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Leave it to her to read my mind.
“Kids!” she called, eyes on her boots as she knocked the snow off on the entrance rug. “Are you decent?”
“Yes,” I said, running to pull her into a tight hug. “God, it’s so good to see you.”
“You two as well. I’msoglad it finally warmed up. I missed my own house—not that Hank isn’t great company.”
“Greatcompany?”
“Oh, don’t you start. Your mom already asked me about my intentions with him.” She rolled her eyes. “What did I do to make you guys ask so many questions?”
“You ask more questions than we ever could. It’s payback, Amma.”
“I’ll let it slide, but only because youfinallyseem like yourself again. What has you in such a good mood?”
Alden and I hadn’t talked about when we would tell others, but considering Nick’s past issues with us, I could make an educated guess and say he should be the first to know. My familylovedto talk, and if he found out from anyone but us, then it would make it worse.
“I needed to be here for a bit,” I settled on. “I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy being away from the city. Maybe I need more vacations.”
“With electricity this time?” Alden added.
“What, are you tired from having to keep me alive?”
“More like tired of you feeling bad about letting me.”
“Oh, shut up. You taught me how to keep the fire going in the end.”
“Did he now? I wasn’t aware you two were even talking again. Or were you doingmorethan talking?”
“W-we did a puzzle too.”
Amma raised an eyebrow, not appeased by that answer.
“Was it safe for you to walk back?” Alden asked. “It’s still pretty slick out there.”
“Oh, I have shoes made for this.” Amma gestured to her boots.
“Then couldn’t you have come back before?” I asked.
“Oh, no. Slush ismucheasier than ice.” She waved her hand, but I frowned, wondering if she was telling the whole truth. “But I also didn’t mind spending time with a handsome man.”
“I have questions,” I said.
“So do I. Who wants to answer first?”
“Actually,” Alden said, “I think we should figure out if we can get out of here and have a late Christmas party.”
Amma pursed her lips but nodded. I let out a sigh of relief. “Well, we did miss the day of. I’ll call up Nick and see what he’s up to. I hear the city is far clearer.”
I nodded, glad it would be her talking to Nick and not me.
“Thank you for cleaning up,” Amma said. “It looks better than I left it.”
“We were hoping to get out of here today,” I replied.
She smiled at us before picking up the phone.
I grabbed Alden and pulled him into the hallway.