Rich People Problems

xxv | family matters

KIMBERLY

FAMILY DINNERS WERE a huge deal to us.

The fine—that's right, fine—for missing one was five hundred dollars. Ash didn't bat an eye when paying said fine to go to North Carolina for Camelia, but when his beloved girlfriend found out, her jaw dropped to the ground.

Yes, theoretically, it was an obscene amount of money, but it was an incentive to make sure we never forgot the people who stuck by our side through thick and thin.

Even though we were not blood related to the Kingstons, we've been family friends for ages, making the lines kind of blur after a while. It does help that I'm now married to Alex's son, but we've been by each other's side for much longer.

Jace and I just pulled up into the driveway, seeing Dad, Uncle Eli, and Ash's car, indicating that we were the last ones to arrive.

I didn't even need to look in Jace's direction to know that his jaw was clenched at the thought of being late: another fact he'd have to get used to if the remainder of these two years would work.

I couldn't help the fact that I loved being fashionably late and still had to wrap their gifts.

Speaking of the gifts, I didn't know if Jace got them anything and I didn't want to make him uncomfortable by asking, so I just signed the gifts off with both of our names.

By the time I got out of the townhouse, Jace was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel impatiently and the second I put the gifts in the back and slipped into the seat, he took off.

In all honesty, I couldn't tell if the drive was too short or if I napped for too long.

Alcohol withdrawal was no joke.

I'd been reducing how much I drank in a day, only to be plagued with double the headaches.

This is why I drank in the first place.

But I still put a smile on my face as we got out of the car and went to the back to get the gifts. Even though my head was pounding. I didn't want to ruin their birthday two years in a row. They may not blame me for what happened, but I blamed myself.

I hated myself for that.

Jace furrowed those thick eyebrows when he saw his name on the periwinkle wrapping paper for Ana and the yellow equivalent for Gigi.

Gifts were not a big deal in our group, since we were lucky enough to afford whatever we wanted, but I loved giving gifts. Almost as much as my cousin loved receiving them.

"You got them something?" Jace asked, confusion laced in his tone.

"Yeah," I replied, hauling the two boxes into my arms. Thankfully, Jace took them out of my arms as we headed to the door.

I may have splurged a little too much for their gifts. Gigi's gift is a complete collection of the history of Valdonia—to fuel her history obsession and upcoming job—and I got custom-made chef's knives—in honor of her new position—for Ana.

"I thought you guys didn't do gifts."

"We don't."

The conversation ended there when Gigi opened the door and ushered us in. "Don't hate me for saying this, but you guys look good together."

I winced dramatically, and began fake dry-heaving at her words.

Jace shook his head before handing the boxes over to her. "Happy Birthday, Genessa."

"Please, Jace"—she walked us toward where everyone was sitting, placing our gifts on the small table that only held two other gifts—"For the millionth time, call me Gigi. I hate how old Genessa makes me sound. It's not fair that Stasi gets a cool name like Anastasia and I'm stuck with Genessa."