There's no answer on the other line and I'm getting irritated with every unanswered ring. I swear, if I have to call Austin because Sadie doesn't pick up the phone...
"Hello? Sadie's phone," an annoying male voice chirps at me.
Great. Austin answering Sadie's phone. This is a new version of the nightmare.
"Can you put my sister on the phone?"
"No-can-do, Sallow. She's a little busy right now."
"Busy doing what?"
There's a pause. "Trust me, you don't wanna know."
Fucking hell. He's got to be kidding.
"Austin, I swear... If you answered my sister's phone while she's giving you a–"
"Calm down, Tommy," he interrupts my dire thought with a fit of laughter. "We already finished. She's just cleaning up after the action." His foul smirk can practically be heard over the receiver and I'm about to puke.
"You're an asshole, I don't wanna know that shit."
"You literally asked though," he reminds me with confidence.
He's not wrong but I don't have to acknowledge that. I think he gets a little too arrogant from three thousand miles away. He's never so smug and sure of himself when we're standing in the same room together. He always looks like a pale, scared puppy.
"Can you just give her the phone when she's... done?"
Austin laughs again. "Sure. But you and I have some business to attend to."
"What business?"
"The business of when your flight comes in on Christmas Eve."
"And why the hell do you need that information?"
"Because bro-in-law..." He stretches out that title with an even bigger note of smug in his voice than before. "I'm the one who gets to pick you up."
Nope.
"Not a chance, Adler. I'm not getting in your shitty car."
"Low blow," he starts up, all offended. "Let me ask you something, man... why do you hate me? And don't even try that shit with me about not trusting the Adler brothers because you seem to get along just fine with Danny. So, what gives?"
Truthfully, I don't know why I'm still giving him shit. I think it's more fun than anything at this point. Apart from sneaking in and seducing my sister one Christmas break from college, the guy actually hasn't given me any issues. He's always taken care of my sister, he's a good dad. Not a bad cook either, to be honest.
His brother on the other hand? Now that kid was a piece of work when he was a teenager. I arrested Danny on more than one occasion back in my early days as a cop in Oakwood. But we ended up bonding over time and I still keep track of him, even though he's a grown ass man now. I don't know, maybe I've always seen a little of myself in him. In all fairness, maybe I have been playing at a little Adler brother favoritism.
Too bad I don't care. Austin's too fun to mess with.
"I don't need a reason to hate you, Adler. Now put my sister on the phone."
He sighs. "Here she is."
The static sounds of the phone being shifted around fills my ear before Sadie's greeting comes through. "Hey, Tommy. Sorry about that. I was just, uh... getting dinner ready."
"No, you weren't," I huff.
Sadie gasps and covers the phone on her end as she shouts, "I'm gonna kill you, Austin!"
Austin's voice comes out muffled in the background. "Tell Tommy I said I love him!"
My family, ladies and gents. Chaos. Beautiful and ridiculous chaos.
"Okay, I'm back. What's up, Tommy?"
Taking a deep breath, I try and refocus on the unpleasant reason I called her. I do need to give her my flight information for my trip home coming up but I also have to update her on the surprise ending of Dad's parole hearing.
I start with the easy part. "My plane lands at 11:08pm on Christmas Eve. I'll text you everything else so you know where to pick me up at."
"Okay, I'm writing on the calendar as we speak." Her voice is distracted now and I can hear the click of a pen because yes, Sadie still uses an actual calendar like she's stuck in the 90s."Geez, that's late," she mutters. "And that time difference is gonna kill you."
"Yeah, I'm already looking forward to the jet lag. By the way, don't send Austin to pick me up. His car is disgusting."
"I'll have him clean it."
My sigh is obnoxious but I relent. "Fine."
Sadie just laughs. "Listen, I'll see what I can do. Maybe Harper can get you instead. That's a busy night for me and Austin, after all," she says with some giddy energy in her voice now, no doubt thinking about those Santa Claus duties she loves so much.
Something happy jumps in my chest at the thought and I find myself smiling. "I fully expect a photo of Austin in a red suit. Hat and everything," I tell Sadie, not really sure where this jolt of jolly is coming from, even as the words are dropping out of my own mouth.
That's a lie. I know exactly where it's coming from.
"What the heck was that?" Sadie asks, sounding shocked.
"What was what?"
"That thing in your voice. You almost sounded, dare I say, happy... while you mentioned something Christmas related. What was that?"
