Never Been Ready (Ready #2)(44)

Christmas Day for the Finnegan family was for family only. Where Thanksgiving was a come-one-come-all event, Christmas was small and intimate. Having Declan with me felt special. It made it more absolute to me that he was actually here, holding my hand, whispering, "I love you," in my ear. Sharing him with my family made our love real to me.

Clare said nothing about our obvious new commitment to each other, but I did see her wipe away a tear or two when she overheard one of Declan's endearments whispered over the course of the night. By the way she was reacting, she must have really thought I was going to die a spinster.

Mrs. Laura Finnegan, or Mama as we all called her, was completely enamored with my new boyfriend. Not only was he a Hollywood star in one of her favorite movies, but he was also charming, sweet, and hot as hell —her words, not mine. When she'd uttered those shocking syllables, I'd about choked on my stolen cookie in the kitchen. Mama Finnegan did not usually use such language.

As we waited for dinner to cook, we all debated on what to do. When we were kids, we would all beg to open presents, which Maddie had already tried and failed at, but we were adults now, and we had restraint. Plus, we'd already asked. We were shot down, just like the kid. Some things never changed. So, we'd moved on to card games.

"Uno!" Logan yelled triumphantly.

We all groaned.

"Okay, that's it. I'm not playing with him anymore. Remind me not to play against a Harvard-educated doctor anymore. It's just not fair," Garrett lamented, who'd arrived shortly after us.

"Ah, come on, I didn't win every game, did I?" Logan asked.

We all nodded at him.

"Sore losers," he grumbled.

We all laughed. I relaxed into my seat on the sofa and sipped on my hot apple cider. Clare was snuggled up next to me, sharing a blanket. Both of us had wisely opted out of the card games, having played with Logan before.

"Logan seems very comfortable with your parents now," I commented.

"Well, he did put a ring on it," she joked, holding up her beautiful antique wedding set.

"Hand job?" I asked quietly.

"What?" she feigned innocence. "No! I can't believe you...okay, fine, you got me."

"Nice. Nothing relaxes a man like a little hand action before meeting the parents." I laughed.

"And Declan?"

"Blow job."

"Right on."

We high-fived each other before giggling into our cider, which eventually turned into roaring laughter. The men finished cleaning up their cards and looked to us for entertainment.

"Okay, so what do we do next?" Garrett asked.

There was a strict no-TV rule on Christmas.

"Oh, I know! Let's look at photo albums!" Clare exclaimed.

Both Garrett and I moaned.

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea," Logan said, looking over at my soon-to-be-dead boyfriend.

Declan was laughing and nodding his head.

Traitor.

Almost immediately after saying it, Clare returned to the family room with a ton of photo albums, nearly skipping in her purple sweater dress and heels.

"Come on, everyone gather together! Let's see how cute I was!" she beamed.

Logan joined her on the floor in the middle of the living room. He pulled her onto his lap, and she began to sort through the albums. I rose from my seat on the sofa and begrudgingly planted my ass next to them on the floor, next to my traitorous boyfriend who was still on the floor from getting his ass kicked in Uno. He was currently leaning over to sneak a peek at whatever Clare was looking at.

Garrett, seeing he had no choice in the matter, also made his way down to the floor, lying down next to his sister, as she started on the first album. Clare's father sat behind us in his ancient recliner, chuckling as Clare flipped through the pages. I could hear her mother humming away in the kitchen as she prepared dinner. As much as I'd groaned, it was nice to sit here, flipping through happy young memories. All of the good parts of my childhood were in these pages, under this roof, and with this family.

"Here's one of Leah from...oh, junior prom!"

Before I had time to grab it, Declan snatched it up in his hands.

"You were just as hot back then," he said with a smirk before frowning. "Who's the dude?"

"Oh, uh...Scott Evans. We dated for a few months that year. He was the quarterback, and I was a cheerleader. Looked good on paper, but it was a disaster in real life."

"Looks like a moron," Declan said.

"Are you jealous of a boy I dated over ten years ago?" I was seriously amused.

"No," he grunted. "Yes."

I laughed and squeezed his arm. "If it makes you feel better, he flunked out of college and works part-time at a shoe store in the mall. Oh, and he still lives with his mom."

"Marginally better, thanks." He grinned.

We looked through more high school pictures and then got to college. Clare's hand stopped when she found a picture of her and Ethan from their first Thanksgiving. Their beaming young faces were mushed together in an exuberant hug. He looked happy, healthy, and full of life —exactly like I always wanted to remember him. Ethan, like me, hadn't had a place to call home, and he'd spent all his holidays with us after he started dating Clare. The Finnegans had opened their home to many people over the years —taking me, Ethan, Logan, and now Declan, it appeared, into their family. They were the very best kind of people.