Rocking Kin (Lucy & Harris, #3) - Terri Anne Browning Page 0,62

gingerbread cookies that we would all sneak into the kitchen to steal when her back was turned. Of going to bed Christmas Eve to the sounds of Angie humming and my mother’s voice as she’d read The Night Before Christmas to us still echoing through my head. Waking up knowing that no matter what was under the tree for me, I was going to be thankful for it and love it because my mom had given it to me…

None of those things would be happening this Christmas.

“My mom, she saved every handcrafted ornament that we ever made in grade school,” I told Lucy to distract myself from the things I would have that Christmas. “So there are a lot of bells, construction paper, and Styrofoam-cup reindeers.” Tears burned my eyes and I found myself confessing the conversation I’d had with my father. It was so memorable because we had so few of them, but that particular one was like a thorn in my side. “When I asked my father if I could go to Aspen with Carter and the twins, he refused to talk about it with me. Apparently, Jillian has a big social calendar this time of year, and I’m expected to go to all the parties with them.”

To show my face with Georgia and Carolina so that when people saw my picture on all the gossip tabloids they would associate them with me. What. The. Fuck. Ever. Why were parties so important when all I wanted was to spend a few days with Carter and the twins? Didn’t what I want matter?

No. No, it definitely didn’t matter to them, that was for sure.

Unconsciously, my gaze went to the car where Georgia and Carolina were already sitting inside. I slowed down, walking at a snail’s pace, hoping to prolong having to dive face-first into the pit with the three vipers that were Jillian and her clone-like daughters.

“Step-sandwich!”

I froze as Lucy was suddenly pushed away from me and I was wrapped into two pairs of arms that felt so familiar I didn’t want to question their sudden embrace. It took me two seconds before tears were burning my eyes and a happy laugh bubbled out of me. I met Angie’s eyes, knew that she was real from the happy tears in her own gaze, and we both started jumping up and down as Caleb’s massive arms stayed around us like a bear protecting its two cubs.

I wasn’t the bubbly, jump-up-and-down kind of girl. Angie was, though, and I loved her enough to do the bubbly, jump-up-and-down thing with her. I screamed, laughing and crying as she held me tighter.

It was several moments later before Angie calmed down enough that we could stop. When I did, I looked up into Caleb’s laughing eyes. “Miss us?” he teased.

“Miss you?” I didn’t know if I shouted it or whispered it, but he laughed so it didn’t matter. “So much it hurts.” I kissed Angie’s cheek, pushing back a few strands of blond hair when it seemed glued to my damp cheeks. I wiped the tears away and hugged her closer. “What are you two doing here?”

“Daddy said that your step-monster wouldn’t let you come to us for Christmas, so as soon as the semester ended we grabbed the first plane out to be with you,” Angie explained. “You have to put up with Caleb’s ugly face for four full weeks. Daddy will be here on Monday. He had some business to take care of before he could get here, but we couldn’t wait to see you.”

In that moment it didn’t matter that I wasn’t the bubbly, jump-up-and-down kind of girl because I was doing just that as I squealed, “Yes, yes, yes,” I said, excited. Four weeks of my favorite people. Four weeks of my family. Four weeks of peace.

A throat was cleared and only then did I remember Lucy. Glancing up, I saw her standing behind Marcus where he must have moved her. “Lucy, come meet my brother and sister.”

Angie turned before Lucy could even move, offering her hand. “Lucy? I’ve heard so much about you. Thank you so much for taking care of Kin for us.”

I hadn’t held back about telling the twins about Lucy and life with Scott Montez. I didn’t tell Carter nearly as much as I did them.

Lucy’s face showed her surprise. “Don’t thank me,” she told Angie. “Kin’s been my life saver.”

I frowned, missing the rest of their exchange as I looked at Lucy closer. I’d saved