“You’ll always be my favorite dad.”
“Gee, thanks, my favorite daughter. I’m glad I beat the competition for your love.” He laughs as he lets go of me.
“Hey, Sophie, can I pull you away for a second?” Lukas interrupts us.
“Sure. Be right back, Dad.” I wave at him as I walk behind Lukas toward the kitchen, leaving behind Liam’s family in the living room. Baked goods occupy every surface along with my failed gingerbread house attempt.
“So, I wanted to thank you.” Lukas looks up at me with blue eyes similar to his brother’s.
“For what exactly?” My confusion must be apparent because Lukas lifts his hand at me.
“This will be much easier if I get it all out in one go. I want to say thank you for everything. Really. My brother has grown so much in the past year, and I know you’re part of the reason. He spends time with his family more, and he makes an effort with me to connect again. Plus, he actually checks in on my girls and that means the world to me. When Johanna passed, it tore me and Liam apart in different ways. But thanks to you, and the love you showed him while calling him out on his bullshit, he changed for the better. I’ve never been able to say a proper thank you. You’re basically part of the family now.” Lukas shoots me a smile. Something glimmers in his eyes, but I can’t place it.
He pulls me in for a hug and I let him. I feel like his moment of gratitude is important for him, especially with everything he has lost and gained.
“I warned you about messing with my girl. On Christmas, dude? Sophie, I promise the stomach is only temporary!” Liam barrels into us, squeezing me into his brother in the strangest hug I’ve ever experienced.
“Speaking of your stomach, it’s digging into my back, and it kind of hurts.” I laugh as Liam backs up.
“I was just thanking Sophie for how much of a help she’s been with Kaia’s birthday. Imagine if you went with the pink bounce house instead of the purple one.” Lukas pretends our conversation never happened, and I let him.
Liam gasps. “The horror. Who knew Kaia had a sudden allergy to anything pink?”
“I did!” I stick my tongue out at Liam.
“Okay, Miss Know It All. I need to steal you away from my brother. Hope you enjoyed Sophie while it lasted, Lukas. She’s all mine. Forever and ever.” Liam grabs my hand and drags me down the hall.
“You’re such a weirdo.” I laugh as he guides the way toward his mega garage. The lights turn on one by one, the noise echoing off the walls. “Also, that totally seems like something from the Bat Cave.”
“Why are you obsessed with this garage and Batman? I’d be concerned about him if I didn’t fuck you against the hood of my McCoy Menace.”
My cheeks flush as I check out the car Liam references. “Har. Har. Hilarious.”
“Want to take her for a drive?” He walks to the wall that houses all the keys.
“On Christmas? It’s snowing and your family’s upstairs.”
“So? My parents are going to drink with your dad, and my brother’s going to put the girls down for bed. Santa needs to get moving.” Liam pats his ridiculous stomach prop.
“Does Santa have a special gift for me?”
He shoots me a smile as he throws me a pair of keys.
I rush to catch them. The key fob has a BMW insignia on them. “Liam, these are the wrong keys. This isn’t for the Menace.”
“Are they? My bad. Here, catch.”
“What?” I screech as I nearly drop the second one he throws at me. This one weighs more. When I check out the fob, I find the loop filled with other keys. “Another BMW one. Are you forgetting what your old logo looked like already?”
Liam closes the gap between us. He brushes a loose strand of hair out of my face, making my skin tingle from his touch. “Nope, I remember it. I wasn’t offering for you to drive the McCoy car. I want you to drive this one.” He taps on the fob, and a beeping noise sounds off.
I turn to find a BMW convertible with the tiniest bow on the hood. “What’s going on?”
“Check out the bow on that sucker. I mean, big things come in small packages, am I right?”
“Did you buy me a car?” I choke on the words.
“Remember when you told me you’d move to Germany if my parents offered you a BMW convertible?”
My head snaps toward his. “That was over a year ago. How do you even remember that?”
He taps his temple. “With you, I remember it all. Except my parents aren’t asking you to move here.”