Page 51 of Home for the Holidays

“Seriously?” She scoffed. “They’ve all basically said it. And last night when I was with your mom, she said it too.”

“Speaking of, why were you hanging out with my mom?” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not going to try anything with her, are you?”

Her stomach instantly tied into a knot. “God, no.”

“Because that’s, like, a line you cannot cross.” He sat up. “You slept with my old roommate. You slept with my old boss.”

“I didnosuch thing—” She let down her defense when he glared at her. “Okay, fine. But I mean, can you blame me?”

“Actually, yeah, I can blame you.” He shook his head. “You and your ability to plow through women…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second here. This isn’t about me. And I don’t rub your struggles in your face.”

He cocked his head to the side, a tight-lipped grimace on his face. “You cannot sleep with my mom.”

“Zac, come on. Why would you think I want to sleep with yourmom?” Her lies tasted awful in her mouth.

“Because she’s straight”—nope—“and unobtainable”—hardly—“and that’s your type.”He’s not wrong there, though. “Just don’t. You’ll freak her out if you try. And the last thing I need is to deal with my straight mom being freaked out that my fake girlfriend made a pass at her.”

The only reason she didn’t let his jab didn’t anger her was because he literally had no idea what he was talking about. He was so locked in his closet that he didn’t realize his mom was barricaded in her own. The only thing that concerned her, though was that he seemed so annoyed with even the possibility that Iris could possibly find his mom attractive. And knowing that he wasn’t okay with that gave her even more to worry about. The whole conversation was irritating. If she could have jumped out the window to escape it, she would have. “Well, good to know exactly how you feel, Zac. Thank goodness you aren’t holding back.”

“Don’t get upset with me.” He lay back on the bed again. “Please. I can’t handle it now.”

She patted his leg. “Well, sunshine, you need to fucking rally. I didn’t come here to spend time with your family all by myself. C’mon. Buck up, buttercup. Go take a shower and get downstairs with them or Iwillsleep with your mom. How’s that?”

She stood up, straightened her sweater, and left him lying there, hopefully dumbfounded.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Thank God for Nora. The second Iris came downstairs, she was presented with a coloring book and markers, crayons, and colored pencils, and was dragged to the floor in front of the fireplace. She was instructed to sit down and color and listen to Christmas music in the sweetest voice she’d ever heard, so, of course, she did it without protest. Lying on the floor, a pillow under her chest, Maddie curled up in between her legs, the golden retriever’s smooshy face resting on her calf, and Nora beside her ended up being exactly what Iris needed in order to not spend the first few hours of Christmas Eve being a hot mess.

“That’s a good picture of Belle,” Nora said as she studied Iris’s coloring job. “You should make her dress blue, though. Remember? From the movie?”

“I do,” Iris answered. “Can you hand me the blue you think would work best?”

She watched Nora search for the perfect color. She was so adorable. Half of her long, curly hair was pulled into a barrette, and she had on the cutest green corduroy overalls, with a red polka-dotted shirt underneath. She was so proud of her outfit and exclaimed loudly that she had picked it out herself. Karen confirmed this as Oscar looked on with just as much pride as his daughter displayed.

“Here,” Nora whispered. “It’s sky blue.” She read the crayon’s label and handed it over. “I think it’ll be pretty. It matches your eyes.”

“I love it,” Iris said softly. Nora began coloring again, and a sadness settled into Iris’s heart as she realized this would probably be the last time she would ever see this adorable little girl. She wouldn’t get to see her grow up and become a teenager, a young adult, a woman, and it broke her heart. Everything that had unfolded with Heidi was affecting her a lot more than she realized. She thought she was fine, but she wasn’t. At all.

“Iris?”

She heard Zac’s voice, but she didn’t want to look at him. “Yeah?”

He came and sat down on the floor by her. “Please, can you not be mad at me? It’s Christmas Eve.”

“Why are you mad at Uncle Zac, Iris?” Nora asked, her face still buried in the coloring book.

Iris couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m not mad at him, Nora. I promise.” She sighed as she looked at Zac. “But Uncle Zac said some not so nice things. And it kind of stung.”

“You shouldn’t say things that aren’t nice, Uncle Zac. You should apologize.” Nora was standing now, and she placed her hands on Zac’s face. Iris looked on with a full heart. There was no way she could stay upset with him now.

“You’re right, Nora.” Zac reached over and grabbed Iris’s hand. “I’m sorry for being a jerk.”

“It’s okay… It’s not like what you said didn’t have maybe a thread or two of truth. Your tone and delivery could use some work, though.”

“I’ll work on it.”

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