they signified, when it occurred to me that I’d never asked him where he was planning on staying that evening, and if he’d like to stay at Edgecliffe instead of whatever hotel he’d booked.
He insisted on cooking dinner for us that night as a thank you, and whipped up a delicious stew that he claimed would have been better if he could have let it simmer for eight hours, but that I couldn’t stop myself from getting a fourth helping of. Even Hadley liked it, when she tried the leftovers, and her diet consisted mostly of green juices and cupcakes.
Ari’s mom and sisters joined us the next day, and I prepared for another onslaught of suspicious questions and dark looks that never materialized. If anything, they were even nicer than his dad had been.
Laura, Ari’s mom, kissed me on each cheek, pulled me in for a hug, and then kissed me twice more for good measure, telling me in the space of thirty seconds how grateful she was, how handsome I was, how adorable a couple Ari and I made, and how she couldn’t wait to tell all her friends about what an accomplished young man her son was dating.
I wasn’t sure accomplished was exactly the word to describe me, but she brushed away my objections, telling me that I was far too modest, and that on the plane over here, she’d watched one of the few independent movies I’d acted in back when I was in California. According to her, I was an exceptional talent.
By the time she released me, I was thoroughly embarrassed, and it only got worse once Ari’s sisters, Leah and Letty, got to me.
“Of course Ari would manage to wash up on the private beach of a super hot guy,” Leah groused after she hugged me. “If this kind of thing happened to me, you know I’d have been found on a public beach by a group of teenagers who would have drawn dicks on my face before I regained consciousness.
“Honestly,” Letty said, going in for a hug of her own. She gave me a direct look when she pulled back. “How long did he restrain himself before he tried to seduce you?”
I looked at Ari in shock, and very carefully did not look at either of his parents, but he just snickered.
“Don’t mind them,” he said. “They’re just jealous because I got to you before they did.”
He stuck his tongue out at Letty, and she flicked his ear.
All in all, Ari’s family was wonderful. I’d never really thought much about my family situation, because I’d never known anything different. It had been just me and my mom, ever since I was a kid.
But when I watched the way Ari’s family interacted—the gentle teasing and the genuine affection they had for each other—I started to wonder if I’d been wrong to think what I had was normal. They actually seemed to want to spend time with each other, to just hang out in the same room, doing nothing.
I could almost see the way they drew strength from those bonds. Edgecliffe felt warm and full of life with Ari’s family in it, and it made me realize just how empty things had been before he had come into my life.
It was enough to make me call my mom and ask her to come visit as soon as she got back from her cruise. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised, me or her, but she promised she would, and I ended the phone call feeling a little nervous, but generally optimistic.
The thing about Ari’s family was that they weren’t just loving with each other—they embraced me as well. Apparently, their trip to Iceland was one instance in a long tradition of getting together for a family holiday in early December. Since that had gotten interrupted when Ari was kidnapped, they picked up where they left off, once they were all gathered at Edgecliffe.
The festivities included, according to Ari, an obligatory ‘terrible gift’ Hanukkah white-elephant gift exchange, which we ended up doing on Christmas Eve. Each member of the family drew someone else’s name and was responsible for getting them the worst, or at least funniest, gift they could come up with. I figured I’d just get out of the way for that night, but Laura insisted on me staying, and it turned out each of Ari’s family members had gotten me something.
I ended up with a package of black licorice from Leah, a creepy Hummel doll