A Kiss in Costume | Holidays in Heartsbrook #1

Eleven | Alex

I'm still buzzing the next morning when I sit down to breakfast, dodging Emma dancing around the kitchen with the strawberries she just cut to accompany the toast.

I don't make the rules, I just live by them. Strawberries and toast isn't the worst combo she's made us try, so I'm just trying to be happy about that.

"How was your night last night?" Melanie asks, shooting me a stare across the table. I cannot see her mouth because it is obscured by the orange juice, but I've known her long enough to know she's smirking.

"It was fine," I answer, trying not to draw extra attention to myself.

"Mmhmm," she hums, putting a layer of strawberries on her peanut butter toast and picking it up to take a huge bite out of it.

"I'm serious, Mel," I counter, taking a bite out of my own toast. "We just went to a haunted house and came home. It wasn't major."

"Sure, Alex. Just remember you're related to me and I used to sneak out, too. I mean, I was in high school, but I snuck out."

"Ha ha, Melanie. Maybe I'm just trying to keep you on your toes for when the girls grow up."

"I'm already grown up," Julia says. "I'm seven, you know."

"I do know." I ruffle her hair. "But Ernesto is going to be here to pick me up any minute and we cannot afford to be late for work today, so I gotta go. Nice slicing on those strawberries, Emma."

"Thanks, Uncle Alex."

I make sure my keycard is in my bag and double check that I've removed all potentially incriminating evidence. Jack's shirt was in there, so it's hiding in my closet now where Melanie won't find it and make suggestions about things that didn't happen.

Or worse, things that did.

In no time at all, I'm out the door and waiting at the corner, tapping my toes against the cold pavement until Ernesto's purple Toyota blows around the corner and skids to a stop in front of the snow bank, splashing me with a little bit of muddy slush that covers the roadway.

"Hey, man," Ernesto says, turning the heat down and the music up. "I didn't see you there."

"I stand on this corner every morning waiting for you to take me to work," I reply. "How could you not see me here?"

"You're so suave and put together this morning," he laughs. "And I'm still waiting to hear what happened after you beat up Luther Bellsworth."

"I didn't beat anyone up," I protest. "I barely even looked at him."

"That's not how Tea Sip is telling it, bro. They say you and Jack fully annihilated the guy and then he followed her home and you punched him in the face."

"It says I followed Jack home?"

"No, Luther followed her home."

"Right after the restaurant?"

"Yeah, bro. And then when you saw him bugging her you decked him good."

"I didn't punch anyone. And..." I trail off, not sure how much I should share with Ernesto. He's my best friend, but I don't want Jack to get in trouble.

"So you weren't at Jack's house last night?"

"Nope," I answer honestly. "Nowhere near it, so far as I know. I don't actually know where she lives."

"Sure, Man. Your secret's safe with me."

"There's no secret!" I practically yell, but he just shrugs it off.