Page 85 of Terms and Traditions

“Don’t start a war you can’t finish,” I said, adding to Stephanie, “I’ll tell you in the car.”

Emmett’s steely grey eyes narrowed. “Foul play.”

“Hey, you can’t rain on my parade when I finally get a girl I can tell secrets to, when you two have been happily married and spilling my secrets for nearly the last decade.”

“Nine years and counting!” Kelsi called from the hallway.

“Semantics.” Emmett sighed but turned back to the doorway.

“That’s not a no, Mitchell,” I taunted.

Emmett shook his head as he left mumbling, “The price I pay for a misspent youth. I apologized… eventually.”

Once he was gone, I caved to the laughter pressing on my chest. It was refreshing, like shedding the weight of the world for a few minutes.

“The Freshman Shower Escapade?” Stephanie questioned as I wiped my eyes.

Catching my breath, I shuffled the remaining papers into a folder. “Emmett had a bit of a wild side in his younger years, and I was the collateral damage on one of his pranks.”

“I can’t see that. He’s so”—she waved vaguely—“straitlaced.”

“Don’t let that suit fool you.”

“And just how bad was this prank for you to be subjecting him to a bunch of screaming kids hyped up on sugar on New Year’s Eve, duking it out with Nerf guns?”

“Let’s just say it involved a shower caddy, a can of shaving cream, a cockroach, and a near case of public indecency. Seeing him squirm will be worth it.”

Stephanie bit her lip, scrunching her nose. “I don’t need any more details.”

No, she really didn’t. Especially since it was my own dignity on the line.

“Want to head back to my place?” Stephanie asked as we entered the elevator, and I punched the ground floor button. “We can hang out and finish finalizing our battle plans. Liz made sticky toffee pudding.”

“You had me at we.” I tugged her into a hug as the elevator whirred into motion. “And I’m glad you’re on my team.”

“Always.” Stephanie smiled sweetly up at me, and could you blame me for stealing a kiss?

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a romantic?” she whispered, when the doors whooshed open, ushering us into the quiet lobby.

I laced our fingers together and winked. “Only for you, sweetheart.”

Chapter thirty-nine

Stephanie

“Who needs Times Square when you’ve got this?” Nana said as we ducked into the brightly lit-up Mitchell residence with the bitter north wind chasing our heels. The powdery blowing snow was nearly blinding on the drive here after Nash picked me and Nana up. But Emmett and Danielle’s house buzzed with warmth and comfortable conversation. We rang the doorbell twice and knocked but no one answered. So we let ourselves in.

I kicked off my sensible Chelsea boots, shivering as the warm air thawed my core. Ryan and Kelsi and their kids were already here, judging by the level of kid chatter and the trail of small shoes littered across the split-level house’s landing. Liz and Ben were here, too, given the sparkly silver heels in the mix.

“Come in, come in!” Ryan hollered from the foot of the basement stairs. “Mi casa es su casa!”

“Don’t let Emmett hear you say that,” Nash joked, helping me out of my coat.

Ryan trudged up the stairs dramatically. “As the extrovert of this brotherhood, the welcoming committee falls under my jurisdiction. Emmett can grouse all he likes, but someone’s gotta do it.”

Danielle appeared at the top of the stairs, trying to pry her blonde ponytail from being held hostage by Ryan and Kelsi’s ten-month-old baby perched on her hip. “So glad you guys could make it! I’d apologize for the noise, but it’s pretty standard around here these days.”

Nana started up the stairs. “Nothing wrong with the sound of children. The world could do with more of it.” She shot Ryan a reproving look over her shoulder, but her eyes sparkled. “Even if a few of them never grow up.”