Page 156 of A Merry Mountain Christmas

“The ankylosaurus had a beak. See?” he says, pointing to one of the posters. “Did you know that dinosaurs are related to birds?”

“I’d actually heard that,” I say with a smile as I turn to take in his room. He has a full-sized bed covered with a navy quilt. His pillowcases are covered in dinosaurs, and an enormous stuffed ankylosaurus has pride of placement next to his pillows. “Your dinosaur display is very impressive.”

He walks over to the dresser and opens a drawer, pulling out several pairs of underwear. “These are my underwear with dinosaurs. I have more, but Mom does laundry on Sundays, so a lot of them are dirty.”

“I do laundry on Sundays too.”

“I want more dinosaur underwear, but Mom says I’m getting ready to grow soon, so I have to wait until I grow a size.”

“That sounds very practical.” Very Mary.

“I have some dinosaur shirts, but most of them are dirty too.” He puts the underwear back, then opens another drawer and pulls out a shirt with a cartoon T. rex looking up. It says,Look out for asteroids. “I have this one from Aunt Maisie, but it’s a cartoon. Mikey says cartoons are for babies.”

Mikey again, huh? That kid’s definitely on the naughty list.

“Aidan,” Mary says sternly behind me.

“I think cartoons are pretty cool,” I say. “You know, plenty of adults watch cartoons.”

“And so do you,” Mary reminds him. “Dinosaur Trainis a cartoon.”

He shrugs and stuffs the shirt into the drawer.

“I guess it’s okay,” he says. “I do have a lot of dinosaur stuff, but I don’t have any models. The boxes say they’re for ages eight and up.”

“That’s only two more years,” I say.

“But I heard Mikey say he makes dinosaur models with his dad.” His forehead wrinkles with a frown. “He puts them on his dresser.” His gaze slides to the top of his dresser, which is bare except for an ankylosaurus-shaped piggy bank and a matching lamp. “Do you think my dad will help me make a dinosaur model when he comes to see me?”

The hope on his little face hits me deep. I wish I could hunt Glenn down and beat the shit out of him for abandoning his kid.

“Maybewecould make a dinosaur model,” I offer, then glance back at Mary, who is standing in the doorway. “If that’s okay with your mother.” She’s invited me to her house, let me play a game with her son mostly unsupervised (although I know she had to be listening from the other room), and is letting me check out his room. Surely this means she’s changed her mind about me spending time with him.

Her eyes widen slightly. “Uh…yeah. That would be great.”

“Great,” I say, holding her gaze.

“Great,” she says, not looking away.

“You guys said great three times.” Aidan walks past me and slips through the crack between his mother and the doorframe. “That’s too many.”

I grin at Mary. “Noted.”

“Come on, Jace,” Aidan says impatiently.

Mary cringes and starts to say something that I assume will be some sort of apology, but then her head jerks over her shoulder. “Where are you going, Aidan?”

“To your room.”

Her room. The thought of seeing where Mary sleeps heats up my blood.

“Coming,” I call out, and God help me, I hold her gaze as I say it, knowing full well that she’ll remember our conversation only minutes ago.

Her eyes widen in a panicked look.

“Come on, Mary,” I say, my voice low and deep. “Aidan’s giving me the tour.”

She backs up, and I walk past her into the hallway and through the open doorway at the end.

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