Page 17 of Mistletoe Kisses

Arlo watched me eagerly. “What do you do?”

“Taste each one, then rearrange them in order of the ones I like least to the ones I like best. That way, I can finish off with the yummiest ones.”

He tilted his head and studied his tray. “But if the flavors influence others, wouldn’t you ruin the experience of the tastiest one by drinking the ones you don’t like first?”

“Huh. That’s a damn good point. Okay, then, I’ll order from best to worst.” I enjoyed all the beers at Tap That anyway, so I wasn’t too worried.

He selected the lightest one and took a small sip. I drank my own as I watched him systematically sip, shuffle, sip, shuffle, sip, shuffle until he nodded once at the resulting lineup.

I couldn’t help my chuckle. He was so cute. “So, which is your favorite?”

“This one.” He held up the red.

“Good choice. That’s one of their seasonals. Santa’s Balls.”

Arlo snorted into the glass.

We drank in silence for a few minutes. I wouldn’t mention whatever had rattled him at Tome Raiders. I was happy to listen if he wanted to talk about it, but I didn’t want to pressure him. Especially since he seemed to have calmed.

Arlo stared out the window for a minute, then picked up a glass and drained it. His eyes locked with mine. “Ron is my uncle, but he doesn’t know it.”

Chapter7

Arlo

I collapsed backagainst the chair and deflated like a balloon. Holding on to that secret had been a bigger burden than I’d appreciated. Since I’d figured out who my dad was, I hadn’t told anyone but Keaton. Not my mom, not my coworkers—who were barely more than acquaintances—and not even Keaton’s family. There weren’t many people in my life I could unload a burden on, but a hot stranger a couple of thousand miles from my home? Sure, why not? He’d been there when my pressure valve had been on the verge of bursting, and I was grateful he’d whisked me out of there.

As I settled back into my body, I tried to gauge Lucas’s reaction. The smile he’d worn most of the time I’d been around him was absent. Concern lurked in his eyes, but I didn’t spot an ounce of dismissal or disgust.

“Can I ask questions? Or do you want to not talk about it?”

I liked that he gave me finite choices. Keaton often did that, and I responded well to that approach. “Questions are okay.”

“Were you adopted?”

I selected an amber-colored beer. “No.”

“Were you kidnapped? Are there milk cartons with your face on them?”

My eyes widened. “God, no. My mom is my birth mother.”

“Are you a humanoid alien sent to spy on our human ways and your uncle is your cover story? Do you have tentacles under there somewhere?” He bent and peeked under the table. His lips twitched as he straightened.

That pulled a laugh from me. “No!”

My laughter kept coming as he created increasingly outlandish scenarios. I laughed so much that the surface layers of my anxiety melted away.

I never expected laughter to come easily on the topic of discovering a brand-new side of my family, especially since it had become such a concentrated source of stress. Not having him around had been a dull pain my entire life, but when I’d learned as a kid that he’d passed away and later learned he’d been a one-night stand, I’d found a way to cope. There was almost a comfort to his anonymity.

Accidentally learning who he was had been a secret I’d held close to my chest and as far away from my mom as possible. Mom loved me more than anything, but she wasn’t the type of parent who radiated warmth and affection. We didn’t have the kind of relationship where I could’ve run to her when I’d discovered his name. When she’d asked me to go through my stuff in her storage unit when she wanted to downsize, I never expected to stumble across that information. She wasn’t a traditionally sentimental person, but when I’d discovered a box of letters between her and a man and then an obituary of the same man, I couldn’t turn off my curiosity. I wished I could’ve talked to her immediately instead of pretending like I hadn’t seen anything and letting the knowledge eat me alive.

She’d always done her best for me and was an incredible parent in many ways. She’d worked hard my entire life to provide for me and always made sure I had food on the table, a roof over my head, and what I needed for school.

If I was in a financial bind? She’d help me in any way she could without question or judgment. But needing support in navigating the complex emotions of discovering the identity of a dad I never felt I could ask about? Not her forte. I couldn’t hold that against her though. It was who she was.

Because of that, I knew I leaned on Keaton too much. He’d become the gravitational force in my world, and it wasn’t fair to him. He was my best friend, my roommate, and my colleague.

Lucas continued tossing out the most random things. There was a twinkle in his eyes that meant trouble. The only kind of trouble I liked.

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