Page 165 of In Spades

If Kylie wanted to include me in their traditions, there was no way in hell I was saying no.

“Ho, ho, ho!” I chuckled, then quickly worked to distribute the presents. Luckily, Kristin already had them organized by kid. The pile under the tree emptied, and the stacks in front of each one of the kids grew. Finally, I handed out the gifts I brought.

“You got us presents too? Cool!” Hunter said, eyes wide as I passed him a heavy square box. It didn’t take a genius to know that it was filled with books.

Kylie gave me a shy smile when I handed her a small gift bag. It wasn’t as large as the other presents, but she was growing up and would appreciate some nice jewelry. I got Hannah Jane’s opinion on the pieces before I bought them, so I knew it was sure to please.

I caught Kristin’s eye before I sat down, and she gave me a subtle nod.

“Before y’all go crazy,” she said, stopping them from the present opening frenzy. “Let’s talk about Christmas break.”

Four simultaneous groans arose. Telling them to wait was like trying to stop a racehorse that was ready to blast out of the gate. I decided to make it quick and put them out of their misery.

I cleared my throat. “I’d like y’all to spend your break at my house in New Bern.”

The range of emotions was all over the place. Zoey and Hunter looked absolutely thrilled. Kylie was curious, and Logan looked downright pissed.

Kylie cut her eyes between Kristin and me. “Are you not working at the inn?”

“No, I’m on the schedule, but it’s lighter since we don’t have a lot of reservations right now. Will and I thought maybe it would be fun for you guys to have a change of scenery, and this way you won’t be on top of each other.”

“And he’s in charge of us?” Logan said with a raised eyebrow.

I rested my elbows on my knees and opened my hands. “That’s why it’s up to you. While Kris is at work, it’ll just be the five of us.”

Kristin waited tensely for the verdict. She chewed on her nail the way she always did when she was nervous about something.

I tried to appear as relaxed as possible, leaning back and draping my arm across the couch behind Kristin. Truthfully, I was nervous as hell, too.

Kristin was right. I couldn’t force this.

“Can we bring our presents with us?” Hunter asked.

I chuckled. “Of course. And I might have a big pile of presents back home that still need to be opened, so…”

“More presents?!” Zoey’s shriek nearly made the lightbulbs shatter.

Kylie, Hunter, and Zoey enthusiastically agreed at once, but Logan said nothing.

“Lo?” I asked. What do you want to do?”

He shrugged, avoiding my eyes. “That’s fine.”

The kids resumed tearing into their presents, and I mentally flogged myself for screwing things up so badly.

Through the flurry of wrapping paper and gift bags, Kristin reached over and slipped her hand into mine. “Hey,” she said softly. “I’ll talk to him.”

I shook my head. “No, this is on me… I need him to trust me because he feels like he can, not because you tell him he should.”

Christmas and Boxing Day passed quickly. After the marathon of unwrapping presents, packing their bags, then unpacking at my house and unwrapping more presents, the kids seemed to have finally settled into a routine.

I made sure to wake up before Kristin so I could warm her car up and hand her a cup of coffee before she drove to Beaufort. I always assured her that I’d only let the kids run with sharp scissors—that way puncture wounds would be clean.

Kristin always shook her head and flashed her middle finger when I cracked jokes like that. She could roll her eyes all she wanted, but it wouldn’t hide the little smile that tugged at her lips.

The sun wasn’t even up yet when I came back inside from walking her out to her car. It surprised me to find Logan helping himself to the coffee in the pot.

“Morning,” I said, closing the front door softly so I wouldn’t wake the rest of the house.

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