Page 47 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends
Emma hurries off to the bathroom and shuts herself inside, leaving me and the guys to awkwardly stand around and adjust our clothes. It’s not like we have anything to change into, and we don’t have time to go home because we’re supposed to be at her parents’ place within the hour.
There is a sliver of me that wants to say something to at least get a gist of where everyone’s head is at, but judging from Max’s stiff expression and Josh’s unusual silence, they’re probably as wary as me about what will happen if anyone found out about last night.
It seems like Emma feels the same way too. She might even regret what happened.
I really hope she doesn’t.
When Emma comes out of the bathroom, her hair and makeup are touched up. Her sweater and pants are a little wrinkled, but it’s the best that she can do in these circumstances. “Ready? Don’t want to be late.”
The three of us nod, and I lift my hand. “We can ride in my car. I just got new snow tires.”
Everyone nods, and we head out, able to take the elevator now that the power is back on. It must’ve come back on while we were asleep.
After we pile into my car, I drive out of the city and to the suburbs, going to the nice neighborhood that I halfway grew up in. Just the sight of Ethan’s and Andrew’s cars parked in the long driveway makes my stomach flip.
Here we fucking go.
I park behind Andrew and shut off my car, silence surrounding us. I don’t think we’ve ever been this quiet around each other before, but I guess we better conserve our energy for this performance that we’re about to put on.
“Let’s go,” Emma says from the passenger’s seat. She pushes open her door and strides up to the porch, knocking a few times before letting herself in. “Mom! Dad! I’m here! Well,we’rehere.”
Tension sits in my chest like a heavy rock, putting pressure on my lungs as her parents and her brothers greet us in the attached dining room and kitchen.
“Oh, honey. What are you wearing? Yesterday’s clothes?” Catherine asks Emma as she pinches Emma’s slightly wrinkled sweater.
“Did you guys arrive at the same time?” Ethan asks us with a confused look on his face.
Emma’s eyes widen for a second as she pitches us a stiff expression. We were so caught up in our worries that we didn’t even consider coming up with a reason for why we’re together in this state. We look so damn suspicious.
“You know, the funniest thing happened yesterday,” Josh replies as he casually shakes Terry’s hand before fixing himself a glass of spiked eggnog. “We were working at the office fixing problems for our update in the middle of the storm, and the power went out.”
My heart hammers in my chest as I watch Emma’s parents and brothers direct their attention to him. I don’t know if we should be getting into any details about yesterday, but it’s too late to stop him.
Max makes himself a drink and pretends to be interested in the covered pans of food on the kitchen counter and stove, keeping himself busy.
“Wow, really? You know, I did hear someone say something about a power outage,” Terry says with a nod.
“We were literally stranded at work,” Josh continues with a lighthearted chuckle. “The last place you would want to be stranded.”
“I’ve been stranded at the hospital a few times. It’s not fun,” Ethan mutters in agreement.
Emma remembers to breathe when her family seems to be chill with Josh’s recount of yesterday’s events. She puts space between herself and us, and even if I don’t like that, I understand why.
It’s for the best right now.
“That storm was insane,” Josh says after sipping on his eggnog, dosing himself with some liquid courage. We’ll all need some to get through today. “We couldn’t leave. We ended up camping out in the office all night. The power didn’t come back on until this morning around the time when the roads were cleared.”
“You all spent the night at the office?” Andrew asks as he lifts an eyebrow at Josh. “You could’ve called someone for help.”
Of course, the lawyer is going to be asking questions and trying to poke holes in our story.
“The roads were packed with snow. We didn’t want to endanger anyone when it wasn’t totally necessary. We had plenty of work to do to keep us busy,” I speak up, my blood running cold as all eyes move to me.
Josh is better at working crowds than me. Maybe I should just shut up and let him do the talking.
“Anyway, that’s why we’re still in yesterday’s clothes, and Ryan gave us all a ride because he has the newest snow tires,” Josh finishes. “We’ve had a crazy Christmas so far.”
“Well, it certainly sounds like it,” Catherine replies with a laugh before hugging Josh. “I’m just glad everyone made it.”
