The Plight Before Christmas(108)

Peyton’s ribbon leads us in and out of my parent’s bedroom before disappearing beneath the runner rugs of the hallway and back to the front door—where Gracie stands now, before opening it. “Oh my God!”

Excitedly, Conner joins her at her side. “Oh my God.”

“Oh my dawd,” Peyton repeats as the three of them shriek, staring in awe as each of their ribbons end in bows attached to three shiny new bikes. Peyton turns to Thatch. “Bike, Da da, bike! Mine?”

“Yeah, buddy,” Thatch chuckles as he opens the door, and the three of them race to their new wheels. Thatch lifts Peyton onto a flame-decorated tricycle as Serena joins me at the door, the sparkle in her eyes accompanying the new diamond on her hand as she stares fondly after Thatch. All three kids’ faces are lit with ecstatic smiles as Thatch rings the bell on Conner’s bike, doing his best to cater to each of them

“Whose idea was this?” Serena asks. “So awesome!”

“Right?” Brenden chuckles behind us as he glances out at the three of them.

“Did you do this?” I ask.

“We all did,” he nods over his shoulder, “but it was Eli’s idea.”

I glance behind me to see Eli staring out of the glass door, his glacier blues lit with mirth at the kid’s reactions.

“Fantastic!” Mom says with a laugh from her recliner. “So well done, kid.”

“Rudolph for the win,” Brenden nudges Eli as we crowd the door.

“Wow,” I say, looking over at him, fingers itching to touch. From his reaction last night, it seems he wants to keep us a secret for the moment. Hell, it’s been mere hours since we recoupled. I wrestle with the urge to touch and the indecision to act. I lift a brow in question, and he gives me a wink.

I send my telepathy back out to him, and he presses his lips together and averts his eyes, giving me a busy signal.

Gah, is he waiting for me to make it?

Just do it, Whitney! Put yourself out there. Love him freely for the first time in your life. He’s right fucking there!

“You’re awesome,” I say softly, opting for a compliment for the moment. Brenden cuts through our eye contact as he grabs the kid’s coats and glances back at Erin and my parents in the living room.

“I have a feeling we’ll be out here for a while,” he says, taking a step out.

“Take your time. We’ll do stockings,” Serena replies as we congregate back into the living room. Dad orders Alexa to play Christmas music as Serena, Mom, and I sip our champagne, and Eli tosses more logs onto the fire.

“All right,” Serena says, passing out our stockings while a mix of kid squeals and parent scorns sound from the driveway.

We all start to unpack our oversized socks. I begin to unload mine in my lap, seeing Mom’s annual butterscotch Life Saver storybook fall out first—which has me grinning. It’s when the Brach’s Christmas tree taffy falls into my lap, followed by an orange, that my eyes water. I lift the fruit eye level, tears clouding my vision as I blink them away, nostalgia hitting my chest with a hard thud.

It’s as if Grammy P is in the room with us. I blink another tear away as Serena sounds out next to me. “Gah, I miss her.”

Her voice is filled with the same emotion I feel as she looks over to Mom and lifts the tree candy. “I can hardly ever find these in the store anymore. Where did you get them?”

Mom eyes us both, confusion on her features as she looks between us, her own orange in hand. “You two didn’t do this?”

I glance over to Serena and draw my brows as Serena shakes her head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Neither did I,” Ruby says softly, looking between us, “then, who?”

We all turn to Dad.

“Dad?” I ask.

“Wasn’t me, Sweet Pea.”

Standing next to the fireplace, Eli clears his throat and shoves his hands in his jeans. “Whitney told me when we dated that Grammy P used to put oranges and Brach’s tree candy in your stockings. I checked and didn’t see any in there, so I—”

He doesn’t get a chance to finish because I climb him like a tree, tears stinging my eyes before I kiss the ever-loving hell out of him.

Surprised, he lifts me into his arms and kisses me back fully, his hands on the sides of my face. With my elf slippers hooked around his waist, I pepper his jaw with kisses, knowing everyone is watching but can’t bring myself to give a shit. I pull away, elated, and beam at him. “You totally Family Stoned us.”

He smiles. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Meh, I mean, yeah, I guess…Maybe I’ll keep you around for a while.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I whisper, kissing him again before tossing a glance over my shoulder to see tears in Serena’s eyes just as my parents clink champagne flutes.





I wake in Whitney’s twin bed, her blonde hair askew, obstructing my view of her face. She’s wrapped around me, her naked thigh hitched over my torso, possessively keeping me close to her—not that we have a spare inch of room. I revel in the feel of her surrounding me and know there’s not a chance in hell I’ll want to wake up another day without this. We have a future, and it started last night. So much to look forward to, so much to make up for. Nothing about the ideas I have brewing for us feels rushed.