Page 86 of Peppermint Bark

“Nick, this is Grace.” In the FaceTime reflection, her eyes went wide as her body stiffened.

Nick’s eyes softened. “Nice to finally meet you Grace, I’ve heard so much about you. Honestly, I’m having a bit of a fanboy moment.” Leave it to Nick to be disarmingly humble.

Grace seemed completely frozen, so I asked, “What’d you hear?”

“You’re the one who named the dog, right?”

“You heard that?” she asked. She did?

“When they adopted the new puppy who barked at harmless things like leaves and squirrels, Mom said you suggested Cassandra, based on the princess who was cursed by Apollo with prophesy that nobody believed. Mom said Mallory yelled ‘hashtag believe women,’ and that settled the debate.”

I let out a long chuckle. “That sounds like exactly how it would go.”

“So how did Mal react when she found out you two were …” He raised a brow and made a suggestive hand motion, and Grace cracked a smile.

“She didn’t like it at first, but Kate talked her down from the ledge.”

“Kate?” Nick’s face flickered with shock, which transformed into a mischievous grin. “Kate Martino went to bat for Alex? Never thought I’d see the day …”

“Wait,” I said in confusion, “What am I missing?”

“Kate never liked you,” Nick said simply. “You called her Kayla.”

“And you offered to buy her artwork and never did,” Grace added.

“When was this?” I asked, racking my brain.

“The first day we met her, up in the clearing,” Nick said, then with a scolding tone. “Right before you gave alcohol to the sixteen-year-olds.”

I remembered vaguely, mostly because I made fun of Nick for being too uptight. “It was a harmless splash of whiskey, split between four of us.”

“You were trying so hard to be the cool brother,” he teased.

“Was this the day you kissed her?” Grace asked my brother.

What? Nick kissed Kate? When did he —

“Nah, she spent most of that first trip trying to decide which of us Clarke kids was the most likely to be a serial killer.”

The two of them locked eyes over FaceTime.

Grace tilted her head subtly towards me.

“Hey!” I said, ready to defend myself.

Nick snickered. “Don’t even try to pretend it’s not you, Lex.”

Damn, he was right, so I changed the subject. “But … When did you kiss Kate?”

“The next Christmas, no big deal,” Nick said with a flush to his cheeks. “I’m surprised she told you about that.”

“She didn’t, Mallory did,” Grace said, and Nick’s brow lifted. “Mal said that if Kate kissing you hadn’t ruined their friendship, then I was probably ok with this guy.” Her elbow poked my rib. “Then Kate told Mallory that if she protested she would look like a hypocritical jerk.”

Nick’s entire head dropped out of the frame as he doubled over. “Ok, that tracks. That sounds like the Kate I know and —” and then he burst into another round of laughter.

“Kate’s the only sensible one of the lot of you reprobates, so if you have her blessing, you have mine as well.” He made an exaggerated sign of the cross.

Uncomfortable with receiving a blessing, I scoffed. “We’re not Catholic.”

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