Imperfectly Delicious (Imperfect Series #6) - Mary Frame Page 0,71

home.

I vaguely wonder what my parents are doing but then realize I don’t care. They aren’t really my family, not like Reese and Granny and…like I thought Guy would be. The family you choose.

The front door swings open and Reese comes running out, her smile so big it lights up the whole laneway. She’s wearing Christmas pajamas and a headband with reindeer antlers and they jiggle on her head as she runs toward me.

I open the car door and slide out to meet her halfway.

“Scarlett!” She throws herself into my arms and then we’re hugging like it’s been twenty years instead of two. “You’re here! We made pie,” she tells me.

And that’s when I burst into tears.

“Oh, dear.” Reese pats me on the back. “Are you okay?”

“Do I need to shoot someone?” Granny asks from behind her.

“No, no, it’s fine.” I wipe at my eyes and peek over Reese’s shoulder at Granny. She’s wearing a vibrant rainbow scarf around her neck over her own red and green long johns. And she’s not alone. There’s a whole crowd of people on the porch behind her, all wearing Christmas pajamas and watching the exchange with curiosity.

“Howdy y’all! I’m Fred,” Fred calls out from behind me.

I laugh wetly into Reese’s shoulder. “Fred, people don’t really talk like that here.”

“We sure as shit do,” Granny says. “Come on in, y’all, it’s getting mighty chilly out here. Beast made up some hot cocoa and it will keep you warm so you can explain why you’ve become a watering pot.” She turns away, mumbling under her breath, “Damn city folk probably ruined you for life.” Then louder, “Beast! Get out extra moonshine!” She leads us up to the porch and into the house.

Once we’re crowded in the kitchen, Reese introduces everyone, but I can’t quite focus on all the names she’s throwing out. Fitz is her boyfriend, so I keep that one close, but then there’s also his sister Annabel, her boyfriend Jude, and then Jude’s sister and brother—this part of the introduction gets convoluted because apparently, they’re all sort of siblings, but not really—Beast and Grace.

Beast hands me a steaming mug during this whole process.

“Thank you,” tell him, taking a long sip. Extra moonshine cocoa. I sure have missed Granny.

He gets Fred a cup, too and she doesn’t even thank him, just stares up at him like he might eat her. He’s a hulking mess of a man, with dark hair and inscrutable expression. Wide as a house.

He takes up position by the door while the rest of us are crowded around the kitchen.

“Tell me who I have to kill or maim or both,” Granny insists.

I glance around uncomfortably at the assembled crowd, and thankfully, Jude takes the hint.

“Why don’t we go pick out a Christmas movie for everyone to watch?” he says, rubbing his beard.

“I get to pick first!” Grace, his sort-of sister—a small wisp of a blonde who can’t be more than thirteen—scrambles out to the living room, sliding on the hardwood in her socks.

Jude and Annabel follow her, along with a rambling Beast. Fitz kisses Reese on the cheek and exits to the living room, offering me a handsome smile on his way out.

And then finally, Fred. “I’ve heard this story a thousand times,” she rolls her eyes, but then squeezes my shoulder before disappearing after the others.

Now it’s me and Granny and Reese. I take another sip of my spiked cocoa and scan Reese. Really getting an eyeful. She looks so happy. I mean, right now, she’s got a crease between her brows and she’s frowning at me with concern, but I can still see the change in her. Her whole stature is straight and open, not like she was before where it was like she was always trying to hide herself. The guilt I had felt for leaving her washes away now that I can witness her transformation with my own eyes. From caterpillar to butterfly.

I grab her hand. “I’m so happy you found your tribe. I can’t wait to get to know them more.”

“Me, too.” She squeezes my fingers. “But tell us what’s going on. Why all the tears?”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I do,” Granny says. She leans back and takes a sip out of her mug with a smirk. “It was the brooch, just like I told you.”

I gasp and then gape at her. “It was the brooch.”

Reese glances between us, a crease between her brows. “What?”

I fill them both in, starting with the night of the