Page 110 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
Walking back up the steps, I pulled Georgia tight to my side while Rowen rested high on my hip. Together, the three of us waved good-bye to my mother and sister.
Then we went inside to enjoy some time together. Just the three of us.
My family in my house.
Without a doubt, it was the best Christmas I’d ever had.
Gigi
“Hello,” I said into the phone.
“Gigi?”
“Hi!” I said to Maisy. “How are you? Did you have a nice Christmas?”
I was excited that she had called. I hadn’t talked to Maisy since before Wes’s funeral. I was missing her bright and sunny smile that I’d come to look forward to seeing each day.
“Uh . . . no. Not really. Do you think I could come over?” she asked.
Maisy’s voice was flat, without its usual exuberance.
“Sure. We’re not doing much today so come on over whenever. Jess and Rowen left a little bit ago to go to his house in town. He’s officially moving in so he went over to grab a load of stuff.”
“Oh, that’s, ah, great. I guess if it’s okay, I’ll come over now?” she said.
I’d expected her to be screaming into the phone. She had been pulling for Jess and me from the beginning. The fact he was moving into the farmhouse should have sent her into joyful hysterics.
Something was definitely not right in the world of Maisy Holt.
Maisy arrived five minutes after her call and so far had yet to look me in the eyes. She dodged my attempt to give her a hug and kept speaking to her feet.
“Would you like some coffee?” I asked as she sat down in an oversized living room chair.
“Yes, please,” she said. “No. Wait. No coffee. I don’t want coffee.”
“Ah, okay. Would you like some water?” I asked.
“No. I’m okay,” she said. Still no eye contact.
Sitting down on the loveseat opposite her, I curled my feet underneath me and took a long sip of my coffee. “How was your Christmas? You seem a little . . . off. Is everything okay with your family?”
“Yeah. They’re okay,” she muttered.
I quietly drank my coffee. I figured when she was ready, she’d tell me what was going on. But after five minutes of fairly uncomfortable silence, the air around us started to get heavy. I couldn’t take it anymore so I broke the silence.
“Maisy? What’s wrong?”
She finally looked up and her big doe eyes filled with tears.
“No. I’m not okay. Oh god, Gigi. This has just been the worst Christmas of my life!” she cried.
The dam holding back her words broke and her explanation came flooding out.
“So you know how Everett was super distant before the ugly sweater party but then was great that night?”
“Yeah. It looked like you two were back to normal,” I said.
“We were. Until the next day. He kicked me out of his house the next morning. He actually woke me up and said I had to leave. So I left, thinking I was done. Who needs a boyfriend that kicks you out? Jess would never do that to you. Right?”
