Dylan Kim was not getting carried away with himself. Furthermore, if he was getting carried away, which he wasn’t, it would be because the tidal wave that was Katelyn Eubanks was a really freaking strong one. Just sitting across from her felt like someone had dropped a scene from an idyllic postcard in front of him. She was wearing this cream colored sweater that seemed to kind of blend in with her milky complexion, and she had pulled her sleeves down to the middle of her palms. Her fingernails were short and rough, like they’d been picked at. They were painted with shimmery gold stuff that had been chipped away at the tips. Her hair was pulled back but a few amber curls had slipped free from the band she had tying it together. Her face kind of shimmered, which might have been a powder or might have just been the giant hearts someone had stuffed in Dylan’s eyes.

He was a little frustrated with himself. Everything about Katelyn was enough to get him carried away on its own, so it was a fight to stay grounded. He kept having to remind himself that he was only there because somebody else wasn’t. Dylan wouldn’t have been there at all if Jason had made a different decision: he had been her first choice. Dylan was second string, called in because it was absolutely necessary.

But then...she hadn’t taken that call from Jason. She had just frowned at her phone, ignored the call, and then put her phone back in her pocket. She didn’t even seem that curious about it afterwards. She hadn’t even reached back towards the pocket that her phone was in. She just sat across from him, drinking the hot chocolate he made her--and some of the hot chocolate he made himself--and asking if he’d ever considered barista-ing for his pay the bills job.

“You should consider becoming a barista for your pay the bills job,” Katelyn told him, switching their hot chocolates once again. “You’ve got that whole handsome-hipster-aesthetic thing going on and that really jives at coffee shops.”

Dylan choked on his sip of hot chocolate at the word handsome. Trying to regain his composure, he joked that she should write him a letter of recommendation. Following improv rules, she just snorted a laugh and agreed.

“Sure thing,” she giggled. “It’ll just say: Dear Coffee Shops, Dylan Kim makes delicious hot chocolates and I bet that could be extended to coffees, too. He’s polite and kind and everything you want in a human, but what’s really going to make you want to hire him is the fact that he looks like he belongs in an Indie Film. Sincerely, Katelyn Eubanks.”

At first, Dylan couldn’t respond. His face was warm and his heart was fluttering. He swallowed and, voice hoarse, said, “Well, with a glowing recommendation like that, I’m sure they’d have no choice but to hire me.”

At that, Katelyn beamed and Dylan melted. If he was getting carried away, it was because it was impossible for him not to.

Katelyn’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece all joined them. Elizabeth sat next to Katelyn, picked up her mug, and asked, “Ooh, what’s this?”

“Hot chocolate,” Katelyn said, taking back her cup. “And if you want one, you’ll have to get your own.”

Their hot chocolates had cooled down enough that Katelyn was able to swallow them both pretty quickly. Elizabeth gasped in mock offense and Dylan laughed, “I can make some for everyone.”

Malik and Sapphire went with him to help him carry back the drinks. Malik used the opportunity to fire a dozen intimidating questions at him, and Sapphire used the opportunity to try to hold on to one of each of their pant legs and stand on one of each of their feet simultaneously. She spent most of that time slipping and giggling. Dylan put together four different hot chocolates while Malik helped Sapphire put an excessive amount of candy in her cup.

They got back to the table in time for the first course of way too many courses. It might have actually been worth the exorbitant ticket price Katelyn paid to get them in. Dylan hadn’t even realized that brunch was a meal that could have courses, but this one definitely did. To start, there was fruit and hot cereal. Then, came all manner of eggs served with toast and breakfast meats: sausage and bacon and even honey baked ham. Katelyn didn’t eat meat, so she let Dylan have all of hers. Then they finally served the pancakes. It was absurd and gluttonous and after they all ate too much, they went back to the hot chocolate bar to get even more hot chocolate. Katelyn was giggling and her eyes were gleaming. Dylan considered that maybe she was already too hyped up on sugar, but that didn’t stop him from making her two more hot chocolates.

