjective quite clear. She laughed, remembering the other time she’d called him cute, and combined with a snarky remark about how puppies were cute, not fully-grown men.

“Sorry, what I meant to say is you look hot in pjs, especially in those blue striped pants.”

He chuckled at her save, while his body responded in other ways, and thoughts of coming clean to her about his feelings filled his mind yet again. “That’s better. And with you calling them hot, they just might make an appearance tomorrow morning. I know they’ve been dying to meet with their yellow friends.”

“I’m wearing them right now, so I think such a meeting can be arranged. How about tomorrow at ten?” Her voice purred in his ear, mixed with her increasingly heavy breathing that had Taylor wondering if it was from sleep or something else.

“We’ll be there. Good night and sweet dreams, sleeping beauty,” he answered. When Emily ended the call saying she hoped to dream of him, Taylor couldn’t control his grin, knowing he’d also dream of her.

From the moment Emily opened her eyes the next day and found her best friend sitting on her bed in the cotton pajama bottoms they’d discussed the night before, her day had been perfect. After a long while talking in her bed, they moved to the kitchen to prepare the delicious breakfast they enjoyed in the company of her sister and brother-in-law, as well as her next-door neighbor and his boyfriend.

With the impending friends-giving they were having that night, the apartment became more crowded and agitated by the hour. Nonetheless, Emily and Taylor found ways to steal a few minutes of alone time during every activity they performed. It didn’t take long for their behavior to pique the interest of their friends and family, who watched them mess around with each other while they hung the Christmas decorations and assembled the tree. Various pairs of curious eyes were also fixed on them when they sat at the bay window nook to discuss their Christmas and New Year’s plans.

After a long conversation, they agreed to spend Christmas apart and with their respective families. They were both less than happy with the arrangement, not only because they hated to be apart, but also because the idea of Emily going back to California was terrible. However, they had obligations that they couldn’t just blow off. New Year’s, on the other hand, was a different subject, and one on which Taylor was bent on getting his way.

“I want you to come home with me for New Year’s.” The assertiveness in Taylor’s eyes and tone was a contrast to the doubt that was stamped on Emily’s face. Knowing how afraid she was that his family wouldn’t like her the way they hadn’t liked his ex-wife, he continued the speech he’d practiced many times that night. “New Year’s is a big deal to our family, it’s a night of many celebrations in which Mom throws this lavish party at the lake house, and I want you to come with me.”

Emily looked at him with curious eyes. “What do you mean, ‘lavish party’ and ‘many celebrations’?”

“See for yourself.”

Reaching beside him, he retrieved a large pearl-white envelope and passed it to Emily. The shiny paper in her hand was beautiful, delicate and surprisingly heavy. A red satin ribbon ran its length, giving the invitation a romantic feeling, while the shimmery black calligraphy script letters that read “Miss Emily Anne Watson” made it look official and sober.

With careful fingers, Emily undid the bow and turned the envelope to open the flap, from which she removed a sheet of the same thick glossy paper. An elaborate design of flowers in various shades of red framed the paper. The intricate patterns looked like delicate lace. The detail and beauty of the invitation was such that Emily had to will her eyes to focus on the shimmery black script.

Her expert eyes made short work of the words that, in the most polite way, invited her to join the Carter family in not only welcoming the new year, but also celebrating another year of happy marriage and the thirty-first year of their beloved son’s life.

At that last bit of information Emily’s eyes shot up to meet Taylor’s, who watched her with a nervous smirk on his lips. “You told me your birthday was in January, not on New Year’s.”

“I was born at twelve past midnight, which is already January. That’s why I want you there so much; because celebrating my birthday without you would be hell,” he said, changing the smirk into a full-on smile. “So what do you say? Will you spend my birthday at home with me?”

Emily didn’t need a mirror to know how moronic her grin was. In fact, she could bet that her entire face had that moronic look, but she couldn’t care less. The happiness she felt over meeting his family and spending his birthday with him was bigger than any other feeling she had. Seeing that same happiness reflected on his handsome face almost had her jumping up and down with joy.

Once they left their nook to join their friends and family in the final dinner preparation, the atmosphere between them had visibly changed. Despite their combined efforts, hiding the fact that they were close to walking on clouds was useless. Every soul in that apartment watched them whisper and exchange nudges and touches that were
almost
innocent. Particularly, the little touches that Taylor would give Emily’s ribs in secret salutation to her late brother whenever the upcoming Ranger’s game in New York was advertised on the TV, did not go unnoticed.

While the two men, who were already showered and ready, entertained the other two Carters in the living room, the rib pats Taylor had given Emily became the topic of the conversation as the two sisters applied their make-up in Emily’s room. Emily had never mentioned that she’d talked about their brother with Taylor, which surprised Charlotte, and provided them with a way to bring joy and laughter into a conversation about their brother for the first time since he died.

With the entire group finally assembled around Emily’s circular table, they started their friends-giving dinner, sharing the very long list of things for which they were grateful for, before digging into the feast Brad had prepared.

To Emily, it was surreal to look around the room and feel the kind of love that filled her apartment—a love she’d never imagined having. When or how it happened wasn’t important and, in all honesty, she didn’t spare a single thought to it. The only important thing was that, at that moment, sitting at the table, talking and laughing with the people she’d come to consider family, she finally understood what people meant when they said they were perfectly happy. For the first time in her life she was really thankful.

“
A
ND HERE
she goes again,” Chuck teased his wife, taking another bite of his fudge brownie.

During the few hours they sat at the table enjoying their delicious feast and the great company, Charlotte had taken five trips to the bathroom, which had every guest in the house, including her, joking about it. However, knowing her sister as well as she did, Emily noticed that, after the fourth time she left the table, Charlotte had grown irritable, a point that was proven when her sister stormed from the table without firing a snarky comment or any other word back to her husband.