Page 23 of Eight Days of Christmas
“Dad, it’s a two-hour drive from Denver. It’s not gonna kill us to wait a couple of minutes.” Finn nudged Ava toward the house and Nina relaxed her shoulders at this.
“Fine, fine,” Dad muttered. “But hurry.”
“Can’t believe you actually made it home this year, sis,” Finn sneered.
Oh goody, the digs just continue.
“AndIcan’t believe you took an entire week off work. You sure the clinic can function without you? I’m sure there’s tons of emergencies for an ears, nose, and throat doctor to tend to,” she challenged.
“I own the clinic, so no, it can’t really function without me. And I always take the week of Eight Days of Christmas off. You’d know that if you ever came home once in a while.” Nina cleared her throat, and Finn relented. “In all seriousness, it’s really good to have you home.”
Isabella willed a smile.
Mom scattered the snowman tools and accessories out on the snow while the family, including Landon and Leo slowly gathered around. Isabella tried to ignore Leo. She eyed Great Grandpa’s old bowler hat. If she was going to beat Leo, she needed that hat. Ava zipped out of the house, yanking her knit hat over her ears.
“Okay. Because it’s nearly Norah’s special day, I’m letting her choose the teams this year,” Dad announced.
Norah beamed.
“Wow. This is huge,” Landon said. “Well, don’t leave us in suspense.”
“Obviously, Landon and I, we make a good team. So I figured why not just do couples? Finn and Nina, Mom and Dad, Ava can join Grandma and Grandpa, and…” Her voice trailed while her eyes fixed on Isabella and Leo.
Isabella’s stomach rolled, and her throat went dry. Why hadn’t she seen this coming earlier? Of course Norah would force her and Leo on the same team. Isabella would rather be on a team with her five-year-old niece than him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she complained.
Norah dipped her chin “Sorry, Izz.”
“I can be with Izzy,” Nina suggested.
“No way,” Finn protested. “Izzy always wins. I mean, she used to always win.”
Isabella rolled her eyes.
“He’s not wrong,” Mom chimed in.
This was going to happen all week long, wasn’t it? Isabella thought it was rough to hear jabs from Leo the day before, but could she survive an entire week of her family teasing her?
“And since you’ve been gone,” Finn added, “Nina and I have won.”
“Really?” Isabella glanced at Nina. How had she not known her sister-in-law carried a competitive trait? Sure, the occasional FaceTime and the few visits they’d made to New York to see her had been great. But she supposed that didn’t mean sheknew,knew her.
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Finn high-fived his wife. “She’s got skills. Just you wait.”
“Izzy is fine,” Dad said. “She and Leo are both adults. They can handle being on a team.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Isabella said. She was grateful for his confidence, but she could see the uncertainty in his eyes. It was a bit unsettling how well he knew her and Leo. As per their conversation literally ten minutes ago, they had clearly not grown up. She turned to him, trying to decide whether or not she could be mature about any of this. “We’ll be fine. Right, Leo?”
“Oh, yeah. Just peachy.” He smirked.
“See, that’s our boy,” Mom said.
Isabella whipped around.What the hell was that?Had Leo somehow replaced her in her own family? It felt as if everyone had pretty much saidforget youto Isabella, and he was Mr. Boy Wonder. Screw that. If she wanted to regain the respect she’d lost, she would need to take back the title as winner of the snowman contest.
“Whatever,” Isabella muttered. “Just say go so we can beat you all and get back into the house where it’s warm.”
“Those are some big words, missy.” Mom shook a finger at her.
