Page 123 of Devilry

Once I stood my ground with my dad, my mother didn’t even bother with her weekly fake calls. We were done, and surprisingly, I’m nowhere near as upset as I thought I would be about the loss.

Everyone piles in the house at the same time, punctuality clearly everyone’s speciality.

“Hey,” Callie walks in first, heading straight to me and kissing me on the cheek. I catch Aiden walking in behind her, smiling at his phone like a loon

“What’s he so happy about?” I ask.

“That’s the new him,” she informs me. “Smiles all the time.”

“It’s actually kind of creepy.”

“Tell me about it. I’ve known him my whole life and I’ve never seen him smile this much.”

“Hey, man,” he says when he and Cole finally stop talking. “Thanks for inviting us over.”

I raise an eyebrow at Callie. “He’s even got manners.”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny,” he quips.

“And jokes too,” Callie adds.

Everyone starts taking their normal seats around the house, like we’ve done this a million times before. It isn’t long before Harper walks in, and then Sophie and Miles with little Joey in tow.

I stand back, watching everyone, admiring how this beautiful band of mismatched people managed to find their way into one another’s lives.

With her mobility getting stronger every day, Geena is in her element, fussing and fighting over all of us. The food and drinks keep on coming as we all flitter from one to another talking about everything and nothing all at once.

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” Callie clanks her fork to her wine glass. “So, most of you don’t know, butI love lists and New Year’s resolutions. If you don’t, now you do. ”

A small chorus of laughter fills the room.

“Anyway, back to my point. I would like to propose that we all announce one New Year’s resolution we’d like to achieve. Doesn’t have to be personal, doesn’t have to be big. And then next year, we come back and see if we achieved it.”

“Ok, and if we don’t achieve it?” Harper asks. She’s spent quite a bit of time at our place lately. Man, do I love calling it that.Our place.And I know she has something going on. Although she hasn’t shared, Cole and I just do our best to be there for her until she’s ready.

“Then we don’t achieve it, I guess.”

“I just know, people in this room have become my life-long friends. Certain people,” she looks at me, and everybody’s eyes follow, “have inspired true and honest change, and I want to keep up that momentum. If I know at the end of every year, I have my best friends by my side, then maybe I’ll do more. I’ll be more. I’ll be the woman I really want to be.”

Aiden swoops in next to her. “And I think that’s enough wine for tonight.”

Callie’s face heats up in embarrassment and I don’t want that here. Especially not for her. “Well, personally, I love this idea of Callie’s. You all know that the past few months have had a lot of ups and downs for me, and I wouldn’t have been able to get through it all without each and every one of you. So I’m up for some continued positive change and honesty. So, I’ll take a turn.” I stand up and hold up my glass. “My New Year’s resolution is to not fall in love with my new arts and history professor.”

“Hey,” Cole shouts from beside me. I feel his hand slip into the back of my pants and give my ass a quick squeeze. “You’re going to pay for that,” he murmurs into my ear.

“I can’t wait.”

“So, was that the resolution? Or are you two gonna fuck in the living room?” Trey teases.

“Trey,” Geena scolds, pointing at Joey. “Do you want your mouth washed out with soap?”

Meghann and Cole drown out the idea, while Harper begs Geena to do it in front of everyone.

“So what’s your real New Year’s resolution?” Cole asks me, while everyone else is either bickering or laughing.

“I just want to be happy,” I admit. “I want to be this happy, all the time.”

“I think I can make that happen.”

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