She let out a sigh and got out of her car. She wasn’t lookingforward to putting on a happy face tonight, but at least there would be wine.The chilled air immediately shocked her. She pulled her scarf around her headand sprinted up the pathway. The front door blew wide open as she went into thehouse. She quickly pushed it shut and leaned up against the oak door for a fewmoments. Coming home usually made her feel better, but right now all she couldthink about was Dex and how happy she’d been at Thanksgiving. It wasn’t aboutfood or family. Her happiness had been because of Dex. The woman got her inevery way, and she missed her more than she wanted to admit. She closed hereyes. Stopwhining. It was your choice.
She pushed off the door, dropped her overnight bag in theentryway, and took off her coat. “I’m here. Where is everyone?” The Christmasmusic was playing as usual, but she’d expected to see most of the family in theliving room watching TV and playing games.
“Your dad’s in the garage, and your brothers aren’t here.”
“They’re not here?” That was odd. The family was always here for aChristmas Eve dinner of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. It was Emma’sfavorite, which she loved more than she loved the turkey on Christmas Day. Thenafter dinner everyone would open that one package under the tree that had theirChristmas pajamas in it. Couples always got matching ones, and the kids’patterns came as close to their parents’ as possible, although superheroesmight take precedence this year. Emma would be out of the couples category fortwo years running now.
“Yet. Did I forget to say that?” Glo said.
Emma continued into the kitchen, kissed her mother on the cheek,and saw the mounds of cookies covered in green and red plastic wrap on thecounter. What thehell? “Is Judy here?”
“Nope.”
“You did it all yourself?” Emma was a little annoyed that hermother hadn’t called her and told her the cookies were already baked beforeshe’d gotten there. She still had gifts in her bag to wrap and would’ve done itat home before she came over if she’d known the cookies were done. “And where’sthe spaghetti?”
Before Glo could answer, the door swung open, and her dad came infrom the garage.
“Judy’s at home with the kids. I had to call in alternative helptoday.”
Emma raised an eyebrow. “Dad helped you?” She found a smallopening in the plastic, snagged a cookie from underneath, and took a bite.
“That would be a miracle,” she said with a laugh as Bill clearedthe doorway.
She stopped mid-chew when she saw Dex right behind him standing inthe threshold, dressed in jeans and a green V-neck sweater and looking asbeautiful as ever.
“Hey,” Dex said as she stepped into the kitchen and closed thedoor behind her.
Emma froze as the tingle washed through her. She went from excitedto happy to scared all in a matter of seconds. “You helped my mother withChristmas cookies?”
“Yeah. We had a blast.” Dex put her arm around Glo and squeezed.
Whatthe hell?
“Don’t act so stunned.” Glo slipped her apron over her head.“She’s a great baker.”
She set the remainder of her cookie on the counter and glanced atDex. “I didn’t know you were…” She turned to her mother. “I didn’t know she wascoming.” She narrowed her eyes. “Did I miss a text or something?”
Glo patted her on the shoulder. “Nope. I didn’t tell you because Iwas afraid you wouldn’t come.”
“That was a definite possibility.” Emma flattened her lips.
“Well, since I’m here, hopefully you’re not leaving.” Dex raisedher eyebrows and gave Emma that sweet, unassuming smile she adored. “I thoughtmaybe we could talk.”
“That’s my cue.” Glo tossed her apron into the laundry room. “Yourfather and I are going to Jeff and Judy’s for dinner. We’re eating and openingpajama gifts over there tonight so the kids can get to bed early.” She stoodbetween the two of them and took Emma’s shoulder with one hand and Dex’s withthe other. “I expect to see you two later. After you’ve talked.” She nodded.“I’ll save you some spaghetti.” She gave each of their shoulders a squeezebefore she brushed past Emma and met Bill at the door, where he stood waitingwith her coat. “And bring a plate of cookies.”
Emma waited until they were out the door before she turned herattention to Dex. She looked good, so good Emma couldn’t take her eyes off her.“Well, this is awkward.” Emma rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know what my motherwas thinking.”
“I asked her if I could come.”
“You did?” The surprise in Emma’s voice slipped out involuntarily.“I mean, why?”
“I miss you, Em. Your smile, your laugh, your eyes. I’ve missedyou every moment of every day since you left me standing in the street.”
The vision of that day popped into her head, and her stomachknotted. She wanted to go to Dex, take her in her arms, and tell her she’dmissed her more than she could say. Instead, she forced herself to back up andlean against the counter. They still had a huge problem to deal with. “Whatabout Grace?” She knew what Brent had told her but still wanted to hear it fromDex.
“Grace and I are taking a break from our friendship for a while.”She propped herself against the opposite counter and grasped the edge of thegranite. “Turns out I need to work on my independence from her and she needs towork on her communication with Brent.” Dex let out a heavy breath. “I was anidiot not to have seen it sooner.”
“Oh.” A surge of hope filled Emma, and she had to physically calmherself by taking hold of the counter too.
“Oh? That’s it?”
Emma tilted her head. “Well, I’m not going to disagree with you.You were an idiot.” She suppressed a smile.
“I’m really sorry, Em. I should’ve never let you drive away thatday.” She kneaded the counter with her fingers. “What I felt for Grace wasn’tlove. It was some kind of fucked-up sense of obligation.
