The main living area of the Browns’ house is a huge open space. Most of the furniture has been pushed against the walls to allow room for all of the guests. There’s a giant Christmas tree in one corner, the dining room table is filled with food, and there’s a bar set up on the kitchen island. There’s a man dressed as Santa making the rounds, passing out Jell-O shots. I’m sure he’s supposed to give those only to the adults, but since it looks like he’s been sampling them himself, he’s giving them out freely to anyone he passes.

As they predicted, Charlie and Judd are a huge success. And as I predicted, Judd isn’t much of a date. He’s currently competing against some twelve-year-old girl in one of those dance-off video games.

Not that I’m complaining!

Olivia and Drew arrive, and she introduces me to everyone there. Sometime later, Wes walks in with Laurel. His T-shirt has the words This is my Christmas sweater written in duct tape. But Laurel’s the one who has me crossing my arms across my chest when I see her sexy Mrs. Claus outfit.

And I thought Halloween was the only time of year where they turned every costume known to woman sexy.

“Hey, Sophie. You remember Laurel,” Wes says when they get near the couch where Olivia and I are sitting.

We both nod at each other, but then her attention drifts, no doubt trying to find someone else to talk to.

“Cammie!” she yells, and then scampers toward the kitchen. Wes drops down next to me on the couch, and I scoot closer to Olivia to give him some room.

“Have you seen Charlie and Judd?” Olivia asks, leaning across me to talk to Wes.

Wes laughs. “Yeah, they sent me a picture this afternoon.” Then he looks at me and asks, “Are you here with Judd?”

Before I have a chance to answer, Judd pulls me up from the couch and says, “Sophie, it’s our turn!”

“Our turn for what?” I ask as he drags me away, but my question goes unanswered. That is, until we stop in front of a karaoke machine.

“Oh no,” I say, and start to walk away.

Judd latches on to my hand and pulls me back. “This is going to be so fun!”

Charlie sees us and starts clapping and cheering our names.

The music starts up, and I stare at the small screen. Maybe if I keep my eyes glued there instead of on the crowd, this will be okay.

Just when I think this can’t get any worse, the title of the song flashes across the screen.

“We’re singing ‘Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer’?” I ask in a horrified voice.

“Yes!” He points to his sweater. “It’s perfect!”

The song starts and we sing along. At some point I manage to look up and see Wes. He’s leaning back on the couch and I’m pretty sure he’s crying from laughter. I look at Olivia, and she’s not any better.

“At the scene of the attack…”we sing.

Then Judd gets louder. “She had hoofprints on her forehead and incriminating Claus marks on her back.”

I drop the mic and look at Judd. “This is really the worst song ever.”

He gives me a confused look. “Really? You think so?”

I hand Judd my mic and walk back to the couch while he continues to sing.

The song draws to a close just as Mrs. Brown, the party’s host, walks in the room, clapping to get everyone’s attention. She’s a cute, bubbly woman and she’s got that strong south Louisiana accent that makes some words unrecognizable.

“Time for the games!” she yells over the music.

I turn to Judd. “What games?” I ask.

His grin tells me I should be scared. “Fun games,” he says, then pulls me to the center of the room.

“Okay, it’s the young versus the old,” Mrs. Brown says. “I need two lines — the young on my left, the old geezers on my right, boy — girl — boy — girl.”

I watch as the room divides into the two groups. Judd steps in line next to me and seems super pumped up about this game. Wes is behind me with Laurel.

Mrs. Brown stands in the front of the room holding two really big oranges, one in each hand. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll put an orange under the chin of the first person in each line, then you have to turn and pass it to the person behind you, but you can’t use your hands!”

Oh. God.

Someone cranks up the music while Mrs. Brown puts the oranges in place. Of course Charlie is at the front of our line and he wiggles his eyebrows at Izzy.

I’m going to have to get the orange from Judd, then give it to Wes. I guess it doesn’t matter that my hands are sweating, since I can’t use them!

Mrs. Brown calls “Go!” and Charlie throws himself at Izzy. There’s no way to pass the orange without being extremely close to the person you’re trying to give it to. The adults drop theirs and have to start over. They’ve all been hitting the eggnog pretty hard and can’t stop laughing long enough to move the orange.

