A Very Merry Mess (Cider Cove Sweet Southern RomComs #3)

Ryanne

RYANNE

“I love you so much,” Mom says as she holds me tight. I hug her back, tears flooding my eyes.

“I love you too, Mom,” I say, my voice caught and stuck and tight. “Thank you so much for having me and Elliott.”

Our bags are in the back of the rental car, and all we have left are these good-byes. Anna and James left with Sariah about an hour ago, and Cosette and Rob pulled out twenty minutes ago.

Danny and Katherine left last night, as Danny had to get back to work, and it has been just me and Elliott with my parents for a little bit now.

It’s been nice.

The moment I step back, I swipe at my eyes, and Elliott sweeps into my mom’s arms.

He’s laughing where I’m crying, and my mom giggles as Elliott lifts her right up off her feet. “You are the best hostess in the whole world,” he says. He steps back and takes my dad’s hand in his. He pumps it hard, his smile absolutely huge.

Almost Joker-like.

“Thank you, sir. It’s been an amazing time here. Really.”

“You’re welcome back anytime,” Dad says, and that only confirms what I’ve been suspecting since I went shopping with my sisters on Boxing Day.

Elliott has charmed my whole family.

I beam at him when he glances over to me. “Ready, sweetheart?” he asks.

“Yes.” I hug my mother one more time, then square my shoulders and turn to leave the porch. Elliot comes behind me, and the moment we get in the car, all the tension between us lifts. It’s been this way every time we escape to the guest house too, and I sigh as I buckle my seatbelt and look over to him.

“We survived.”

“I really enjoyed that,” he says, his boisterous personality still pinned in place.

“It’s just me.”

“Tell me you didn’t have fun at your parents’.” He folds his arms, and as I start to drive, the seatbelt reminder beeping begins.

“There were some interesting moments,” I admit.

The beeping continues, and I glare over to him. “Can you put your seatbelt on?”

“Not until you admit you had fun. That you miss them. That you love your family.” He grins at me.

My eyes fill with tears again. I can’t speak, but the beeping is going to drive me insane.

“,” Elliott says.

“I love my family,” I say, and my tears spill out of my right eyes. Of course, the one closest to him.

“They’re pretty great,” he says as he pulls his seatbelt across him and snaps it in place. Thankfully, the beeping stops.

“It’s okay for them to irritate you sometimes and for you to love them at the same time.”

“You’re right,” I say. “Thank you for coming.”

“I had an amazing time,” he says, and he settles back into his seat. “Best Christmas ever.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I say.

“Listen.” He clears his throat. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

I glance over to him, because he’s deflated back to regular-Elliott. “Okay,” I say.

“It’s about this present my mom got me for Christmas,” he says.

I know he’s talked to his family several times while we’ve been here, but he hasn’t told me much. “Is it a good gift or a bad gift?” I ask. “Because you look like you’re going to throw up.”

Before he can answer, my phone rings through the car. “It’s Tahlia,” I say, and I glance over to him. “Can I get it?”

“Yeah,” he says, and I tap to answer the call as he adds, “Yep.”

“Hey, Tahlia,” I say before I catalog that Elliott has used his yeah-yep on me. I glance over to him, but his attention is out his side window. “What’s going on?”

“Claudia says you’ll be home about seven-thirty. Is that right?”

“Yes,” I say. “If the flight goes as planned.”

“Great, can we do mic-night at eight?”

“We want to hear all about your holidays,” Emma calls.

“And everything with Elliott,” Claudia adds.

“He’s in the car with me,” I say. “And you know you won’t get everything.” I look over to him. “I don’t tell them everything.”

“I know,” he says at the same time Claudia does.

“I have so much baking left over,” Tahlia says. “And Lizzie has some news.”

“And I need some help too,” Emma says. “Man help.”

“Oooh, boy,” I say, a smile filling my face.

“See you soon,” Tahlia says. “We miss you!”

“Miss you!” the others chorus, and the call ends with more love than ever.

“Miss you too,” I say, and I sigh happily. I take a deep breath and look over to Elliott. “Okay, it’s?—”

But his eyes are closed as if he’s asleep, and he’s leaned his chair back slightly. So I cut off, and I let him rest until we get to the airport.

“I’m home,” I call as I pull my suitcase up and over the step, and into the Big House.

“Ry’s here,” Lizzie calls, and then she and Emma both meet me in the foyer of the house. They mob me and form a big group hug, with Tahlia and Claudia joining in.

“I wish Hillary were here,” someone says, and that’s something we’ve all said at least once since she moved to LA a few months ago.

“I have news with that,” Tahlia says, and that breaks up our huddle-hug.

“News?” I demand.

“Yeah,” Claudia says just as sharply. “What news?”

“She’ll tell us when we get her on video,” Tahlia says with a smile, and she pushes her blonde hair out of her face. “Now, come on. Ry’s a little late, and Hillary is calling right at eight.”

We all file into the living room, leaving my suitcase in the hallway, where Tahlia turns on the TV and hooks up her work computer to it.

While she does that, the rest of us gab about Christmas with our families—nothing major, just things that are funny or of little consequence.

Tahlia’s already laid out her baking, which ranges from pies and cakes to cookies and sweet breads.

“So, when are you going to see Elliott again?” Claudia asks.

I glance over to her. “I guess this isn’t necessarily roommate-newsworthy.”

“You are going to see him again, right?” Claudia glances over to Emma. “I shouldn’t have asked. I thought this would be mild.”

“It is mild,” I say. “Five days together is a lot.” And I haven’t even told them about the sleeping arrangements yet. “So I told him that I’d see him at work on Wednesday. His day off is tomorrow, so he won’t be at the store, and I’d be mad if he brought me lunch or whatever.” I shrug and reach for a coconut cookie half-dipped in dark chocolate. “He agreed.”

