“What? You can’t just hie off to upstate New York.” She couldn’t ask him to come keep her company in a place he’d never been, to mourn a woman he’d never met. Although she ought to have expected him to offer. It was like him to drop everything for her.

Her sweet, loyal boy, her platonic puzzle piece.

“I’ll meet you at the airport, Mimi. I’m buying your ticket! I’ve been trying to get you to take me to Carrigan’s for years.” Cole hung up before Miriam could tell him no.

By the time she saw Cole in the ticket line, she had stopped shaking. Mostly.

Cole was huge—very nearly six and a half feet—and built like a rower, with shaggy sand-colored waves of hair and guileless ocean-blue eyes. He’d played lacrosse in college and sailed a yacht. He was a quintessential Southern Bro, hiding a progressive heart behind clothes embroidered with lobsters. When he showed up at the airport in a too-small ugly Halloween sweater over a pink button-down with a popped collar, she felt herself start to breathe a little bit. Cole coming was good. He would distract her from falling apart, and he would pick her up if she did.

“I know you’re going to have an opinion about the sweater.” He held her hands tightly, curling his large body protectively around her very small one like a big brother—or a daddy penguin. “But I’m here with my credit card to whisk you away to your ancestral homeland, so don’t give me shit.”

“I never lived at Carrigan’s, Cole. I’m from Scottsdale. In Arizona?”

“Shh.” He shook his head. “Don’t ruin the magic. I’m ready to immerse myself completely in the Spirit of Christmas. I’m going to be Father Christmas! No, Brother Christmas. I’m too young to be a father.”

He pulled away, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His suitcase, a vintage piece Miriam had bedazzled, threatened to roll away from him. Miriam knew that part of him was exhilarated about finally going to Carrigan’s, but part of it was an act for her. He was giving her an opportunity to fall into their comfortable, playful banter so she could get through the terrible mundanity of the airport intact.

“Also, Mimi. I’m so, so sorry. I know Cass meant the world to you.” He dropped his backpack and wrapped her in a painfully tight hug. “I’m so glad I invited myself. You need me. You can’t face your parents alone.”

Miriam decided to sidestep this mention of her parents. She was going to let Cole’s performance sweep her away for a few hours, before she had to face a Carrigan’s without Cass. Instead, she focused on the rest of what Cole had said.