There was a station for kids to decorate sugar and gingerbread cookies. Sapphire made one of each: a gingerbread person whose head and arm got frosted blue and then dipped in sprinkles, and a sugar cookie star that just got a squirt of white frosting with a few chocolate chips pressed into it. Katelyn bit her lip and looked longingly at the gingerbread people until Dylan finally asked the woman who was manning the station if they would be able to decorate some, too. So, while Malik and Elizabeth took Sapphire to meet Santa, Katelyn and Dylan frosted cookies.

Dylan thought his ended up looking, well, not dissimilar to Sapphire’s. He covered the whole thing with white frosting and then dumped green sugar crystal sprinkles over it. Katelyn, on the other hand, took her time. She applied the frosting slowly and meticulously, squeezing it into designs on the cookie. At the end, her little gingerbread person was dressed in a little, blue and green plaid jacket with a little red bow tie and little blue pants. It was just frosting, care, and effort but it almost looked like paint and precision.

“That’s fantastic,” Dylan said. Katelyn blushed, looking up at him through her eyelashes.

They were probably on the verge of a moment, but it was abruptly interrupted by Elizabeth’s quiet and strained voice saying, “Hey, could you watch Saph for a sec? I have to...go talk down my husband.”

Katelyn frowned at her sister whose forehead was creased with worry. Dylan agreed first and Elizabeth passed Katelyn her daughter. Then, she chased after Malik who was charging out into the lobby. For a moment, Sapphire looked scared. Her bottom lip wobbled and her eyes widened.

“Let’s go get our faces painted,” Katelyn recommended quickly, her voice cheery. Sapphire blinked in response.

“Ooh, that would be fun!” Dylan said, mirroring Katelyn’s enthusiasm.

Sapphire seemed to think for a moment before she squealed and clapped her hands together. A petite girl with dark hair and bangs, dressed like an elf, painted their faces. First, she turned Sapphire into a sugar plum fairy. Then, she turned Katelyn into a deer. Finally, she painted half of Dylan’s face to look like a forest of evergreens. Katelyn took out her phone for the first time since she pocketed it. She insisted on taking pictures of the three of them. They squeezed together and grinned goofily. Katelyn took several and then flipped through them, smiling, before she settled on one and announced, “Okay, I am definitely instagramming this.”

After she posted the picture, she paused, frowning at her phone.

“What is it?” Dylan asked.

“I don’t know,” Katelyn said, shrugging. “He left a message.”

“Who?”

“Jason,” she mumbled, scuffing her toe on the ground.

“You should listen to it,” Dylan suggested. It felt big of him to suggest that, even though he probably really didn’t have any business meddling in Katelyn’s relationship. “It might be important.”

“I don’t see how it could be,” Katelyn groaned. “We weren’t even that much of a couple when we were a couple. If something happened and he needed something, or someone, he would probably turn to his friends, you know? Not me. I don’t...like...I’m not that person for him. I never was.”

Dylan just stared at her with her eyebrows raised until she finally let out a sigh and then stepped away to listen to the voicemail. If he was being honest, he didn’t really want her to listen to the voicemail. He just also thought she probably ought to listen to the voicemail. That Jason guy, the real Jason guy, might have realized something important. Like that he’d left his favorite shirt at her apartment or that he was actually in love with Katelyn and a big idiot for having left her. Dylan was hoping for the former.

“Hey, baby,” someone said, and Dylan was incensed at first before he realized that someone was Elizabeth and that she was saying it to her daughter who she was also hoisting in the air. Dylan was chagrined by this realization. He hadn’t noticed Elizabeth approach the child in his care, and that probably meant he was a pretty crap babysitter. Elizabeth rubbed her nose against Sapphire’s, as she cooed, “You look lovely.”

Katelyn returned, frowning, and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. She shrugged, “Not important.”

Elizabeth glanced between them and said, “Are you guys ready? Malik is already in the car. He um…” she frowned and lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. Katelyn and Dylan both mirrored the gesture and followed her back to the car.