“He agreed, huh?” Claudia asks, and she hides so much in her dark eyes.

“Are you surprised by that?”

“Hillary’s calling,” Tahlia says, ending the conversation. “Quiet down, everyone.”

Lizzie and Emma are giggling over something on Emma’s phone, but she quickly shoves it away as our long-lost roommate’s face fills the screen.

She’s alone, as she usually is when we do these calls, though her boyfriend lives in LA near her.

She smiles and smiles and then she starts to cry.

“Oh, wow,” I say, setting aside my half-eaten cookie. “This is serious.”

“It’s just so good to see you guys,” she says.

“I thought she and Liam were coming for Christmas.” I look over to Emma, who shakes her head.

“His momma and sister went out there, so Hill stayed. Last-minute.”

I hadn’t known, and I watch one of my best friends wipe her tears and keep smiling through them.

“I don’t think we need the mic for her,” Tahlia says, and even her voice is choked. “Tell them, Hill.”

She breathes in deep and wipes her face with both hands again. “Okay.” She exhales slowly, obviously trying to find her emotional center.

I’m not usually a sympathy crier, but right now, I am. I dab at my own tears as she takes another breath, and this time, she says, “The documentary is done filming. Now, we just have to edit it and put it out.”

“How long does that take” three of us ask at the same time. Hill’s news is always about Liam or work, and since they’re so intertwined, it’s usually both.

“Our final edit date is March first,” she says. “And then Liam and I are going to come back to Cider Cove to…get married.”

Tears leak down her face again, and she wipes them away. “We’ll come back here for the premiere, but we don’t have to live here once edits wrap.”

She grins and laughs through her emotion. “So I’m moving back onto the third floor in March, and Liam and I are going to get married one day in April when his orchards are at the height of their bloom.”

“This is so great,” I say.

“Amazing news,” Lizzie agrees.

“So you’re not going to set a date,” Claudia says, and it’s not a question.

“We’ll have a few days’ lead time,” Hillary says defensively, pinning Claude with a darker look. “I want all the blossoms, and Liam says that depends on the weather, the rainfall, lots of things.”

She shrugs. “I have a dress. Our families are there. No one needs to travel all that far. I promised my parents I’d give them a three-day lead-time, as if they can’t come the day-of. My daddy’s retired, for crying out loud.”

Her joyous emotion hardens slightly when she talks of her parents, but that quickly dissolves away too.

“Liam says the trees bloom at the end of March or beginning of April. I want you all there, so I guess clear your schedules for then?”

“I wouldn’t miss it,” Claudia says, and I nod in agreement.

Tahlia gets to her feet and holds up the pink sparkly microphone, which is really just a paper towel tube with a tennis ball attached to the top of it. The whole thing has been painted bright pink, and it looks like it got a facelift since the last time we used it.

“All right,” she says. “I’m holding the mic, but I don’t have any news. My life is very boring.”

She holds out the mic among our protests, and I say, “We’d all starve to death without you.”

“Truth,” Claudia says, while Lizzie says, “Someone needs to be stable in this house.”

“Stability is a better term for it, yes,” Emma says.

“Stability, blah-bility,” Tahlia says, shaking the mic. “Who’s next? Claudia? Engagement news? Ry? We want a full report on the holidays. Emma? You specifically said you had something.”

I don’t want to go first, so I look at Claudia beside me, then Lizzie, then Emma. Claudia sighs like she has the migraine of the century, then gets up and takes the mic from Tahlia.

“No news,” she says. “Beckett is all moved out at the office, though, and he’s not working this week until he starts next week. I’ve likewise taken this week off, and we’re going to…do something.”

“Do something?” I ask, seizing onto the color of her face as it goes deeper into the maroon category. “Do what?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Emma says.

Claudia sighs like this is a federal interrogation. “It’s just a simple road trip.”

“Sounds like it,” Hillary says, and I gesture to the TV.

“We’re going to Orlando,” she says. “Gonna ring in the New Year at Walt Disney World.” A smile finally touches her face, and oh, there it is.

Of course, I know she’s in love with Beckett, but it’s still so beautiful to see on her face.

I panic as I think about how I have a lot to tell. Will my roommates be able to tell that I’m in love with Elliott?

Am I even in love with Elliott?

My phone buzzes, and I glance down at it while Claudia passes the mic to Emma. New Year’s Eve? Elliott has asked. Me and you. A pretty dress for you, and I’ll wear something nice too. Dinner and sitting outside without freezing to death.

I smile, because I love getting asked out. Absolutely, I tell him.

“All right,” Emma says. “I’m having a bit of a flirt-fest with a man, and I’m not sure if it’s like, a crush on his part, or if he likes me, and I’m, you know, on this male-vacation, but he’s really cute, and…”

She sighs. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Are we allowed questions?” Tahlia asks.

“Yes.” Emma sounds pretty miserable about it, but she is one of the more emotional roommates.

“How long has this been going on?” Claudia asks.

“A couple of weeks,” Emma says.

“Are we allowed to know who it is?”

Emma surveys the room, holding my gaze for a few heartbeats of time, just like she does everyone else.

And I know this is going to be big.

“I wish to remind everyone that only the person with the mic can talk,” Tahlia says.

“She said we could ask questions,” I say.

“I’m more worried about the upcoming reactions.” Tahlia quirks her eyebrows at me, and she’s probably not wrong.

Emma actually holds up the fake microphone to her mouth and says, “It’s Aaron Stansfield.”

There’s a momentary beat of silence where the four syllables of the man’s name hovers in the air between all of us.

Then Hillary says, “The boy next door,” right before the rest of us erupt into more excited questions or actual cheers like, “Yes! I knew he liked you.”

And ah, it’s so good to be home.