Page 36 of My Secret Santa Daddies

I shrug, walking over to the pile of wood to get a roaring fire going.

“That’s fine. Griffin’s taken Jack to the other wing of the house to tuck him in for the night.”

It was Cody who insisted we go and check on her. Griffin didn’t say much on the matter. She liked to pretend our past didn’t exist, that we weren’t all best friends once upon a time. But we still know her, we know a lot about her. And we all knew she’d try to stay at that old house, risking her life before asking for help.

I start a fire in the stone hearth, working quickly to coax the logs into flame.

The fire crackles to life, filling the room with a cheery glow and driving back some of the chill seeping through my bones.

Cody drops down onto the leather couch after handing me a beer. “Man, I don’t know what’s going on with her, but she’s been on edge lately. More than usual.”

“I know.” I blow on the flames, coaxing them higher. “I don’t... I don’t think she’s in a good place right now.”

“Yeah, I gathered as much.”

“She would’ve been an icicle by now if we hadn’t stopped by and grabbed her.”

“What the hell was she was thinking.”

“She wasn’t.”

Cody grunts in agreement, and we lapse into a heavy silence, broken only by the pop of the fire and the howling wind outside.

“You think she’s going to be okay?” Cody asks finally, his voice barely above a whisper.

I glance at him, at the worry etched into his features, and I wish I had an answer, any answer that would make this easier. Instead, I shrug helplessly. “I don’t know, man. But she’s not alone anymore. That’s gotta count for something right?”

“Oh sure. If only she actually liked any of us.”

Since the day we met in freshman year of college. We all had our own demons to outrun, our own ghosts, but some unspoken understanding had drawn us together, binding us tighter than blood. But after losing Anna, everything had shifted. Maybe we all wanted to forget.

“She likes us. She does. She’s just being Sierra.”

Cody snorts. “Yeah, well, this is a new level even for her.”

That I can’t argue with.

I add another log to the fire, stoking the flames higher. “I’ll talk to her again in the morning. In the meantime, you and I have the rest of those kitchen cabinets to install.”

“Ugh, joy.” Cody groans, but there’s a hint of humor in his voice now. “You know, for a so-called ‘romantic getaway’, this place sure needs a helluva lot of work.”

“Bitch at Griffin, not me.”

“Alright, alright. But when we’re done with this place, I’m so getting hammered.”

“Fair enough,” I say, clinking my bottle against his. “To surviving the apocalypse, both literal and metaphorical.”

“Amen to that, brother.” Cody takes a long sip. “So, you really gave her your room, huh?”

“She needs it more than I do.”

“Sure, but you didn’t have to. We could’ve put her somewhere else.”

“Nah,” I mutter, rolling my shoulders, feeling the dull ache that’s become a constant companion. “The floor’s fine. Better, even. Helps my back.”

Cody snorts, a knowing grin tugging at his lips. “Yeah, ‘cause sleeping on a mattress was just too luxurious for you.”

“It’s no big deal,” I insist, keeping my voice low as I glance toward the end of the hallway. “I’ve slept in worse places. Remember that time in Colorado, when we camped out under that tarp?”

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