Before I know it, Judd’s got the orange and turns to me.

“I’m coming in, Sophie!” he says, then pulls me close. I turn my head to the side and try to get my chin close to the orange. Judd is a big guy and with all the stuff on my sweater and his sweater, it’s hard to get close. I finally bring my chin down on the orange. Judd pulls away slowly and I spin toward Wes.

And then I hesitate.

His eyebrows shoot up and his head cocks to the side, almost daring me. Why am I nervous about getting close to Wes? I’ve known him forever.

Charlie is chanting my name, and I just go for it. My arms wrap around his shoulders, pulling him close as I tilt my head. His arms go around me and we’re pressed against each other. I feel Wes grip the orange and I start to pull away. But it’s too soon. The orange comes loose. Wes presses against me, stopping the orange just below my collarbone, where it’s wedged between a red glitter bow and a Santa ornament.

“Well, this is awkward,” he says. He’s looking up at me, holding the orange against me with his cheek.

He looks ridiculous. Laughing, I look across the room, where the adults’ orange is moving rapidly down the line, and then look down at him. “We can’t let the old folks win!” I say. “Get the orange!”

He starts moving the orange around with his face, trying to get it under his chin. It rolls toward my shoulder, then down my arm. Wes is crouched around me, since he’s so much taller than I am, and I’m on my tippy toes, trying to raise my shoulder toward his chin.

“Stop wiggling!” he says.

“You suck at this!” I reply.

Charlie is next to us, trying to give Wes directions, but all Wes manages to do is roll the orange around my arm, then back to my shoulder until he gets really close to my boob.

“You need to get the orange and move along,” I say.

He finally manages to catch it in the right place. Wes squeezes me close one last time and then he’s gone.

It’s a clean pass to Laurel and then she turns to the guy behind her.

Wes looks at me over his shoulder and my heart is pounding. We stare at each other a few seconds before he turns away.

When we beat the grown-ups, Judd picks me up and swings me around.

Mrs. Brown gets our attention for the next game. “I’m going to pick six from the youngsters and six from the oldsters.” I become one of the lucky ones; Judd jumps around like a maniac and points at me until Mrs. Brown picks me. She hands me a rectangular tissue box that has a long ribbon attached to the bottom. I shake the box and it rattles. It’s full of Ping-Pong balls.

I can’t even imagine what this means.

“Now, everyone, tie the ribbon around your waist so the box is sitting right above your behind with the opening pointed out.”

Olivia helps me get mine tied on just right. I notice Charlie and Wes were also picked to do this challenge. I glance around for Laurel, but she’s nowhere to be found.

Wes is standing with his hands up so Charlie can get the box tied around his waist. His T-shirt fits a little snugger around his biceps than I remember — it looks like he’s been working out. He looks…good.

I brush the thought away immediately. Why am I noticing Wes’s arms?

Mrs. Brown claps her hands several times. “Okay, when I yell Go! you dance around and shake what your mama gave you until all the balls are out of the box.”

I shake my head at Olivia and mouth the word No!

She laughs, nods her head, and mouths the word Yes!

The music starts again and Mrs. Brown screams, “Go!”

And then we all start moving. I find out quickly that up and down isn’t doing the job, so I start moving side to side. Basically I look like I’m stuck in the washing machine spin cycle.

I should be humiliated, but for some reason I’m not.

Charlie is doing some sort of crazy motion where his hands are on the ground and his butt is in the air and he’s bouncing it from side to side. His Ping-Pong balls are flying out everywhere. Wes seems to be having the same trouble I am. He moves toward me while shaking his hips back and forth.

“Aren’t you glad you came?” he shouts over the music.

“I’m still not sure!” I shout back.

“We’ll help each other out. Give me your hand. I’ll dip you and hopefully, they’ll all come flying out.”

I put my right hand in his and lean back. He keeps his arm around my shoulders while I shake my hips. “That’s cheating,” an older woman says. She’s jumping up and down like she’s on a pogo stick.

“She said to dance, and we’re dancing!” Wes says.

Charlie comes up beside us and yells, “Say ‘cheese!’ ”

More pictures.

“Margot’s going to love these,” Charlie says.

I roll my eyes and Wes laughs.