Page 32 of Merry Kissmas

“What?”

“The competition thing I told you about.We’ll hit the slopes after.Kenzie said she’s staying back today with Nolan.She’s into some book that she wants to finish while he naps.”

“Awesome, can’t wait to ski after coming back from a full body workout.”

We rest our backs along the wall, each holding our coffee mugs, waiting for the announcement or whatever is about to happen.

Abe sets up his laptop while Gwen turns on the television, and they share a look that causes the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.

I’ve kept myself distracted in the kitchen, which is why I offered to help Gwen prepare breakfast for everyone.Then I cleaned the dishes with the help of Carter and Faith.Every day while we’re here, two people will be assigned to clean, and it’s never Gwen, which is fair since she says she’ll do most of the cooking.But keeping myself busy keeps me from interacting with all of them.They’re wonderful people, I just don’t know them well.

Brynn sits on the edge of the couch.

“Come on.”Gwen waves everyone over.

Ryah and Nolan are in their play area, and the rest of the people move over in front of the fireplace with the television over it.There are stockings hung along the mantel that appear to be homemade and each have a family member’s name.Andrew, Kenzie, and Nolan each have one too, although theirs appear to be newer than all the Russells.

“Hey, you two, you’re part of this too.”Gwen signals for us to join.

I stand behind Brynn, but not too close, while Andrew stands right next to Kenzie, wrapping his arm around her waist.

“Since our family is growing by the year, and we have some extra guests this year, our annual Christmas competition is going be in teams.”She presses a button on the computer, and a slide show starts on the TV screen.

She and Abe took the time to do a slideshow?Is this a normal thing families do?

Listed on the screen are the teams paired in twos.

“Mom…” Brynn says because she sees what I do.

“I’m sorry, but at the time, we weren’t aware of you both knowing one another with some secret past where he knows your coffee order.It made sense.”

Each team is made of one of the couples, except for Brynn and me.We’re a team.

“We should be drawing numbers,” Brynn says.

“Don’t be sour.Faith wouldn’t wanna be with any of you competitive jerks.”Carter kisses her cheek.

“Seriously?You’re the biggest competitor,” Brynn snipes.

“I’m not.Tre is,” Carter argues.

“Can we please not?”Gwen interrupts.“So, these are the events.We’re going to have a gingerbread house decorating contest, fastest couple to make a snowman, sugar cookie decorating contest, scavenger hunt, ski and snowboard switch, and since Carter won last year, he gets to pick the final contest.I emailed him last month, and…” Gwen puts out her hand as if Carter’s got the floor.

With his happy-go-lucky personality, I can only imagine what he’d pick.

He scoots Faith from his lap and slips out of the chair, running his hands together like an evil genius.

“Oh jeez, just spit it out,” Tre says, shaking his head.

“Yeah, get on with it.Just tell us what ridiculous thing you picked.”Brynn sips her coffee, and a small sigh slips out of her.It pierces something inside me I’m not ready to investigate yet.

“It has to be Christmas-related, remember.”Abe chimes in.

“Oh, it is.”Carter waggles his eyebrows.

“Let’s go, we’d like to get on with our day,” Tessa says.

“The competition will be to see who can melt an ice sculpture the fastest.”He laughs and turns to Faith, who joins in on his laughter as if they thought about it together.

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