Page 6 of A Christmas Collin

Does it matter that he used to be my foster brother? Of course not. It's all fake. At least that's what I'm telling myself, no matter how much I want to take a chance for it to be real. There are just too many things that can go wrong—the long distance, the taboo aspect of it since Mom still refers to him as my brother, and us accidentally meeting after a decade of no contact.

I'm barely out of the car when Josh comes running out of the house. "Don't park on the street. I want to take a look at your car. Pull it into the driveway."

I look at the driveway, with three cars already taking up every bit of free space.

"I don't want to park on the slope. What if my car rolls into the street? Besides, my car is fine. My, um…" I hesitate to say the word but force it out of my mouth. "My boyfriend happened tobe around, and he took a look. I'm fine and will bring it to his shop tomorrow."

Josh has hazel eyes like mine, but where my blonde hair is long, his is short and spiky. He rolls his eyes and extends his hand. "Just give me the keys, Dani. I'll move it and check the oil your imaginary boyfriend changed."

"No," I tell him, stuffing my keys into my pocket. Collin's words ring loud and clear in my head, too. I don't want to break his rules since he's willing to do this for me. I open the back door for Josh to see my luggage. "But you can bring my bags into the house, like a gentleman. And my boyfriend's not imaginary. I just thought Collin was going to be spending time doing charity work this week. Everything is still new. We've only been dating a few weeks."

"Right," Josh says, dragging the word out.

"Exactly, Wright. Collin Wright."

"No way," he scoffs. "The tattooed kid with all the piercings from when we were younger? You're definitely imagining things if you think someone like that is going to be into someone as clean-cut as you."

"You're not listening. He's already into me. WE ARE DATING. I would have called him when my car conked out, but I thought he was in D.C. working. Speaking of dates, what are you doing here? I thought you had to get Hilary from the train station."

He folds his beefy arms across his chest. Josh would be the athletic type, but his beer belly overshadows how young he truly is. With another roll of his eyes to hide his disappointment, he shrugs. "She missed her connection and is going to come tomorrow."

I inhale deeply through clenched teeth. "Traveling the day before Christmas is horrifying. Almost as bad as traveling on New Year’s Eve. It's a holiday disaster waiting to happen."

"Don't remind me. She's already bitching about being stuck in Chicago."

"Why—" I begin to ask a question but decide against it. The last thing my brother needs is me inserting doubts into why his girlfriend, who lives in D.C. like we do, got detoured in Chicago via train. The fact that she's taking the train and not driving with either of us has doubts circling my mind as it is. I don't want to bring Josh down, so I shift the conversation. "Just help me bring my stuff inside. Collin will be here soon. Be nice to him."

"You're really digging into this boyfriend bit. All right, I'll be on my best imaginary behavior."

"My car is here, doofus. Don't you think it would be slightly impossible for me to drive here after you heard my car stutter and stop on the highway? Collin's home in Heffen's Bluff for the week and came out to help me instead of me having to wait for roadside assistance to send someone out."

Josh shakes his head in defeat. "All right. Collin's your guy."

He grabs the bulk of my bags that look like I'm staying for three weeks instead of a few days. He announces my arrival as soon as we step through the door.

"Mom! Ev! Dani's here." His voice booms through the house, and Mom scurries out of the kitchen with an apron tied around her waist. There's something dough-like and sticky on her fingers as she leans forward.

Of course, I wrap her in the biggest hug while she keeps her sticky fingers away from me.

Mom's smile is wide, her eyes glossy. "Oh honey, where's your beau? My mind is all over the place trying to get the food ready. I'm making my cinnamon rolls. You should come help me and Evelyn in the kitchen with the rest of the desserts."

I laugh because Collin's right, the conversation goes in every direction but a straight line. After tossing my stuff into my childhood bedroom, I take a lingering look around the room. It's clean but still has that faint scent of warm vanilla and cinnamon.

It smells like home.

A full-sized bed takes up most of the space, with a tall oak dresser in the corner. There's a TV mounted to the wall that I'm not sure still works, but the fading lavender-pink walls flood my mind with memories from my teenage years. I can still replay the conversations and debates with my friends from all those years ago. I close the door, not wanting to waste time reminiscing when it's clear my mother wants me in the kitchen with her and Evelyn.

Evelyn is kneading dough furiously on the floured countertop of the kitchen island.

"Evil Lynne, what's wrong with the dough?" I ask her, circling the island to blow a raspberry on her cheek. Annoying her is a time-honored treasure and tradition. That doesn’t change just because we’re all adults.

She groans and huffs, flaring her nostrils as she tries to shoulder me away from her. "Don't start, Dan-Hell. I'm going to get the hang of this chocolate croissant dough if it kills me. It's Jake's favorite, and I just?—"

Her frustration morphs into sobs, and I suddenly feel like a piece of shit. It’s the last thing I want to do—upset her and make her cry before dinner. I move to hug her, but she shrugs away from me. "Ev, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break the dam."

"It's fine." She sniffs back tears and goes back to kneading the dough. "If Jake's not going to eat it, at least you guys will be able to. Right? And you're dating our brother or some imaginary friend? What's going on with that?"

"Collin, the tattooed kid who stayed here before he aged out of the system. The one Dad taught to drive," I tell her, wondering if she remembers him.

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