Page 29 of Doctor Frost

I looked down at her moonlit face, waiting to hear her answer. We’d barely been seeing one another a month, but to me it felt as if we had been together for much longer, and I already knew I was falling for her. Hell, if I were honest with myself the day she walked into my office for her interview, I’d thought about what it would be like to have a relationship with her. That had scared me so bad I could do nothing but be an ass to her, but she’d finally broken down my barriers.

“What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about me tagging along for that family time.”

I frowned. “You weren’t sure?”

She looked up at me, those large brown eyes staring back at me, and shook her head.

“I’d love to have you with us.” I winked. “If you want to be, that is.”

“I’d love to join you.”

I pushed myself up onto my forearm and looked into her eyes. Placing my hand on her cheek, I lowered myself and placed a kiss on her lips, my tongue washing through her mouth. She wrapped her arms around me, and as I deepened the kiss, she let out a tiny moan.

“Here’sa hot chocolate for you, and one for you, Tommy, and one for you,” I said, handing Amelia her cup.

“Extra marshmallows?” she countered.

I smiled and winked. “You know it. Now, let’s venture off and find a tree, shall we?”

“Yes!” Tommy shouted, slipping his gloved hand into Amelia’s as Claire shoved hers into Tommy’s.

I smiled at Amelia as the four of us walked through the gates of the second largest tree lot in Eastport. Christmas had always been a hard time ever since Kenzie died. The kids and I had done our best, but the three of us had struggled through the holidays. I knew my attitude hadn’t helped things, but this year with Amelia in my life, I felt lighter than I had in a long time.

As we walked around, she started singing Christmas carols, which got the kids going, and soon the four of us were all singing “Jingle Bells” as we walked around the lot together. Finally,Claire pointed at a tree, claiming it was the perfect one, which, upon closer inspection, we all agreed.

“Is this the tree?” the attendant at the tree lot asked.

I looked down at both kids, who both stared up at me with goofy smiles. I couldn’t help but chuckle and nod.

“Sure is. Can you wrap it for us? I’ll go get the vehicle and pull it up to the gate over there,” I said, pointing at the loading area.

“Sure can,” he said, grabbing the tree and taking it over to the wrapping station.

I was just about to leave when Claire grabbed my hand.

“Dad, don’t you think we should take a picture?”

Pictures were something we used to do when Kenzie was alive. The kids hadn’t asked since she’d passed. However, I normally stopped at a grocery store lot and picked a tree from whatever was leftover two days before Christmas, and it was out by boxing day. I realized now I’d missed out on capturing memories that used to be important for the past few years.

I looked at Amelia and handed her my phone. “Would you?”

“Oh, sure.” She smiled, pulling her glove off as she set her hot chocolate down on the ground.

“No, Dad. Amelia needs to be in the picture, too,” Claire cried.

Dalton looked at me and smiled, then pulled his phone from my hand, stopping a couple who were walking by and asking them if they would mind taking the picture. They took his phone and waited for us to get into position.

I wrapped my arm around Amelia, while Tommy and Claire moved in front of us. The four of us smiled as the couple took our picture, then Claire whispered something to Tommy, which made him laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Amelia questioned.

Tommy looked up at the two of us and grinned. “Claire says you two should kiss in the next picture,” he said, covering his mouth as he giggled.

I couldn’t help but smile and asked the couple if they’d mind taking a couple more pictures, which both of them smiled and shook their heads.

I grabbed hold of Amelia and brought my lips to hers as Tommy looked up at us with wide eyes. It was then the couple snapped the picture.

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