Page 35 of The Christmas Cookie Crush

He turns a confused look on me. “What? No. I’m just saying?—”

“Maybe you shouldn’t,” Nora says, her tone biting.

Sarah points at her. “That part. Shut up, Dylan. No one’s really interested in your opinion here anyway.”

“You can tell me all about it later,” Lydia whispers, though we can all hear her.

Dylan’s face looks almost mutinous, but Nora’s uninterested in waiting around to see what comes out of his mouth next.

“Come on,” she says to me, lacing her fingers through mine. “Let me properly introduce you to Shane and Sophie. Shane’s married to Sarah, and they’re Sophie’s guardians.”

In a whisper, she quickly fills me in on the bare bones of their story—Sophie’s actually his sister, but he became her guardian after their parents passed in a tragic accident a few years ago. “So she’s basically my niece,” she finishes. “Mom and Dad dote on her like she’s their grandchild.

“Wow,” is all I manage to say. “That’s … wow.”

“I know, right? It’s a lot. But it helps if you understand the dynamics a little. Anyway, Shane’s sort of appointed himself an honorary big brother. Hence his door-answering behavior. Again, sorry about that. I had no idea he was going to do that.”

Grinning, I pull us into the dining room so we have half a second before we come face to face with everyone else. “You have nothing to apologize for,” I tell her quietly, dropping a kiss on her nose. “I’m glad I’m here. And I was semi-prepared for one of your brothers to answer the door with that kind of energy. Or maybe your dad. It was the random stranger that caught me by surprise.”

She laughs, and that sound summons the others.

“What are you guys doing in here?” a gruff voice demands, and I look up to see Ty standing there, the resemblance between his scowl and his younger brother’s kind of uncanny. He’s a little taller and lankier than Dylan, but they’re clearly brothers, with the same dark hair and level brows that mark all the Daniels kids.

“Just having a moment to ourselves before the craziness really begins,” Nora says.

“Smart,” he answers, his face clearing as he steps forward and holds out a hand to me. “You must be Austin. I’m Ty. I saw you at the open house, but I don’t think we had a chance to talk.”

“Ty,” Nora says. “You’ve met Austin plenty of times before. He was here all the time when we were kids.”

Ty shrugs. “I was a teenager. I wasn’t paying attention to my youngest siblings’ friends. And anyway, that was half a lifetime ago. It’s okay to reintroduce myself.” He turns his scowl on her. “I’m being nice. Would you rather I acted like Shane or Dylan?”

She holds up her hands. “No. God, no. Please continue.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Nora

Despite the rockybeginning with Shane pretending to be a grumpy and protective big brother and Dylan being an asshole, dinner goes really well.

Austin starts out quiet, like he’s getting the lay of the land, but by the time we’ve all passed the food and started eating, he’s jumped right into the conversation. We’re near the end of the table with my dad, and Ty and Olivia are across from us. Sarah’s next to me, with Lydia across from her, my family wisely creating as big of a buffer as possible between Dylan and Austin and me. He’s at the other end next to Mom, who’ll have no trouble getting him in line if he starts being a dick again.

And as much as I’m glad he’s here, I wish it weren’t a mandatory family dinner night. I’d much rather spend the evening with just Austin.

Yes, I love my siblings. Yes, it’s—mostly—good to see them. But they’ll be in town until after Christmas, so it’s not like I won’t see them plenty. Christmas Day will be full of family festivities,and I’m sure Austin has plans with his grandparents that day, and his parents might be coming to town too. Between that and ChristmasFest, we have plenty of enforced time apart. I want to have however much time together we can scrounge up before I have to leave after New Year’s.

Because I really, really like this guy. More than I’ve liked anybody, I think ever. He’s sweet and kind and funny and treats me well, and the way he jumped in with Dylan?

Swoon.

Yet another case of I’d never have believed that possible of Austin Stanton. When they were kids, he’d always side with Dylan over me. No question.

So for that not to happen this time?

God, he really has changed.

Too bad Dylan doesn’t realize that he doesn’t have to make Austin choose between us. It’s not like they’re best friends anymore. I don’t even think they’ve spoken in years—not that I keep tabs on Dylan’s friendships. But I haven’t heard him mention Austin in a long time, and Austin hasn’t mentioned staying in touch with Dylan, so I think it’s a safe bet.

After dinner wraps up, Austin stands around talking to my brothers and Lydia and Olivia while I help Mom with cleanup since I didn’t help much with setup. But she shoos me off. “Go spend time with that sweet boy,” she says just above a whisper. “He’s a good one.”

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