I shrug, even though she can't see it. "I don't know. I just feel different this year, I guess."
A beautiful woman with caramel eyes waltzed into my life and reformed me. It's been slow, happening over time after an unfortunate coffee spilling incident in the spring. But all that's rushing through my mind at the moment is the other night when things took a really amazing turn.
A tree with twinkling lights and ornaments, a little soft conversation, some holiday tunes, a cup of hot chocolate, and one happy fucking ending. It was so different from anything I've ever experienced. Better. Hotter. So fucking perfect. There's just something about that woman.
I'm not the same as I was before. But I don't tell Sadie that, I don't tell her anything about this new relationship growing between me and Amber. It's not because we're some kind of secret or that I think Sadie would ruin it or anything but I'd rather just keep it all to myself for a little bit. Keep it ours, mine and hers.
Fuck, that was a good night.
After what feels like an hour-long pause, probably because I was lost in thought over a beautiful woman and her talented mouth, Sadie begins her very sisterly interrogation.
"You feel different this year? That's a loaded statement. What the hell happened, Tommy? Did you fall in love or something?"
I don't say anything, suddenly lost in thought about the impact of what she just suggested. Being in love. I've never been in love before. I'm not sure how that feels. But shit, I might be close to finding out.
Sadie's loud squeal fills the receiver and I have to pull my ear away. "Holy shit! You did fall in love, didn't you?"
"Stand down, Sadie."
"Okay, fine. Keep your secrets. I'll just pry them out of you when you get here. I can be very persuasive, you know that. And if I fail, Harper will punch it out of you."
"Yeah, yeah." I keep my voice casual, annoyed. Sisters are such a delight.
Sadie laughs a little before the energy shifts over the phone and she clears her throat with a reluctant sigh. "So, anyway... are we gonna talk about the thing you really called for?"
Oh yeah, that.
"I talked to Dave," I tell her with a reluctant sigh of my own. "The hearing had an interesting outcome."
There's silence on the other line for a few long seconds. "Is he getting out?" Sadie finally asks.
My heart is thumping in my chest, still reeling from the verdict I didn't expect.
"He was supposed to. But he, uh... he requested a six month delay."
"What?"
"I'm just as surprised as you are."
Inmate requested parole delay. It doesn't happen often. Someone is handed the opportunity to be released from jail super early and he declines? Why? What happened to him? The man we used to know was far too selfish for a decision like this. Too self-serving to choose staying locked up.
I don't know what to think. And I need to speak with him myself, face to face. Man to man.
"You're gonna go see him, aren't you?" Sadie's voice is choked like she's having trouble forming the words.
"Yeah. I am. I have a visit scheduled the day before New Year's Eve."
"I'll go with you."
"No," I tell her right away. "I want to go alone. I need to talk to him before any of you go see him."
"Okay," she whispers.
That's all I've got for her and she knows it, so more silence fills the line between us. She feels a million miles away. My whole family does.
I miss them.
California has never felt more like home than it does the closer I get to Amber and Mia. But as much as I don't want to leave them for the holidays, I'm dying to go home and be surrounded by my mom and sisters. They need me. I need them, too. And what we all need is answers.
"Tommy?" Sadie's voice interrupts my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"Do you wanna talk about Christmas again?"
I expel a sigh of relief, unable to keep from smiling. "Yeah, I do actually."
Sadie spends the next ten minutes telling me all about her menu for Christmas dinner, the girls' matching pajamas for Christmas Eve, and the food drive she organized with Tierney at the community center. When the phone call ends, I feel all warm and sticky inside like the center of a fucking cinnamon roll.
My eyes drift to the corner by the front door where my mom's Christmas gift has been living, trapped inside the same Amazon packaging it arrived in weeks ago. Beside it is a small bag of things I picked up for Mia's birthday coming up.
My mom wouldn't think twice about tearing open an Amazon shipping package to see her gift but something doesn't sit right about showing up to Mia's birthday party with a plastic bag of stuff in my hands.
She deserves a properly wrapped present but I don't think I've ever actually wrapped anything in my life. My sisters just get handed anything I buy. And whatever I get for my nieces gets sent directly to Sadie and she wraps it for me. But I suddenly feel the need to wrap some shit so I grab my keys and head to the store for all the necessary supplies. Might even grab a big ass bow for the top.
I'm not the same as I was before.
What the hell is happening to me?