Page 32 of This December

“Okay, darling. Let me know if you need any help.” Mom gave me a wide grin with her hands tucked under her chin. I could practically see the hearts in her eyes.

“Right, we have to talk about something.” I sighed and faced my mom head on. “You’ve got to tone down the whole lovebirds, heart eyes, and full naming him when you’re around Cole.”

Mom flinched. “What are you talking about?”

“Last night you wouldn’t stop calling him Cole Jackson. Not Cole. He’s just a regular guy. He has a really weird job, and a lot of people know his name and apparently care about who he’s dating, but he’s just a man. A really amazing, caring man, but he’s still just a man.”

A huge grin spread across my mom’s face. “You love him!”

“Mom! Oh my god! That’s exactly what I’m talking about.” I pointed a finger at her. “You’ve got to stop with that crap. You’re going to spook him. It’s way too early to show him your special brand of crazy.”

“Then you never should’ve introduced him to the family,” Aspyn drawled from the hallway. “Especially during Mom’s Twelve Days of Christmas. What were you thinking?”

I groaned. I should’ve run when I’d had the chance. “You say that like I had a choice. You obviously don’t know Cole if you think I could keep him from Christmas time fun. I mean, he invited the whole brood over to his house to sled and snowmobile. He’s just a big kid at heart, really.”

“I love that for you.” Mom beamed at me. “You need someone to make you get out there and have fun. You’ve been so down since you’ve moved back home.”

“You mean since she lost her job,” Aspyn snarked. “How’s the job search going, by the way? Any leads?”

How soon are you leavingwas clearly the subtext beneath her “concerned” question. Lovely.

I shrugged. “I haven’t had time to check up on my applications. And I had to shut off my phone since the internet blew up with the story of me and Cole.”

No way was I telling her that Cole had paid off my student loans. I didn’t have time to deal with her epic meltdown and tantrum.

“Right.” Aspyn smiled bitterly. “I saw you’d turned off the comments on your social media profiles. How are you doing?”

“Fine.” Like I’d ever confess my insecurities to this sister. “Cole and I talked with his manager this morning. We put out a statement of sorts. Hopefully that will help take some of the heat off all of us, and we can go back to somewhat regular lives. I’m so sorry this has all come down on you guys. I never thought that would happen.”

“Oh. So you guys are breaking up?” Aspyn batted her eyes in a fake display of concern.

“What? How did you get that from what I said?”

“’They put out a statement, and it’ll take the heat off of all of us.’ One plus one equals breakup. Am I wrong?” Aspyn turned to Mom who shook her head.

“Not necessarily.” Mom raised her eyebrows. “Maybe they’ve got some plan that will beat the media to the punch.”

“That’s exactly what they did. Jace took some photos that Cole put up on his social media. I guess they think that if they post a picture of us together before the paps get one, they’ll back off.”

“That’s stupid,” Aspyn sneered. “You’re just adding fuel to the fire. They’ll be more ravenous to find out who you are now.”

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll see. I’m gonna grab a few things. I’ll see you all at Cole’s later. And Mom—”

“I know, I know. I’ll try to act like a normal person. I’m sorry, December. I’m just so excited for you. I haven’t seen you this into someone in…ever, really. I don’t care that he’s a singer. I mean, it is amazing, but that’s not why I’m so thrilled. I just love the two of you together. He’s so caring and sweet with you, and the kids too. But I’ll back off. I swear.”

“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure if she’d actually be able to help herself, but at least now she was aware. “All right. I’ll see you. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Mom gave me a quick side hug, and Aspyn waved, then I made my way to my room to grab my stuff.

When I reached my room, I should’ve gone straight to my closet to get what I needed, but I stopped short at the sight of my art wall. Drawing had consumed me for so long until I was forced to shove it into a corner of my life labeled childish dreams. I mean, it would be crazy to try.

Right?

My fingers traced the flowery meadow I’d spent so many weeks sketching in high school. It’d consumed me. I remembered my high school boyfriend, Parker, being so annoyed because I missed a few of his basketball games. In my defense, it wasn’t exactly enthralling to watch him ride the pine when I could be sketching. And when I’d showed up to his games with my sketch pad, he’d accused me of not paying attention. It wasn’t like I’d missed anything—he didn’t accomplish much from the bench. That’d been the beginning of the end of us.

And the beginning of the end of my art.

It was ironic that another boy was now encouraging me to get back into it.

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