Page 1 of The Merriest Christmas

CHAPTER 1

Emmy

This is going to be the best Christmas ever.

I repeated it out loud to make it real.

"Best Christmas ever," I said with a nod then gripped the steering wheel tighter as a gust of wind tried to blow my car off the road.My tiny Honda Fit was not built for this.I could hear the groceries and gifts shifting around in the back.Maybe I should've secured them better.But the weather wasn't supposed to get bad for another few hours.Unfortunately, no one gave Mother Nature the memo.

Good thing I was almost home.

My smile couldn't be contained.Home.Even the thought made my heart warm.

Sure, I loved college.

I loved the freedom that came with it.

I loved my classes.

I really loved my roommates at Magnolia House, who were my friends but, over the years, had become more like family.

I scoffed a laugh.

No doubt some of them would become family eventually.

Finn and I had a secret bet going.His money was on Archer, our oldest brother, being the first to pop the question to his girlfriend Honor, but mine was on Chase.He was the one who believed in soulmates, and when he found Charlie?He knew he wanted her forever.Although…if I was being honest, I couldn't really discount Baylor.He was definitely the most impulsive, and though he'd been blind to it for years, June, my best friend, had been secretly in love with him a really long time.Bay was right there with her in the love department, head over freaking heels, though he almost lost her because he'd been too scaredand stubborn to admit it.Dex was the last person I expected to want to put a ring on it—but when I thought of the way his eyes went soft when he looked at Maisie…Maybe I should place an extra bet on him?

Anyway, that wasn't really the point.The point about my roommates was this.

My brothers, as they so often did, walked right in and stole my friends.

Well, maybe "stole" wasn't the right word.

But it was close.

The story of my life went like this: I'd make a friend.They'd be amazing, and we were inseparable—at first.Then came what I liked to call The O'Brien Brothers Effect.Didn't matter who it was.Once my friends met my brothers, that was it.Game over.They were the stars of the show, and I was just their little sister.

Which I loved being by the way.

My family, including all five of my brothers, were the people I loved most in the whole world.

I just wished that someone would see me, choose me, want me.

That I'd be someone's first choice.

And now, I sounded needy, like a selfish, whiny baby.

Jealous too.

Of my brothers of all people.

Ugh.

Shaking my head, I smiled to myself.I couldn't wait to see everyone.

Couldn't wait to see my mom's face when she realized all of her kids would once again be under her roof for Christmas.

She didn't have to tell me that's what she wanted.

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