It was Christmas Eve, and there was a magical feeling in the air. I was with Andrew and my grandparents as we were tasked with setting up for tomorrow’s big event. There were already about a hundred families confirmed to be showing up, and I was sure that number would grow throughout the day. It was bound to be a great time, and the energy was already lifting everyone’s spirits into the cloudless blue midafternoon sky. We were out by the snowman’s-land, setting up a photo booth for people to take their trendy social media shots.

“You two should set up a cute little couples Grindgram account.”

“You mean Instagram, Grandma?”

“Ohh, right, right. I always get that confused with Grindr.”

“Totally different apps,” I said, shaking my head with a smirk. “How do you even know about Grindr?”

“What do you mean ‘how do I know about Grindr?’ Of course I know about Grindr. It’s how your grandpa and I have fun these days.”

My jaw unhinged and dropped to the floor. Andrew looked equal parts shocked and amused.

“What? Why are you both looking at me as if I’m having some kind of wardrobe malfunction?” She looked down at her buttoned-up trench coat as if double-checking.

“You do realize Grindr is the number one hookup app for gay guys, right?” I asked.

It was grandma’s turn to look surprised. “What? Oh shit, I was thinking about Minder, whoops! It’s a trivia game him and I play together.” She started cracking up, and we all followed suit. “Hopefully they ask us a question about gay hookup apps!”

“Crossing my fingers for you,” Andrew said, holding his stomach from the laughter. Pop was laughing, too, shaking his head with a huge grin on his face. He put an arm around his wife and pulled her in, giving her a kiss on the top of her snowy-white head of hair.

“You sure are a special one,” he said, love in his eyes.

“Damn right I’m a special one,” Grandma Lucy said, snuggling into Pop. “That’s why you put a ring on it.”

“Damn right,” he echoed her.

It was a sight to see, the love between my grandparents. It was a light that never dimmed. No matter what struggles or hurdles they were faced with, I never saw the love they had for each other waver an inch. It was as solid as the ground beneath us, and it was a goalpost for the type of relationship I wanted.

“All right, so I think we’re done here,” Grandma Lucy said, separating from Pop and looking at the booth. It was a cute little structure made to seem like a miniature house where an elf would live, with thin wooden walls painted to appear like a snowy-bricked facade. It wasn’t all that hard to set up, but I did want to give my grandparents a break from being out in the cold.

“Let’s head inside,” I said. “We can help out in the kitchen.”

“Sounds good,” Pop said, grabbing Grandma with a gloved hand. “I’m hungry.”

“He said help, not pig out, fatty.”

“I’m helping by taste-testing; it’s a necessary component of cooking. Just as important as the salt.”

“You can’t have any more salt! If I see even one microscopic grain anywhere near your plate, I will take it and hand deliver it to an ant in need.” They were walking ahead of us now. “And then I’d come back and slap the shit out of you.”

Andrew snorted at that, their conversation still loud enough to carry to us. He looked at me, his cheeks rosy from the chill in the air. “I’m so excited about tomorrow,” he said, his hand squeezing mine. We were walking side by side down a cobblestone path leading up to the mansion. There was fresh snow all around us, blanketing the landscape in a soft layer of crystal clouds. Andrew looked so handsome in his dark green jacket that made his big, expressive eyes pop. It was from a famous designer Andrew hadn’t heard of but fell in love with, except he didn’t see the price tag.

I made sure he wasn’t around when I bought it for him, or he would have had a full meltdown at the idea of wearing a three-thousand-dollar coat.

“It’s going to be a great time,” I said, thinking back to the prior years where we had record turnouts. And since my mom made sure there was zero admission cost to attend, we got a lot of grateful families coming through, and that grateful and cheery energy was something that spread and magnified as the day went on. “You’re gonna love it.”

“I’m sure I will,” he said. “I think I’ve said it before, but thanks again for inviting me, seriously.”

“Of course,” I said, knowing I would have been miserable if Andrew hadn’t come along. Crazy how that all felt like so long ago when it’d really only been a week.

