Page 37 of Deck the Fire Halls

Rob saw me stand. “Oh,” he said, getting to his feettoo. “Are we...? I mean, are you...?” He checked his watch. “Oh wow, yeah, it got late. I should go. You’re going home? I’ll walk with you, if that’s okay?”

Everyone at the table was watching us, smiling.

“Yeah, of course,” I replied.

Rob held his coat to his chest like a shield and winced. “It’s just that... I don’t own appropriate footwear and I slip a lot and he catches me...” He winced harder, and it was so freaking adorable.

How was a guy older than me adorable?

“Appropriate footwear is very important,” Hamish said, grinning, his huge eyes like a cartoon character.

“Thanks for tonight, guys, it’s been great,” I said, trying to save Rob. “Jayden, you in particular, the food was amazing, as always. Let me know if I owe you anything extra.”

He waved me off. “No problem. Anytime.”

“We should all do this more often. Not just at Christmastime,” Ren said.

I gave a nod as I pulled my coat on. “We should.”

“I’ve had a great evening,” Rob said, meeting me at the door. He put his coat on but his collar was tucked in, so without thinking, I reached up and straightened it for him.

Someone made a high-pitchedeeeeeepsound. Hamish or Braithe, I wasn’t sure, but they wereallwatching us, and Rob’s face flushed red. He pulled his toque on his head as I opened the door and I gave a wave as I followed him out.

Jayden closed the door behind us, just in time to see Rob’s foot slide out from under him. I grabbed him andpulled him against me, his face an inch from mine. “Jeez, you okay?” I asked.

Rob nodded, his eyes locked on mine, and he made no attempt to free himself from my arms. Until we heard Jayden laugh. We both turned to see him grinning at us from the glass door.

Of course he saw.

Then Hamish appeared beside him, and I linked my arm with Rob’s and crossed the road.

“I, uh, I really need to get better shoes,” Rob said.

“Well, probably,” I agreed. “Not that I mind and all, but just in case I’m not close enough to catch you.”

“Well, yes.” He kept his arm linked with mine as we began walking down Main Street, and damn, it felt nice. “I can’t expect you to save me all the time.”

“Maybe I can speak to Doug about the salt maintenance. He’s buddies with the mayor, and it’s a city ordinance issue. We usually get stuck with proper clean-up disposal of incorrect salting. People mean well but it’s really bad for the river and the soil, especially with all the national parks around here.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “I don’t mean to be a bother. I’ll just get some proper footwear and adapt to the conditions. And learn to walk like a functioning adult.”

I snorted. “Didn’t you spend your childhood winters skating or skiing?”

“You mean venturing outside? When there were perfectly good books to be read inside by the fire?”

That made me laugh. “Okay. I guess being a doctor and all, you were more the studious type than me.”

“You grew up in Canada. I grew up in Seattle whereit snows much less frequently and with considerably less severity. And,” he said with emphasis, “it snowsoutsidethe house, where I tended to avoid being because of the aforementioned books by the fire.”

I laughed again, and as we made it to our street, I relished walking in comfortable silence with him, his arm linked with mine.

The street was lit by soft streetlights and colorful Christmas lights on houses and fences, and I swear I wasn’t going crazy, but Rob was definitely leaning into me a little.

“I can’t believe this is my life now,” he said. “Look at this place.”

I chuckled. “It’s pretty, huh.”

“And tonight? I think I can say tonight was the best night I’ve had in a long time. I can’t even remember... years. And I hate to sound like I hated my old life, because I didn’t. It was everything I’d worked so hard for, but it simply became my entire life. I slept at the hospital more than I slept at home, and it was fine because that’s what it took to be the best in my field, and in the beginning, I loved it.” He sighed. “Until I didn’t love it anymore.”

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