Page 12 of A Very Addicted Christmas

I grin down at her.

“Alright,” Winona says, drawing our attention again. “We accept those terms, and we’ll revisit this point with Aunt Willow and Uncle Garrison at a later date.” She clicks the next slide.

REASON 3: THE EXPERIENCE IS ONCE IN A LIFETIME.

“When will thiseverhappen again?” Kinney asks. “You have Jane, Moffy, Charlie, Beckett,andSullivan on tour. To get those five together for four months is just freaking unheard of.”

“Andwe’remissing it,” Audrey says.

“Sulli and Beckett definitely aren’t going to do another tour after this,” Winona adds.

No one in the theatre seats argues with this fact.

Winona clicks to the next slide and it does a rotation before spinning off the screen. I raise my brows to Rose. She avoids my gaze and when I don’t look away, she pushes her hand against my face. “Stop staring, Richard.”

I smile underneath her palm before I turn to look at the screen again. Her hand drops to mine.

REASON 4: FAMILY IS EVERYTHING.

“Aren’t you allalwayssaying this to us?” Winona asks.

“Well, guess where our family is?” Kinney adds.

“On the tour bus,” Audrey answers.

“Not all of them,” I say. “Ben, Eliot, Tom, Luna, and Xander are all staying in Philly.”

“They’re all in high school,” Kinney rebuts.

“Refer to Reason 2,” Audrey nods.

They have thought this out at least. I can give them that.

“But we’re also your family,” Lily says. “And I’d miss you all soooo much if you were gone for four months.”

“So, so, soooo much,” Daisy chimes in.

“It’s an awfully big adventure,” Winona says dreamily to her mom. “You can’t deny us that, can you?”

Ryke grunts out a noise that I don’t try to translate.

“You all have like five more years with us,” Kinney pipes in. “You can survive.”

“We didn’t say we couldn’t,” Lo refutes. “And I agree with your mom and aunt, I’d miss you too much.”

Kinney tries to steel her eyes.

Winona probably senses they’re losing Kinney so she rushes to the next slide “Annnd to our fifth reason.” This time the slide folds into the next one.

REASON 5: WE’LL STAY OUT OF TROUBLE. WE HAVE BODYGUARDS TO KEEP US SAFE.

“We promise to stay out of trouble,” Winona says strongly. “I’msoserious about this.”

“We’ll be in bed by curfew,” Audrey adds.

“We won’t go out late if the older kids want to.” Kinney is glaring while she’s talking now. “Wepromise. We’re not Luna, Eliot, and Tom. We don’t break rules just to break them.”

“But you are your own brand of trouble, little Slytherin,” Lo says.

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