We were almost back to the mansion, chatting with my grandparents about that favorite trivia app of theirs when I spotted him. Tyler was coming down the path holding a big box of paper plates. For once, I noticed Veronica wasn’t with him—she’d been latched to him like a moss to a northern-facing tree the entire time they’d been here—and I knew it was one of my only chances to get him alone.

“Actually, guys, I’m going to help Tyler out for a little. Go on up.”

Andrew looked at me, concern lighting in his eyes. My grandparents nodded and started up the path. I told Andrew in a low voice, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding a little skeptical. I gave him a kiss and watched him walk on, waving at Tyler as he passed him.

“Hey, bro.”

“Tyler,” I said, “here, let me help.”

“Nah, that’s all right, I’ve got it.”

“All right.” He started walking down the path, but instead of leaving, I followed after him. “Actually, man, you got a minute?”

“Yeah, just bringing these over to the storage shed.”

“Cool, I’ll walk with.” I kept pace with him as we walked back down the path. It probably would have been easier to take one of those sleigh-golf carts, but I was grateful for the extra time. I had no idea how to broach this, so some small talk happened before I decided to rip it off like a Band-Aid.

“Tyler,” I said, my tone quickly catching his attention. “I’ve got to ask you something, and you have to be a hundred percent real with me.”

We stopped, the shed only a few feet away, surrounded by tall pines that filled the air with their scent. “Okay…” he said, creases appearing in his forehead.

“I know you helped install the security cameras for my mom. And I know the stealing started up when you entered the family, so I’m asking you point-black, have you been stealing from my mother?”

There was a moment of silence followed by incredulous laughter. “What? Declan, is this about Veronica? Because, for what it’s worth, that all happened out of nowhere and totally took me and her by surprise. We never once talked or flirted when you guys were together. Then one day we end up at the same bar, and things just took off from there.”

“I believe that, and I can assure you that this isn’t about Veronica. I’m over her and over you two being together. Yes, I had strong feelings for her at one point, and yes, it would have been much more ideal if my stepbrother didn’t date my ex-girlfriend, but, honestly? I don’t care. Not anymore.”

“Are you sure?”

Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ve found someone I care about much, much more.

“Yes, I’m very sure. This has nothing to do with Veronica.”

His eyes narrowed. For a moment, I thought his surprise would give way to anger. Maybe my direct, straight-to-the-point type of questioning wasn’t the way to handle this…

“No, I didn’t steal anything from Robin,” he said, sounding almost exhausted. “I swear. I know my word doesn’t mean much to you right now, but I swear. My mother’s watching me right now from up there, and I’m telling you, I would never.”

I nodded, accepting his answer. Just because he knew about the cameras didn’t mean he was the thief. I had to remember Arturo helped with the installation, too. “Thank you for not blowing up on me,” I said.

“It’s all right, I understand. This shit is getting out of hand. I’d do the same thing.”

“Come on, let’s get these to storage.” We started again on our walk, but I was in no way settled. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from my talk with Tyler, but I knew I was at least hoping for a resolution. There was nothing like that, though, just more of the shadow of uncertainty.

We were in the shed when I got hit with another question. “Tyler, do you know if anyone else knows about the cameras?”

“Hmm,” he said, scratching his head. “Arturo was there helping with the install, so he would know for sure. And… I don’t know. Just us I guess.” He got back to cleaning out a spot on the shelf for the box of extra plates. “Well, I did mention it to Brooke once.”

“Oh,” I said. “You did?”

“Yeah, she was asking about a security system for her house, and so I mentioned the brand I hooked up for Robin. She seemed really interested in the process and where to put them—don’t know if she ever got around to setting it up herself, though. She always gets these crazy ideas and never does much with them.”

“Got it,” I said. “All right, let’s head back to the house and see what else needs to get done.” I turned and already started leaving the shed, wanting to get off this topic as fast as humanly possible.

I didn’t want Tyler to realize he had just turned my sights onto his own sister.

Of course Andrew was onto something. He’s a natural-born (and sexy as fuck) detective.

I had to get back to my sexy Sherlock and fill him in.