Page 2 of Winter Glam in Amsterdam

“Hell yes, you do. You never look me in the eye, and you blink twice.” He chuckles but lets me go. “Come on, tell me.”

“It’s nothing, Luca.” Although the sigh from the depths of my soul that follows absolutely confirms his theory. “Come on, let’s go downstairs. Pretty sure Mom and Dad got you a cake to celebrate you showing your face here.”

Without a word, our eyes meet. One second of silence. Two. Then we simultaneously start running down the stairs, trying to get ahead of each other.

“So,” Luca starts to explain, chocolate cake decorating half his face as I glare at him. That fucker was like half a second in front of me, but knowing how much it pisses me off, he put his whole hand into the cake to take a bite out of it like a fucking caveman. Some days I wonder if he stopped maturing after the age of five. He’s certainly acting like it.

Guess I’m sticking to coffee for now.

“You know, I got two cupcakes,” Mom whispers, leaning close to me and hiding her mouth from Luca, who’s back to focusing on eating a slab of cake like it’s an apple, devouring it like we’re about to take it from him.

“You know us too well,” I whisper back with a small grin. “I’ll get one when he’s gone. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She nudges me with her shoulder, and for once, the smile playing at my lips is a real one.

“You were saying?” I remind Luca that he’d been talking, and a grin spreads across his chocolate-covered face.

“Right. So, as you know, Millie and I are getting married,” he starts, like that hasn’t beenthetopic of conversation for the past three months, ever since they got engaged, “-and we thought, instead of doing a bachelor or bachelorette party, we’d like to goto Amsterdam with all our families in the new year and spend some quality time.”

“All of us?” I raise an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Well, because you’re family, and we don’t really see you often. Plus, we get invited to so many parties they are more like a chore at this point.” He shrugs and I can only shake his head at him. Oh, what a poor guy, forced to party. “We thought it would be a fun time. Millie’s parents will also be coming, Kayla and Asher of course, Lily, because let me quote my girlfriend ‘she’s running our label, she’s part of the family now too.’ Of course she’s also bringing her boyfriend Adam and he just asked if it’s okay for his brothers to come too.”

“That’s quite the guest list after all,” I mumble. Must be nice to have the means to just up and invite so many people to a vacation in Europe.

“The Walker brothers?” Mom asks, confused. “I didn’t realize you kept in touch after the charity match.”

“Somewhat.” Luca shrugs. “Now that Lily is together with Adam, we hang out from time to time when they’re having a girls’ night. I’m sure it’s going to be fun.”

“Is it?” I ask skeptically, reaching out to steal a corner of his chocolate cake, hoping his dirty hands haven’t touched it. I pick off crumb after crumb, eating it slowly as I gather my thoughts. “Are you that close to them? The most you’ve ever talked aboutthose brothers was during the charity football match back then, and they didn’t seem like a harmonious family.”

“They’ve been through a lot,” Luca says delicately, lowering his hand. “I don’t really know what’s going on with them. They’re not that open about it, but it seemed important to Adam, so who am I to say no?”

“I mean you’re a guy who’s basically throwing his bachelor party during this trip, not family counseling,” I point out, causing Mom and Dad to shoot me a look. “What? I’m right and you know it.”

“You might be.” Luca shrugs and bites into another huge piece of cake, eyebrows creased as he gathers his thoughts then swallows. “But I can’t exactly forbid Adam from flying in his siblings and having them stay in the same hotel. Plus, I’m still somewhat friends with them, even if mostly during boring industry events.” Another shrug. “It’s fine with me, and if they can’t behave, that’s their issue.”

His eyes soften when they meet mine. “You don’t have to hang out with them, Summer. They’ll do their thing. You’ll do yours. We’ll have some dinners together. There’s no way I’d require you to spend 24/7 with any of us.”

My shoulders relax. I hadn’t even realized they’d tensed up. No wonder though, because at this point, the trip sounded like an introvert’s nightmare.

“Just to make sure,” I ask him, narrowing my eyes, “you’re paying for the trip?”

“I’ll even give you an allowance,” he assures me, and my shoulders immediately tense right up again. “Or not. Your call.”

For a moment, I look at him not sure what to say.

He couldn’t have known but it’s just another time my shortcomings are glaring at me. Inviting me to a vacation is one thing, but needing to offer handouts so there’s actually something I can do there apart from sitting in my hotel room is just so damned pathetic.

So before I burst into tears, I get up and quickly leave the room.

The reluctant knock to my room door comes after only a few minutes.

I’m lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling—the very same ceiling I’ve been staring at for 26 years at this point. Well, some of those years were spent in a dorm, but it’s still the same ceiling, nonetheless, only with one or two more coats of color on it.

I want to ignore it but alas, I forgot to lock the door and hear it open tentatively as my eyes are locked on a speck of glue fromwhen I put glow in the dark stars on my ceiling last year, then decided I hated it but was too lazy to peel all of the remnants off.

“Can I come in?” Luca asks softly, and I curse internally.

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