Lucy took her hand and squeezed it tightly, pulling her from her thoughts. “Jules, no matter what, they love you and they want you to be happy, right?” She nodded. “And look at the three of us. We love each other and miss each other, but we still get together every year, and when we do, it’s wonderful. And you’ll have Chloe there. I’m practically mad with jealousy that you’ll be—”
Lucy must have caught the look Jules threw Chloe because she stopped talking. “What? There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Hey, so all the bags are in all the rooms.” Will entered the living room, his announcement catching Jules by surprise.
“Later, okay?” she whispered to Lucy. Lucy nodded in reply, her large brown eyes alive with curiosity.
“Jules, you and Matt are at the end of the hall on the right, and I put Archer and Chloe in Mom and Joe’s room. Come on in guys, make yourselves at home.”
Look at my baby brother being the host with the most. Jules beamed at him proudly. “Thanks for taking care of all that, Will.”
“Hey, no problem. So, I’ll get some drinks going. We’ve got beer, wine, Coke, water …?” Leaving the question hanging, his eyes landed on Lucy and he winked at her. Lucy’s face was, as always, an open book, and Jules saw just how smitten Lucy was with her brother.
Maybe that was why all the questions about Matt—Lucy was projecting. Holy crap, was Lucy considering moving to the States for Will? She definitely needed some alone time with her best friends.
“Actually, I could murder a cup of tea,” said Archer, interrupting Jules’s thoughts.
“Oh, definitely,” added Chloe.
“I’ll sort it,” offered Lucy.
Matt asked Will for a Coke and Jules added a request for water. “Sparkling, with—”
“With ice and lemon. Yep, got it,” replied Will as he left the room.
“Hey, Luce, do you have any of your mum’s Christmas cake left?” asked Chloe. “I’d kill for some of that.”
“Maybe. Come and check the pantry.” Lucy and Chloe followed Will, Chloe swinging past Archer for a quick kiss.
“Actually, I’ll join you. Too much sitting,” said Archer as he stood and stretched his arms above his head. He gave a hearty “ahh” of a sigh and jogged after the others.
Matt crossed the room to Jules, wrapping his arms around her waist and she regarded him affectionately. He’d shared his home with her, and now she got to do the same. She could never have known how much her life would change because of her Christmas swap with the girls, and she was about to shake it up even more.
She knew it would be difficult moving away from her family, especially her dad and Will, and, down deep, there was some fear that she hadn’t yet unpacked. But mostly, she was excited about her unknown future. And a lot of that had to do with the hot Aussie winemaker.
“There’re about a million and one thoughts going on in there, I can tell,” he said, his eyes boring into hers. With how intensely he was looking at her, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he could read every one of them. “You good?” he asked.
“I’m good.”
“It’s still weird, though, right?”
Jules tried to comprehend his meaning and came up empty. “What’s that?”
“Archer Tate. I mean, I can actually see us becoming friends, ’cause he’s, like, this normal, chilled guy, which is … weird, right?”
“He is super chilled … and normal. And he seems like a good match for Chloe.” She lowered her voice, “But, yeah, it’s weird for me too. I mean, oh, my god! He flew us here first class, like, total strangers.”
Matt chuckled softly. “Yeah, that was really nice of him, but it just adds to how bizarre this is.”
“Oh, for sure. I have never slept that well on a plane. I’m probably ruined for life.”
“And I’ve never come out of long-haul travel feeling this good. And it was, what, nearly forty hours door-to-door?” Jules could tell he was calculating their travel time from Melbourne to Doha to London, then on to Denver. They’d met up with Archer and Chloe at Heathrow when they changed flights for the Denver leg.
“That would have sucked flying coach,” said Jules.
“It’s the only reason I agreed to travel first class. I mean, I’ve never met the guy and he’s spending that kind of money on me?” Matt had mentioned this before they’d left Melbourne, and twice on the journey.
“I know, but Chloe assured me he didn’t bat an eye. And after everything that happened … he wanted to do it, to make it up to her.” Matt pressed his lips together. “We won’t make a habit of it, okay? We’ll pay our way from now on. It was just the best way to get us all here so quickly.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It’s all good.”
“And I’m guessing that hanging out here, we’ll get to know him, and it will stop being weird and we’ll be all cool with it, you know. Like, ‘Oh, Archer? Yeah, he’s, like, one of our best friends.’” She giggled. “We’re dorks.”
“Hey, speak for yourself.” She stuck her tongue out at him and his brows lifted. “That’s a bit rude.”
She bit her top lip, then released it. “Sorry.”
He grabbed her butt. “You will be.”
“Get a room, you two,” teased Chloe from the doorway. She was followed by the others, Will bringing up the rear bearing a tray.
Jules retaliated by sticking her tongue out at Chloe, and Chloe reprimanded her with, “Rude!”
“Told ya,” Matt said to her quietly, the timbre of his voice sending the now-familiar “Matt tingles” down her spine. She wondered how rude Chloe would think it was if she and Matt disappeared for an hour—or two.
“I’m gonna take you guys snowmobiling,”
