Page 40 of Second Down Scrooge

“Yeah, Kelly's moving in with me and…” I trail off, not sure how to end that sentence in a way that doesn’t get too deep. But then I realize that Asher and I have started to build a friendship, and if you can’t talk about this shit with your friends, then who can you talk to about it?

“And?” he prompts.

I blurt it out. “And I think I'm tired of wasting time. I know what I want, and I see glimpses of it when we're together.”

“Then make it official,” he says. He pushes to a stand. “What do you have to lose?”

Maybe he's got a point. We've wasted so goddamn much time, and I’m at the point where I don't want to waste another second.

But we have plans today, and she's leaving tomorrow. It's not like I can lock this thing up in the next couple hours, but I'll have a little bit of time while she's gone to make things happen.

I tilt my head before I finally answer. “I think you might be right. And no. It doesn't get easier. It seems like with every new stage we stumble on, something that was hard before gets easier, but then a new challenge pops up.”

“Feels like nobody tells you about those sorts of joys of parenthood, am I right?”

I chuckle as I shake my head. “No, nobody tells you.”

“Well, I better be on my way before I’m late getting home, but it was nice talking to you.”

He grabs his bag, and I hear the sincerity in his voice over something that should be so simple but never come easy between the two of us.

He heads out, and I head toward the weight room. Adrian is here, and he guides me through my workouts. Before I know it, I'm on my way back to Kelly's place, and I’m ready to execute some holiday fun.

She is wearing a knit sweater with a gingerbread man on the front, and Mia is wearing a matching one, both of my girls in jeans. What is it about jeans that makes babies look so adorable and grown-ass women look so bangable?

“Nobody told me it was matching sweater day,” I say as I walk in and plant a kiss on Kelly’s cheek first and then one on Mia’s.

Kelly grins at me as she turns and walks into the house. She grabs a sweater and tosses it over to me. I hold it up for inspection, and it's the same gingerbread man.

I laugh. “You actually expect me to wear this?”

“You told me you had a holiday adventure for us today, so...” She trails off at the end, but her point is clear. Yes, indeed, she expects me to wear it.

I peel off the long sleeve tee I wore over here, and I don’t miss as Kelly’s heated gaze falls to my abdomen. I shoot her a wink as I pull the sweater on, and Kelly grabs her phone and takes a selfie of the three of us.

She props her phone up and sets the timer at three seconds so we can take a family photo, and I realize it's the first one of its kind.

It’s not just me wearing an ugly sweater that matches hers and Mia’s, but this is our first actual holiday picture together as a family. I think it might be our first family photoperiod, and that thought fills my chest with a joy I wasn’t expecting.

She sets the timer to take another, and another, and another. In one of them, I lean in and press my lips to her cheek.

“Hey, send me a copy of those, would you?” I ask.

She taps a few buttons on her phone, inspecting each photo and doing some light editing before she texts four of them to me.

“Are you ready for our holiday adventure?” I ask.

She nods, and we head out to my Escalade. I strap Mia in the back, and when I fire up the engine, Kelly grins at me. “The Christmas station?” she asks, nodding toward the radio.

“Just for you.”

She reaches over and squeezes my hand, and it’s all because of her and our little girl that I feel a little less grinchy than usual.

I pull into the tree lot, and Kelly glances over at me.

“I figured you’d want to replace the one in your family room, and while we’re here, I was thinking we could pick one out for my place, too.”

She raises her brows in surprise. “Two trees? I thought you didn’t really celebrate.”

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