Everyone had returned from their shopping by the time we got back to the cabin. They were all buzzing around, talking and laughing, which made it easy to put some space between me and Jacob.

I needed a moment to figure out where I stood on the feelings that were now coursing through me. I kept to the far end of the kitchen, watching everyone else swarm the trees that were now propped up in the living room. Tracy was moving around, snapping pictures. She made her way into the kitchen and then stopped in front of me and raised her camera.

I gave her a small smile, and after she took the picture, she glanced at me and left.

“Ava, dear, grab the lights from the paper bag and meet me in the living room,” Mrs. Stephenson called from behind the tree. I could see her blonde hair poking up above its branches.

I sighed as I folded my arms and leaned against the counter. My thoughts were still concentrated on Jacob, and these few minutes of quiet hadn’t been enough to cure me of the feelings that were bubbling up inside.

But Mrs. Stephenson didn’t seem to care. She came barreling through the kitchen and held up her fingers, motioning me toward the living room.

There were five paper bags all lined up beside me. After looking through them all, I found three boxes of twinkle lights and pulled them out. By the time I got to the tree, Mrs. Stephenson was circling it like a hungry wolf.

“This is truly a spectacular tree,” she said as she glanced over at me with an appreciative gaze.

I shrugged and waved toward Jacob, who was staring at his phone as he leaned against the far wall. “Jacob was the one who found it,” I said.

Mrs. Stephenson glanced over to Jacob, and I could tell she wanted to say something, but she stopped herself. Instead, she just smiled at me and tilted her head toward my parents, who were unwrapping their tree from its netting.

“Our freshly cut tree is heads above their store-bought one,” she said.

Dad turned around. “We bought ours from the Cub Scouts outside Sid’s Hardware. We helped support a local troop. You”—Dad pointed his finger at us—“destroyed a squirrel’s home.”

I rolled my eyes. What were we, the Bearstein bears? “Okay, Dad.”

Mrs. Stephenson snorted, and as the branches of my family’s tree began to settle down, she turned to me with a huge smile. “Do you see the bare spots?” she asked, holding up her hand and pointing at her palm in a sad attempt to ,ask the fact that she was mocking my parents’ tree.

Dad did not look happy as he circled their tree. Something must have gone wrong during the transportation because one side was missing about half of its needles.

Mr. And Mrs. Stephenson high-fived and then moved around to celebrate with the rest of the team. I obliged them, slapping their hands with moderate enthusiasm. Jacob didn’t even try. He just left his mom hanging there.

Mrs. Stephenson waited for a few seconds before she moved on to Max.

I waited for everyone to engross themselves in stringing lights before I made my way over to Jacob. I leaned against the wall, waiting for him to acknowledge me. When he didn’t, I peeked over his shoulder to see that he was playing Candy Crush.

I chuckled. He did not seem like the kind of guy who enjoyed that game.

“What?” he asked, not looking up.

I shrugged. “I guess I didn’t see you as the Candy Crush kind of guy,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest.

Noise drew my attention over to my family. Aiden was whining at Mom as he held up his favorite Lego guy, and Mom was telling him that the Lego was not an appropriate Christmas decoration. Aiden pushed out his lip as he stomped over to the chair. I shot him a sympathetic look, but he just covered his face with a nearby pillow.

I found Jacob studying me when I turned my attention back to him. Our eyes met for a brief moment before he turned his attention back to his phone.

“So, what kind of games does a guy like me play?” he asked.

I was a little taken back by the intensity of his gaze. What was he thinking? I swallowed as I focused on his question. “I don’t know, Grand Theft Auto?” Truth was, I really didn’t know too many video games.

He paused before he snorted. “Yeah. Because only a delinquent like me would play a game about stealing stuff.” He pressed the power button, and his phone’s screen went dark. He shot me a look, which I couldn’t quite interpret, and pushed off the wall. Just as he stepped away from me, Mrs. Stephenson waved at us.

“Good, you’re done with your phone. I want you and Ava to go to the kitchen, pop some popcorn, and get started stringing. We are going for a rustic feel.”

Mrs. Stephenson turned back to the lights and resumed arguing with Mr. Stephenson about placement.

My parents were engrossed with their tree on the other side of the room, so I turned to Jacob. He had a strained expression. Great. He did not look like someone who wanted to spend an evening stringing popcorn with me.

I shrugged as I moved passed him. “You can just go. I’m a pretty good threader. I’ll have this done in no time.” I didn’t look back as I made my way into the kitchen. I didn’t want to find out if he had or hadn’t followed me. Living in the hazy fog of denial sounded pretty good right now.

I located the popcorn in one of the grocery bags and began pulling off the plastic to get them ready for the microwave. Just as I opened the door to stick a bag in, I caught Jacob’s reflection in the glass.

He had followed me. He’d come to help. Whoa. Easy on the butterflies, stomach.

