More Than Roommates
“Clara, not that much salt. Jamie, please stop tasting the frosting.”
My dad walks in with another box of decorations, sweat glistening on his forehead. “Alex, help me with the lights outside. These women will ruin Christmas before it starts.”
His tone is teasing, but there’s an undercurrent to it, that familiar thing that lives in the space between his jokes. I nod and follow him out. The winter air bites at my arms as we unwind the string of lights around the porch railing.
“You’ve grown quiet,” he says finally. “College hasn’t made you soft, has it?”