Page 83 of Christmas Wishes

I’d done a bit of casual poking around for apartments in the area, but I hadn’t put much effort into it yet. I’d told myself I’d start searching for my own place after New Year’s. I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to spend money I didn’t have. When Arlo and I had gotten laid off, I hadn’t anticipated the expense of moving and deposits on a new apartment. Being a baby influencer wouldn’t give me enough money for that, but I could probably get part-time retail or admin work in town to help pay the bills. I didn’t want to keep crashing with Riggs and risk putting a strain on our new relationship. He wasn’t used to having someone in his space all the time.

Just as we finished placing the alcohol and mixers on the kitchen island, the doorbell rang. I opened the door to Evie and her boyfriend, whom I’d briefly met the other day, and an unfamiliar yet gorgeous guy who appeared to be a couple of years older than her. She introduced him as her brother. I vaguely remembered her mentioning a gay brother, but I thought she said he’d moved out of state after high school.

As they came inside, she held up a box and opened the lid to reveal a round, white cake with what I assumed was edible glitter andHappy 5k!written on it.

“Happy five thousand followers!” She beamed at me.

“Evie! Thank you!” I blinked away the tears stinging the backs of my eyes. I couldn’t wreck my look at the beginning of the night. It was so incredibly kind of her to mark the massive milestone.

After one of my first videos went sorta viral the other day, I’d begun racking up the followers. I hadn’t expected my video about how I’d decided to ignore gender norms and start playing with makeup in college to get so much love. It was probably all thanks to the terribly awkward photos I’d added showing the evolution of my looks. The good, bad, and fugly.

She passed the cake to her boyfriend and pulled me in for a hug. “And thanks to your video the other day, I’ve sold out of stock and have enough preorders to take me through February.”

I squeezed her again. “Oh mygod.That’s incredible!” I couldn’t wrap my brain around that. Evie had sold all of that because of a video I’d made? Whoa.

A firm hand squeezed my shoulder. “Proud of you.” The husky words wrapped around me.

I leaned against Riggs and hummed when he kissed my cheek. The thoughtful man avoided kissing my carefully styled curls, though I wouldn’t mind a bad hair day if it was because of his kisses.

Riggs collected our guests’ coats as I went to answer the new door knock. Guests arrived steadily after that, and the home was soon full of laughter and conversation.

Doris approached me as I was getting drinks for folks in the kitchen and gestured to her eyes. “So? How did I do?”

“Gorgeous, dahling,” I said, exaggerating the H.

Riggs picked up two of the cocktails I’d made. “I noticed several of you have similar makeup. I take it that was planned?” He looked between me and Doris.

“I made a little tutorial and shared it,” I said.

“He’s underselling it. He made a tutorialandmakeup kits for us.” Doris beamed at me.

Esther and Judith approached, also sporting their takes on my look. Riggs offered to take a photo of all of us together.

“You and Evie should team up and sell kits that come with a tutorial. You’d make a killing,” Doris suggested as she fixed herself a bellini. “Maybe include Judith’s niece. Judith, didn’t you mention she’s been getting a ton of orders since Keaton’s skiing video?”

Evie, who had wandered over to refill her drink, locked eyes with me. “Oh my god, we should totally do that!”

“That would be amazing!” That could be the answer to making money more quickly from my videos. “Let’s brainstorm this week.” Ideas were already flowing.

Evie and I did an excited little dance before I finished mixing another round of drinks for everyone.

The party passed in a flash. I was having the best time co-hosting with Riggs. We spent some of it talking to guests together and other times in separate conversations. I never felt like we had to keep an eye on each other. It turned out we were quite the co-hosting duo.

Best of all, there wasn’t a single moment where I felt like an outsider. If anything, it was like I’d found my home. I still couldn’t believe how quickly my life had changed for the better.

After a while, I noticed Riggs had disappeared. I had a suspicion where I’d find him.

“Sneaking treats to the gremlin, huh?” I leaned against the door to his bedroom and watched Riggs sit at the foot of the bed and feed Joule a cat treat from a squeeze tube.

“Busted.” He grinned at me.

“I’m glad you’ve become friends.”

Riggs smiled softly, adoring eyes on Joule as he slowly ran a finger between her ears. It melted my heart. “Me too.”

“It’s especially good because when I get my own place, she’ll need your feet to keep her warm.”

Riggs had to have gotten whiplash from how fast his head turned toward me. “Your own place?”

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