Page 60 of Season of Gifts

Wade gestured a finger behind her.A long mirror on the wall past the dining table showed her, in her red and black, holding Caylin inherred and black—a Christmassy red dress over black leggings and shiny black shoes with gold buckles.

“Oh.Unintentional, yes.”She wasn’t about to touchprettywith a thirty-foot pole.And holy shit were kids heavy.Jay had an advantage with all his athleticism and little nieces and nephews; she had no idea what to do with the forty-pound creature winding fingers in her hair.She shifted her feet so her hip jutted out.No wonder people with kids stood crooked.“That time of the year, I guess.”

“Wade, you’ll appreciate this.”Adam pointed to a large cabinet in the living room, like a dining hutch for company dishes but displaying other stuff at the top.Sports memorabilia, maybe.“Go have a look.”

Wade good-naturedly ambled over to the showcase, beer clasped by the neck in two fingers.

Adam swept up beside Alice.“And I’ll take this one.”He set Caylin down on her feet and let her run loose.“I do make beautiful babies,” he whispered.“Just think, one broken condom, and this could’ve been your life.”

No sip of beer yet meant nothing to retch into the sink.Silver lining.

He had a wife clearly too good for him, two sweet kids, a giant house in the suburbs—and he had to disrespect all of it, and her, to crack some shitty joke?And it had better have been a joke.Guess I dodged a bulletsat on the tip of her tongue, aching to spill out.“You want to repeat that in front of your wife?”

“Relax, Christ.You’re still so sensitive.”Tipping his beer back, Adam took a long swallow.“Now I remember why I ended things.”

“Whyyou…” She clamped her teeth tight.This argument wasn’t fucking worth it.Adam wasn’t worth it.Tomorrow she would damn sure fix the problem and get the hell out of town.“How about we leave the past in the past?”

“A tour of the house, absolutely.”Adam raised his voice as Chelsea returned with Aidan, who’d gotten a tiny button-down shirt and bow tie above his black pants, plus what looked like dinosaur socks.The kid ran past and hurtled himself onto the couch.

“Compromise.It’s a lifesaver.”Chelsea turned down the heat on the stove and stuck her head into the fridge, coming out with a cheese platter.“I think we may have agreed that Santa’s sleigh is pulled by stegasauruses.Stegasauri?”She added a stack of napkins to the counter.“We’re about twenty minutes from dinner, I’d say.Go, explore the house.Adam put in a home office last year so he could stop having so many late nights at work.”

Adam reached for Alice’s elbow, and she moved a step faster.

“Oh, this way?”Being around him was enough of a headache; if he touched her again, she’d be hard-pressed not to deck him.That hadn’t exactly worked out her way with Jay’s sister.A friendly witness would be a lifesaver.“Wade, you won’t want to miss the tour.”

“No, I definitely don’t.”

Wade stuck by her side through the main floor and the walkout basement, Adam the obliging host with a story to tell in every room, from how they’d had the house built to the workshop he’d insisted on at the back of the garage.“Can’t see from the front, but really it’s a four-bay, not a three.Cost extra to deviate from the builder’s plans, but a real engineer needs a workroom.”He ushered them into the office.“And a design center, of course.”

His setup was nice, if a little overkill.Four monitors.Maybe he still gamed online and just told his wife he was working.She complimented the space anyway, pausing as Wade’s phone rang.

He dug out the device.“My wife.One sec.”

Her fingers itched to check her own phone.Out here, it was her only lifeline to Henry and Jay.To normalcy, even if nothing was normal right now.Maybe nothing would be normal again.Sickness did that to a family.But Henry’s mom had heart trouble, not a back injury.She wouldn’t suffer through useless surgeries and get addicted to pain meds and turn every conversation into a fight.

One sec turned into a raised finger and a gesture toward the door.Wade waited for Alice’s nod as he tipped the phone away from his mouth.“Sick kid.Be right back.”

He stepped out toward the basement rec room, the low-toned conversation fading away.

“Well?”Adam rested his hand on his desk, a massive metal beast with industrial-mesh sides.“Pretty swank, right?This place cost me nearly six hundred.Thousand.But I can afford it.”

His one-upmanship bullshit was fucking exhausting.Had his arrogance been charming in college?Maybe she’d been looking for dominance—competent leadership—even then but misunderstood what it was.Something to ask Henry, whenever they had time for long, lazy talks again.In bed on a Sunday morning after a string of orgasms like firecrackers.Wouldn’t that be sweet.

“It’s a nice house, Adam.”Catching up might be a competition for him, but not for her.Knowing her house had cost upward of six million would just make him more determined to best her on some other axis.“You and Chelsea must be really happy here.”

“You could’ve had this life.”Twice tonight he’d dangled that like it was some great enticement.His smug smirk screamedick.“Bet you’re sorry now you said no.”

Not in the slightest.Happier, actually, because he’d turned out to be a douche and a half.

“I think we ended up where we’re supposed to be.”Henry would be so damn proud of her.She hadn’t even threatened to punch her ex, and he full-on deserved it.But they still had to work with his company, and losing the client account wouldn’t win her any points, even if Wade backed her.“Congratulations on your success, Adam.And your fantastic wife and beautiful children.”

Maybe if she kept reminding him, he’d knock off the dick measuring.

“I am a success.”Hips on the desk, he crossed his arms over his chest, his chin raised.“Youngest division leader in the company history.And you, what?”He couldn’t look more down his nose at her if he tried.“Avoiding me all day while I’m trying to help you boost your career.You could show some gratitude, you know.”

“You could show some professionalism.”Well now she’d done it.But he only wanted to snipe at her supposed faults.And she wasn’t anyone’s fucking doormat.“If your goal was to see me groveling and kicking myself because I missed out on the awesomeness of you?It’s not going to happen.So maybe I should leave before anything ugly gets said.”

In the rental car to which Wade had the keys.Dammit.She should’ve faked the start of a cold, said she must’ve caught it on the plane, and ordered dinner from the hotel bar.She could’ve called Jay on video, and they could’ve eaten together.Discussed how to support Henry through the new setback.

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