Written in the Stars(72)

“That’s—”

Darcy threw her head back and laughed. “I love it.”

For someone who had a seemingly bottomless well of hope to draw from, Elle was hopeless when it came to Darcy. Hopeless in that there was no cure for how she felt. Hopeless in that, each time Darcy laughed as if taken by surprise by her own joy, Elle’s insides turned to marshmallow fluff. Hopeless in that she wanted to make Darcy laugh so often that the novelty of elation would wear off, but that it might never lose its appeal. Elle was hopeless and she didn’t want a cure.

She tugged on Darcy’s sleeve, yanking hard as she knelt in front of the tree. “Come on. Get down here.”

Without so much as a single gripe, Darcy lowered herself to the floor and looked at Elle with one brow raised as if to say now what?

Leading by example, Elle scooted backward toward the tree and then lay flat when she had just enough clearance to do so without bumping her head. Wiggling beneath the lowest branches was a precarious feat, but she did so without knocking a single ornament.

Staring up at the brightly lit branches didn’t quite have the same appeal as it did when she was a kid, probably because these branches were relatively bare, but it was still nice. Especially when she scrunched her eyes and the lights twinkled like stars. Even nicer when Darcy joined, snuggling close and tangling their fingers together.

“Didn’t they do this on Grey’s Anatomy?” Darcy whispered.

Elle huffed softly. “Yeah, but I did it first. I used to make Jane and Daniel crawl under the tree with me. Drove Mom crazy because we’d ruffle up the tree skirt and get pine needles all over the place.”

“Brendon and I never crawled under the tree, but I remember trying to climb up it once.”

Elle sputtered. “What?”

“Well, we forgot the star on top.” Darcy’s shoulder bumped against hers when she shrugged. “I guess I saw it as a wrong I needed to right and Brendon was smaller so I sort of . . . shoved him up there.”

“Was he okay?”

“Of course.” Darcy sniffed. “I’d never let him fall. Besides, Grandma caught us when he was barely off the ground.”

Elle laughed, stomach muscles burning at the mental image of a little Darcy shoving Brendon up a Christmas tree to place the topper. Plastic pine needles from the lowest branch tickled her nose, a renegade needle managing to go up her nose. A suspicious burn built in her sinuses and no. It would be the worst if she—

Elle sneezed, catching a face and mouthful of pine needles. On second thought . . . “Maybe if we’re going to talk, we shouldn’t do it under the tree.”

Darcy hummed her agreement and wiggled out from beneath the tree first. When they were both free and clear and leaning against the sectional, she bumped Elle gently with her elbow. “Thanks. Not for encouraging me to climb under a secondhand tree that could be full of, I don’t know, bedbugs, but—”

“Oh my god. Lighten up, it doesn’t have—”

Darcy pressed a finger to Elle’s lips. She was smiling. “I’m kidding. About the bedbugs, not my appreciation. It means a lot that you came, let alone thought to bring the tree and decorations, and then to actually do it?” She shook her head, but didn’t drop her hand. Instead, she traced the bow of Elle’s mouth with the pad of her fingertip, so gently Elle could feel the delicate friction of each ridge and whirl in Darcy’s fingerprint.

Elle shivered and kissed the tip of Darcy’s finger because she could.

Breath speeding and eyes darkening, her pupils widening—or maybe that was just a trick of the light—Darcy dropped her hand, not to her lap, but to Elle’s knee. Warmth from her palm sank through the flannel of Elle’s pajamas. “I, um, I hope I didn’t mess up any plans you might’ve had.”

“Plans,” Elle echoed, eyes dropping to her pajamas. She hadn’t bothered to throw on more than a jacket—the jacket—after Darcy had hung up. She hadn’t seen the point, not when it had felt like time was of the essence. That Darcy needed her, needed her right then. “I was just messing around, making memes. I wasn’t busy.”

“Can I see?”

“Seriously?”

Darcy simply stared, waiting.

Elle fished out her phone, the LED light flashing with a notification. Another text from Daniel and two missed calls from Mom. Her chest went tight as she ignored them both and opened the note she’d made, the one she’d finished in the Uber on the way over. She passed it to Darcy, watching, lip trapped between her teeth as Darcy read down the list.

The Zodiac Signs as Christmas Songs

Aries—“Jingle Bell Rock”

Taurus—“The Twelve Days of Christmas”

Gemini—“Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”

Cancer—“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”

Leo—“All I Want for Christmas Is You”

Virgo—“The Christmas Song”

Libra—“Walking in a Winter Wonderland”

Scorpio—“Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

Sagittarius—“Santa Baby”

Capricorn—“White Christmas”

Aquarius—“Do They Know It’s Christmas”

Pisces—“Last Christmas”

“‘White Christmas.’ Are you kidding me?”