“Yeah, she’s quiet.”

“I noticed,” Matt said. “What’s her story?”

Yup, his brother was interested.

“I couldn’t tell ya. Parker knows her better, but she doesn’t say a whole lot.”

“You like the silent type,” Colin teased.

“I like the type that doesn’t bitch.”

“Good thing Colin is dating my sister, then, and not you.”

“Parker doesn’t complain,” he argued.

“To you maybe. Austin and I hear it all the time.”

“You’re her sister. That’s normal,” Jase told Mallory.

“She doesn’t tell anyone her issues other than us.”

“She talks to me.” At least Colin thought she was open with him.

“Oh, yeah . . . did she say anything about your Christmas present?”

Colin turned his back to the fire again to look at Mallory.

“What about it?”

“What did you give her?” Matt interrupted.

“A trip to Cabo,” Mallory answered for him.

“What about my trip to Cabo?” Now Colin felt prickles up his spine like he knew there was something coming he wasn’t expecting. Parker had acted excited about a spring trip out of town.

“Does my sister appear to be the kind of woman who travels internationally?”

Jase laughed. “Mexico is hardly international.”

Mallory snorted. “You need a passport to get there.”

“Technically, you need a passport to get back,” Jase argued.

“Jackass.” Matt called their cousin out, humor in his voice.

When Mallory rolled her eyes, it reminded Colin of her sister. “What are you saying, Mallory?”

“Parker doesn’t have a passport. None of us do. A vacation for us has been a trip to Disneyland or the beach.”

He hadn’t thought of that. He just assumed she had one.

“So now Parker is scrambling to get a copy of her birth certificate so she can then get a passport. But appointments at the passport office are just as hard to get as they are at the DMV. And I can tell by the look on your face Parker didn’t tell you any of this.”

No. She hadn’t.

“If Parker didn’t want to tell him, why are you telling him?” Matt asked. “Aren’t you women supposed to stick together? Especially sisters?”

“Because this isn’t like an ugly sweater someone gives you that you can say you love and never wear. It’s a trip that she’s going to stress over until she either has the passport and gray hair, or has to tell you she can’t go at the last minute . . . with gray hair. I told her that if she just talked to you about her problem, you could both figure it out. Push the trip a few weeks, expedite the passport somehow . . . I don’t know. Something.”

“She could have told me.”

“Yeah, but that isn’t Parker. If you haven’t noticed, she likes to fix everything herself. I’d hate to see her miss out because she’s stubborn. I think we can all agree no one needs a vacation more than my sister. Besides, you’re the best thing to happen to Parker. I don’t want to see you screw anything up.”

That didn’t suck to hear. “I’ll try my best.”

“I’ll be sure and tell you if you are. Austin might chime in, too. Seriously, Parker’s been one big ball of nerves since our parents died, but since you came along, it feels like I’m getting my sister back.”

“I guess that means you have the family approval,” Matt teased.

“So take care of Cabo and bring her back loose as a noodle.”

“You’re just as bossy as your sister,” he told her.

“Where do you think I get it from?”

They all laughed.

The wind kicked up and blew the smoke directly in Colin’s face. “I’ll fix it.”

“Good. And don’t say a thing about me telling you.”

Matt moaned. “Oh, the games people play.”

“I have to live with her. Don’t you dare, Colin, or you won’t get one more get out of jail free card from me.”

“I won’t say a thing.”

A crack of light in the distance made Colin look at his watch. Was it midnight already?

Thunder rolled over them.

“Well, hell.”

Then the sky opened up and they all scattered like ants.

They had fifteen minutes to go.

Parker was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

The recorded images of Times Square filled the screen in the den.

Austin and his friend had already crashed. “It’s midnight somewhere,” he’d told them.

“I really want next year to be better.”

“You and me both,” Erin said, lifting the glass holding the champagne in the air.

Parker had stopped drinking when the first raindrops hit the skylights over the dining room. Erin, on the other hand, was going to feel it in the morning. “I know why mine needs to be better. Why does yours?”

Erin answered with a question. “Do you ever want to forget the past?”

Interesting question. “I sometimes wanted to change the past.” Forgetting it would mean forgetting her parents.

Erin shook her head. “I just want to forget. Wake up with amnesia and chase the fear away.”

The hair on Parker’s neck stood up. “Fear of what?”

Her nervous laugh proved the liquor was talking. “Him.”

“Your ex?”

“Yeah.” And just like that, Erin realized what she’d said, sat taller, and put her glass down. “I shouldn’t have said that. Forget I said that.” Panic laced her words.

Parker took a slow breath . . . in . . . and out.

Erin looked as if she wanted to run away.

Parker folded her knees into her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs. “Six months after my parents died . . . I was sitting here, on this couch. I’d had a couple of drinks. I’d finally gotten Mallory to go to bed. She cried for our parents every night. Austin was angry, broody about it. I had had it. I was so busy taking care of them I hadn’t even processed what had happened. I started taking big swigs out of the bottle of tequila I thought I could handle. Next thing I knew I’d tossed clothes in a bag and was sitting in my car.”

Erin stared at her.

“I was just gonna leave. The pressure . . . I couldn’t anymore.”

“What happened?”

“I made it to the end of the driveway and stopped. I was drunk. I was willing to leave but wasn’t willing to put my brother and sister through the pain of losing another family member.”

Erin leaned forward, grabbed her hand. “I’m so sorry.”

Parker leveled her gaze to Erin’s. “I’ve never told them that story, and I’d appreciate it if you kept it between us.”

“Of course.” She offered a slight smile, narrowed her eyes. “My ex was very controlling. If I detoured from what he wanted, he forced me back in line.”

“Forced?”

Erin looked like she wanted to be sick. “He was a big man. With a temper. The first time he hit me we were both shocked. Or that’s how he played it.”