Page 46 of Season of Gifts

Charlotte settled upright again, shaking off Kevin’s hug, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes expectant.“I mean the business, the marriage, a new house—those are such big steps for you, Jay.I’m sure we’ll all miss you at Christmas, but of course you and Alice will be wanting to start your own traditions.Kevin and I talked about that after Evan was born, you know, but ultimately we decided family was more important.You and Alice will find what suits you, though, and that’s just how it will be.”

The sweets turned sour in his stomach.“And Henry.”

“Hmm?”

She could’ve been completely innocent.Nothing in her face saidHenry isn’t welcome here.But sweat hit him, all fever-chilly, and his heart ka-thumped like he’d skidded to a stop right before sailing off a cliff.

“Me and Alice and Henry.We’re starting our own traditions, the three of us.”He pinned a teeth-together smile to his face.Maybe he’d made a mistake.Everyone had been nice at the farm, too, when it was just him and Alice.Him and his normal girlfriend in a normal relationship the way a normal family would like.“We put up the tree at the beginning of the month, and we went to see the lights—”

Which had been just him and Alice, shit, and what if Henry had left so fast yesterday because Jay taking Alice to lunch with Kevin’s family made him feel unwelcome.Angry.Like Jay had broken their marriage vows.“And we’ve—” His voice shook.He tensed his legs, pushing his feet into the carpet, hunting for the calming grounding stuff Danny said was supposed to help.“We’ve been making treats in the kitchen, trying to give every day a taste of Christmas.”

“Oh, of course.How sweet.”Charlotte spun toward Kev and clung to his arm.“I’ve been trying to get this one to string the lights up outside—it’s so festive—but he keeps putting it off.And now Christmas is nearly on top of us.You could get the job done faster with Jay’s help, couldn’t you, honey?”

Kevin pressed his lips thin, his face tight and stretched.“I said I’d get to it, and I will.Jay’s here to visit with us, not play handyman.”

“Of course not, but—”

Alice slipped back into the room, and Jay shot to his feet.“Everything okay?Should we go?”

“Oh, it’s—” She stopped stroking the edge of her phone and looked at him, really looked, the whole walk over, gears spinning in her eyes.A big sigh gusted out of her, and her shoulders drooped.Wrapping her arm around him, she turned to Kevin.“Would it be too much trouble?I know it’s a little earlier than we’d planned, but”—she rattled the phone—“duty calls.Nobody respects the weekend.”

“Not at all.”Kevin bounced up, leaving Charlotte the only one still sitting.“Let’s get coats, bathroom breaks—” Glancing from Jay to Alice, he shook his head.“Sorry, so used to getting the kids ready to leave.Do what you need, and I’ll get the car warmed up.”

Jay handed Alice into the passenger seat this time, so he could sit behind her and see her hair and sometimes her cheek when she talked to Kevin.And so he could bounce his knees without anyone asking what was making him anxious or telling him to stop fidgeting.The call had upset Alice, even if she’d hidden it well.If not Henry, then Ollie.But she would’ve texted, probably, not called.A callaboutOllie but notfromOllie would be scary as hell.The work thing was just a cover, and he loved her so much for reading his cues and getting them out-out-out before his panic got real panicky.And now he’d stuck her in the front seat with Kevin, who was planting his flag on the work hill.

“—went into finance, for the banker’s hours.”Kevin chuckled over the Christmas music on the radio.“Nobody told me twenty years later I’d have to keep up with overseas exchanges on their schedule, too.”

“It’s like that sometimes,” Alice agreed, as they pulled up to the station.“You think you’ve signed on for one thing, and then the extra jobs come crawling out of the woodwork.Everybody asking for just a little help until all you’re doing is handling other people’s problems for them.”

Kevin smoothed his palm along the curve of the steering wheel.“Yeah.Yeah, that’s—” With the car in park, he twisted and thrust his arm through the gap between the seats.Jay shoved his own forward, and Kevin clasped his forearm.“I’m sorry about Char, Jay.I’m working on it, I swear.And it really was great to have you over.”

His eyes, deep and dark, didn’t lie.

“We’ll do it again.”He shook on it, a pact, before they finished their goodbyes and he and Alice waved from the curb as Kev pulled away.

“So who was—”

“What did his wife say to you?”Alice brushed his coat all over like he’d been hanging in a closet and needed dusting, her hands brisk and sometimes squeezy.“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.Promise.”He captured her hands over his heart and held them there, tucked under his.“She…” Wispy clouds floated past the trees around the parking lot.It’s my fault Henry rushed out the door yesterdaywould be too much, maybe not true.“I got queasy.She kinda acted like Henry didn’t exist until I reminded her.And then she and Kevin got…” Not in a fight, not really.“Reeeally polite with each other like people do when they’re mad.”

Alice curled her fingers around his, stepped closer, and kissed the backs of his hands.“Okay.Thank you for letting me know you wanted to get out of there.I don’t ever want to put you in a situation where you’re not comfortable.”

“I know.”He’d meant to be reassuring, but her eyes started watering, and she swallowed hard, staring down at their hands.“Alice?Areyouokay?Who was on the phone?Was it about Ollie?”

“What?No—oh, sweetheart, no, I’m sorry, I should’ve figured you’d be wondering.No, it really was work.”She tucked in closer, pressing their hands between them, even though the day was in the forties and the air calm, no chilly wind.“It’s just—I…”

“Layoffs?”They’d be idiots to can her, but companies did stupid shit all the time, and they never seemed to care about the timing.Or that Alice had her sister depending on her, and asking Henry to cover those expenses would make her embarrassed or ashamed or something.She got prickly about money.“They aren’t making you tell your team tomorrow, are they?”

“No.”She kissed his throat, right at the bottom where the bones came together and the skin was soft and ticklish.Her lips gave him a shiver.

“Jay, I have to leave in the morning.”She tipped her head back, making tiny sidewinder curves with her mouth.“For a work trip.I don’t know how many days.”

First Henry, now Alice.Her leaving probably wasn’t a punishment from on high for missing Henry’s visit yesterday and letting Kevin’s wife pretend he didn’t exist today.But an uncomfortably loud voice in his head insisted it was.His chest hollowed out, a gaping void deep enough to swallow every dream he had left for the year.

Potholes.

Chapter twenty-five

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