"Tell that Greek God of yours that he's on my list. And he owes me another chocolate cake."

I arrived at the Starbucks where my best friends were waiting for me about five minutes ago. Everyone was happy to see me, of course, but as I suspected, Lanie was not happy that I was late.

"I'm sorry, L. I told him he was going to get in trouble if he made me late."

Karma smiled over the rim of her latte. "Shouldn't we just always assume that Harper is going to be late by now? I mean it happens almost every time we meet up."

Lanie scoffed from her seat next to me. "I don't have to assume crap! He needs to start respecting our schedules." Leaning back in the chair, she gestured towards me with an exasperated look. "For God's sake, they live together! He sees her everyday!"

Now it was my turn to scoff. "Please, L. Like you and your sergeant don't go at it like rabbits."

We all laughed when her cheeks turned bright red. "That may be true, but at least Ayden never makes me late for anything."

Well, she had me there. Even though Lanie and her fiance Ayden were just as attracted to each other and in love as Jackson and I were, Lanie usually showed up on time, if not early, to our get togethers. On the rare occasions that she was late, it was usually due to something with her two-year-old son who was lovingly known as Little Nate.

Poor Lanie. Her son's birthdays were never easy. And it wasn't just because he was growing up. That specific day once a year not only marked a day to be celebrated, but it was also the anniversary of the car accident that Lanie was in while she was pregnant with him. Almost losing both of them was a punch to the gut for all of us.

"By the way," Karma asked suddenly, "where are the kids?"

Danielle took a sip of her green tea before answering. "She's with her daddy today. I wanted some girl time."

"Same," Lanie interjected. "Ayden volunteered to watch Little Nate while we hung out. I think he's still trying to suck up to me for working late last night and missing dinner." She gave me a pointed look. "Maybe Ayden and your husband have something in common."

"Will you get over it already? We're all here." I gestured towards Jamie who was sitting across from me. "Besides, we're here to reconnect with our best friend who has been gone for two weeks. Not bitch about how Jackson made me late."

Lanie rolled her eyes before muttering under her breath how she was going to get Jackson back for this. "So, Jamie, how was your trip?"

Jamie wrapped her hands around her cup of hot chocolate and a warm smile formed on her face. "It was amazing. You guys know how I love when he gets sent to Paris for work. Luckily this time he had the painting done that he was hired for in less than a week. That gave us a whole week of just relaxing and exploring the city."

Everyone still felt the loss of Jamie's beloved mom, Cherise Lovette, as if it happened yesterday. Cherise had heroically donated part of her liver to save the life of Danielle and Ryan's now one-year-old daughter, Violet. Unfortunately, Cherise never woke up from the procedure and Jamie made the hard choice to remove her from life support when there was no brain activity.

After her mom's funeral, Jamie was unconsolable. We all tried to be there for her, but no matter how hard we tried to be the support she needed, it wasn't enough and she ran off. At the time we had no idea where she went. Finally, we realized she was not only staying in Paris, but she had run into Ollie Lake-the guy who had been her date to mine and Jackson's wedding. There had been an obvious connection between the two of them, but Jamie had kept him at arm's length and he was moving to Paris for work. Almost a whole year had passed before they reconnected. Now they were finally together. And happy.

Cherise always wanted to go to Paris, so whenever Ollie had a commission job there, Jamie went with him. Not only did the two of them reconnect in the City of love, but Jamie also felt connected to her mom when she was there.

"How's Ollie doing?" Karma asked before taking a bite of her Danish.

The love she felt for the painter was clear on Jamie's face. "He's amazing. Thankfully he doesn't have any other jobs until after the holidays. So he'll be here through Christmas and New Year's."

"That's great," I said, glad not only that Jamie would be here for the holidays, but that Ollie would be here to share it with all of us too. "Are his parents flying in then?"

Jamie nodded and her red curls bounced. "Yeah, they are. I'm looking forward to it. We haven't seen them since they came to visit us in Paris earlier this year that one time."

I looked over at Lanie. "Are we doing Christmas at your house again, Punctuality Police?"

Danielle and Karma snickered while Lanie made a face. She shifted around in her chair before answering me. "Yes, of course we're doing it at my house."

"But we're going to do New Year's at ours," Danielle informed us. "Ryan really wanted to do it."

"That's cool," Karma said casually. "You guys just let all of us know what we can do to help or what we can bring."

When I saw Jamie's expression turned sad, I reached out and placed my hand gently on her arm. "Hey, you okay?"

Her blue eyes were filled with unshed tears. "I'm good. The holidays are just hard."

Karma's expression matched Jamie's. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The closer we get to Christmas, the more Nathan keeps asking if I'm okay. Or he keeps looking at me with concern like I'm going to break." With a shuttering breath, Karma's gaze went to Lanie. "It's not easy for any of us."

God, she was right about that. Even though my parents were still alive, they never approved of me marrying Jackson. So they chose not to be a part of my life anymore. As for Lanie and her brother Nate, Christmas was always hard for them. Their parents passed away nearly eight years ago during the holiday season. And then for Karma, her mom passed away in her sleep a little over a year ago.

And then there was Jackson and Ryan. Even though Jackson's mother wasn't Ryan's biological mom, she was in all the ways that counted. Everly passed away from cancer during the first few weeks Jackson and I started messing around. That was almost three years ago. Just like the rest of our group, they were both still grieving.

"The important thing is that we are all here and we're all together," I said suddenly, hoping to lift everyone's spirits. "No one is going to be alone during the holidays this year. Besides, not only are we going to have the new addition of Ollie's parents joining us, but Gwen and Noah will be with us. We'll make it a fun time."

Karma chuckled from across the table. "Gwen and Noah, huh? I bet Jackson and Ryan are thrilled about that."

Poor Ryan and Jackson just couldn't accept the fact that their forty-five-year-old aunt had been seriously dating the twenty-two-year-old former stripper who danced at my bachelorette party before I got married.

With a snicker I said, "Ever since I forced Jackson to sleep on the couch, he's been making sure to bite his tongue where Noah is concerned. He said nothing was worth the punishment of not sleeping beside me."

"How many nights did you make him sleep on the couch?" Karma asked.

I gave her a knowing look. "One. And he didn't even last the whole night. He sat out there for an hour with the blanket and pillow I gave him before he came to his senses, promising he would watch what he said as long as he could sleep in our bed."

Danielle shook her head. "At least Jackson is behaving. Ryan just can't seem to get over the whole thing. I think part of it is because he feels guilty that he wasn't in touch more with Gwen and Everly."

Jamie frowned. "That doesn't makes sense. Gwen dating Noah has nothing to do with him or Jackson."

"Exactly," Danielle said before giving the subject some thought. "You know, Maybe I'll try the whole couch thing like you did, Harper. I'm going to tell him that if he doesn't behave during the holidays, he's going to be stuck out in the living room."

"Good luck," I teased. "Hopefully he's like his brother and decides to behave."

The table was silent for a moment, then Lanie opened her mouth.

"I don't care how the boys behave at Christmas as long as EVERYONE is on time."

"Oh, come on, L!"
"Enough with that."
"Is that all you can think about?"
"For crying out loud, Punctuality Police."

***

Once again, I'm so sorry for the very long delay with updating. I appreciate all your guys's patients and support while I work on my health issues.

I have a new chapter coming on Saturday. Hope you enjoyed this one.

🖤