I tried not to seem surprised as I slipped the bag in and started the timer. I slowly turned around and rested my hand on the counter. We stood in silence for a few moments. I wondered if he would start talking or if he was waiting for me to say something.

Just as I moved to speak, Andrew walked in.

An icy feeling instantly filled the air. I glanced between Jacob and my brother, wondering what exactly had happened. Sure, Jacob had basically chosen a life of crime over a friendship with Andrew, but why did they hate each other so much?

“Sorry to intrude,” Andrew said, moving to stand next to me like I was a human shield or something.

I shrugged, giving him an encouraging smile. Whatever had happened between the two of them, they could get over it. I was pretty sure that forgiveness was something my brother could handle. “It’s fine. We’re…” I trailed off before I gave away our decorating secrets. I wrinkled my nose. “Wait a minute, you are the enemy,” I said as I elbowed Andrew in the ribs.

Andrew chuckled, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Jacob’s jaw tighten. What was with him? He was the one who hurt my brother, not the other way around.

Deciding to ignore Jacob’s reaction, I turned back to Andrew. “So, what are you doing in here—besides spying on us?”

Andrew seemed to relax as he reached out and grabbed a caramel from the bowl on the counter. After unwrapping it, he stuck it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “Well, I am the best at getting the truth from people,” he said.

Jacob scoffed, drawing our attention. When he noticed we were staring at him, he shrugged as he pulled out his phone and started playing on it again.

I glanced over at Andrew, whose face had reddened. I furrowed my brow. That was a strange reaction. But before I could ask about it, Andrew met my gaze and rolled his eyes.

I wasn’t sure what was going on between my brother and Jacob, but I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to figure it out here in the kitchen.

As soon as the microwave beeped, I turned, grateful for the distraction. I pressed the release button and gingerly grabbed the steaming bag. “Seriously though, Andrew, you have to leave. You and I can’t be seen talking to each other. It’s ridiculous, but Mrs. Stephenson thinks that you’ll steal her ideas.” Plus, I was ready to get Andrew moving.

I loved my brother, but he was blocking me from Jacob. And I wasn’t joking about Mrs. Stephenson. If she saw me consorting with the enemy…well, I wasn’t sure what she would do to me exactly, but it wouldn’t be pretty.

Andrew shrugged as he grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl I was pouring it into. I protested, but he just smiled and headed out of the kitchen.

Once he was gone, the room seemed to relax again. I glanced over toward Jacob, wondering how to get him to talk to me, then yelped when I saw him standing right next to me with another bag of popcorn in hand.

“Wha—you’re—” I pinched my lips together and forced myself to stop talking.

“I figured you needed some help,” he said, glancing over at me with one of his million-watt smiles spread across his face.

Too stunned to speak, I just nodded.

We popped popcorn and filled the bowl in a surprisingly comfortable silence. Before I knew it, the metal bowl was overflowing with popcorn.

“Ready to start stringing?” he asked, grabbing the bowl and nodding toward the kitchen table.

I found the needles and thread and followed after him. He took the chair that was tucked under the short end of the table, and I grabbed the chair right next to it. We were sitting inches apart.

I hated how my heart rate picked up from being so close to him. There was no way I was going to survive this vacation with how fast blood was pumping through my body. I was pretty sure my heart would just give up at some point.

Ready to distract myself, I decided to break the silence.

“So, what’s with you and my brother?” I kept my gaze focused on the thread that I was unwinding from the spool. I knew this was probably a testy subject for him, but I couldn’t handle the awkward feeling between him and my brother if we were going to be stuck in the same house.

When Jacob didn’t answer, I peered over at him. His jaw was set and he was staring hard at the popcorn piece in front of him.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me,” I said.

Jacob glanced over at me, and for the first time, I saw pain there. It was so strong that it was almost palpable. He was hurt.

But, just as quickly as that look had come, it disappeared. He shrugged as he picked up some popcorn and popped it into his mouth. “Just a falling out, I guess,” he said as he broke open the package of needles and pulled one out.

Once I had a long piece of string, I handed the spool over to him, and he did the same. Soon, we were threading the popcorn.

Desperate to redeem myself, I changed topics. “How was your grandmother’s?”

Jacob’s shoulders relaxed, and I knew I’d picked a good subject.

I sat there, stringing popcorn, as I listened to Jacob. He talked about the school he went to, his classmates, and the ocean. A lot about the ocean.

It was like he was a different person, hearing him talk like this. In all my life, I’d never gotten him to share this much. It was either something he really cared about, or he was just grateful to not talk about Andrew and their falling out.

Either way, I loved it. I loved the fact that he felt relaxed enough to talk to me. Growing up, it had always been Andrew that he talked to—not me. But now, that was different. I seemed to be the only person in the house that he wanted to talk to.

And while I was trying not to read too much into that, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help but think that he was talking to me because he wanted to. That I had something special to offer him.

Though I knew that made me seem like the biggest idiot in the world.