Page 44 of The Merriest Christmas

"Yeah, in a minute."

Dex raised a brow, looked back and forth between the two of us, then walked away without asking questions.Thank goodness.

I crossed my arms, staring at Seaver.

"You left," I said.

"Yeah, but I came back."

I gestured to the car."Why'd you go in the first place?"

Seaver just shrugged."Felt like a drive."

"A drive that took four hours in freezing conditions to get my brothers?"

"Not gonna lie," he said."I thought about stopping and throwing Baylor out.His singing…it's painful."

I sighed."I'm serious."

"Believe me, so am I."

"You were the one who told me how dangerous the roads are."

"For you," he said."My car has snow tires.Plus, I drove through way worse up in Minnesota."

"You brought my brothers home.Why?"

Seaver tilted his head."I think you know."

I swallowed past the lump in my throat.

"Thank you," I said thickly.

"It was nothing," he said.

But it was.

To me, it was very much something.

"Merry Christmas, Emilia."

"The merriest," I said, "thanks to you."

Seaver noticed me rubbing my arms for warmth and said we should go in.I went willingly.As we walked side by side, beneath all the joy, warmth and gratitude, I felt a familiar wariness.A chill that I just couldn't seem to fully shake.What was it he'd said?He felt like a drive?I knew it was just a joke.But I wondered if that was why he'd disappeared the last time.Seaver had done my family an amazing kindness.And he had returned.But…I still couldn't stop wondering when he'd leave again.

Everyone congregated in the kitchen, and it didn't take long for the conversation to turn to sports.

More specifically baseball.

Even more specifically talk of the majors.

With my brothers here, it was only a matter of time. The current players on the Southern U team had so many questions.Couldn't blame them really.They obviously had a lot of respect for Mom as their coach, and the legacy of the O'Brien name was still alive and well.Plus, if the other guys had any interest in playing professionally, this was the perfect opportunity to network and ask all the things.

The kitchen was packed.

I stayed back and leaned against the wall.

"So, what's it like playing in the MLB?" Toby asked.

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