Page 36 of Deck the Fire Halls

Colson’s grin widened. “You can say what you like, Soren, but you got it bad. And maybe, just maybe—” He pointed with his eyes. “—you’re not the only one.”

Before I could turn or sneak a peek, Clay cleared his throat. “Oh, Rob,” he said loud enough to make everyone stop. “Sorry to interrupt. I got that Christmas tree for you. Can drop it around tomorrow afternoon if that suits you?”

Rob’s gaze went from Clay’s to mine, back to Clay’s. “Uh, sure. That’d be great, thanks.”

Gunter patted Rob’s arm. “Though he should probably have some help decorating it, because he helped medecorate the center today, which I am most grateful for, but...”

Rob put his hand to his chest. “I told you I was terrible at it.”

Gunter laughed and gave him a playful nudge. “I’m just kidding. It was fine.”

“It was terrible,” Rob said with a laugh. “No need to call it anything other than what it was.”

“No, it was fine,” Gunter said again, but he leaned back in his chair and shook his head. Then he looked directly at me. “But someone could help.”

Then every pair of eyes turned to me, each and every one of them throwing me under the bus. Rob’s cheeks went red, and before he could say no, I said, “Sure. Only too happy to help. Actually, I already said I would.”

“Oh, you already asked?” Hamish asked Rob. “And here I was thinking we’d need to work a covert operation likeAvengers Assembleor something.”

Rob’s cheeks were a darker shade of red. “Uh, I, uh...”

“Thanks, guys,” I said flatly. “Thanks for not making it awkward or anything.”

Clay laughed and clinked his beer bottle to mine. “No worries.”

I dared to look over at Rob then, and when his eyes met mine, he shook his head and laughed.

It was hard to be mad at them when they all looked at me with such kindness. It was a fond humor, and maybe they knew I was interested in Rob and were trying to give us a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Or maybe they knew I was desperate to not be aloneanymore and wanted nothing more in the whole world than someone to share my life with.

I wanted someone to hang out with, to cook with, to cuddle on the couch with. Sure, intimacy and sex would be awesome, but honestly, the intimacy of doing everyday things together, of sharing my life with someone, that was what I wanted.

Could I have that with Rob? Could I see myself laughing in his kitchen or snuggled up on his couch watching something funny on TV?

I was thinking I’d like to find out.

Considering I’d known him a matter of days, and the fact he’d moved here after burning himself out, it really wasn’t my decision to make.

I’d have to leave it up to him.

“You okay?” Colson murmured, knocking his knee to mine. “Zoned out there.”

I blinked myself back to the present. The conversation at the table had moved on, and thankfully no one was paying any attention to me.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Just thinking about some... thing.”

He nodded slowly. “Mm-hm.”

“I should, ah... I should get going,” I said, grabbing my coat from the back of my chair.

“Are you good?” he pressed.

“Yeah, of course,” I said. I clearly wasn’t good, and although tonight had been great, I needed some fresh air.

“I’ll come by the station this week sometime,” Colson added.

I stood up and clapped his shoulder. “Sounds good.”

---