Page 31 of Season of Gifts

“Both on your phones.”Bonnie tsked them, laughing, as she stopped beside their table.“You’ll give the boss ideas about switching to phone ordering, and then where will I be?”

“Retired and on the beach, with your feet up and people bringingyoulunch for once.”Jay winked at her, charm smile in full blaze.If his presence could make one person’s day brighter, he wasn’t gonna waste the chance.

“Oh, honey, if only.”She pressed a finger to her lips and lifted it toward the ceiling.“Just send that wish straight to heaven.Now, what can I getcha today?”

He let Alice rattle off her choices first, then switched his sandwich pick to a grilled cheese but with bacon, because hers sounded yummier than his BLT plan.Bonnie hustled off to put in their order.Their sisters were waiting for answers, and he had zero ideas.Lead with Henry’s mom being fine, except they didn’t know that, not for sure.Something could’ve happened overnight, and Henry hadn’t called yet today.

Alice stroked her thumb across his wrist, a little ticklish but soothing, the way he sometimes rubbed the rocks he collected.“Thank you for coming all the way out here.I’m sorry it’s an extra trip now just to see me.”Lip twitching, she ducked her head.“We could talk about not meeting—”

“I want us to keep meeting for lunch.”Panicky, he did sound that, but Danny would cheer for him spitting out his feelings right up front.Better than waiting to be told how he felt.“I don’t want our tradition to change.”

One more change this week would send him hurtling downslope, off track and out of control.

“No, no, sweetheart—” She shoved her phone aside and reached for his other hand, so they guarded the borders of their table with outstretched arms and knuckle-whitening grips on each other.“I should’ve phrased that better.Henry would’ve—” Eyes squinched, she shook her head.“Doesn’t matter.I was just going to ask if you wanted someplace else that’s closer to you, or maybe a different day when you have a run that brings you this way.That’s all.You’re never getting out of lunch with me, not ever.”Her light tap against his wedding ring rippled through him.“I own you.And you own me.”Glancing around, she leaned in and whispered, “And Henry owns us both.”

He nodded so firmly he almost wrenched his neck.“No matter where he is.”

He’d gone two weeks without Henry at holidays before, and this was only two days so far.But Henry’s mom hadn’t been sick then.And Henry needed him.Didn’t he?Serving a master who didn’t need him or want anything from him would be…Empty.The word rattled in his head, and he tried to shudder it out down his spine.

Alice studied him.She didn’t have Henry’s neutral face; when her gears turned, her eyes narrowed, and her lips shifted, and she somehow looked both far away and inside herself at the same time.“I’m sorry your routines are all out of alignment.I hope this”—she swirled his wedding band around his finger—“is a good reminder that Henry being out of town is only temporary, and that you have people who love you.Like me.”

The tiny quiver in her voice, and the smile that darted away before her teeth showed—fuck.Her uncertainty flattened him.Focusing so hard on what he wanted, what he figured Henry needed, he’d ditched any thoughts about what Alice needed from him.He had a dominant right here in front of him who needed his support and service.

“Well.”He finger-walked up her forearm, nudging her shirtsleeve up, his nerves tingling against the soft skin of her inner arm.“We did go on a date last night, and I did let you kiss me under the lights.”Henry had sketched the mama duck and ducklings from the park with winter scarves and hats for the card directing them to the light show.“And there was all that naked spooning for hours.”Without Henry, they’d rolled into the center of the bed.Jay had buried his face in Alice’s hair and wrapped his arms so one of her breasts sat protected in his palm all night.“I think your love message is coming through loud and clear.”

Her smile came out, finally, and her shoulders settled as she sighed.“In that case…”

“Yes?”He left offMistressin public, but his tone implied it.

She leaned back in her seat and sipped her tea.Blinking slowly, like a pleased barn cat, she eye-fucked him across the table.“I guess we’ll be doing the same thing tonight.”

Walking through the city’s holiday lights?He eased his knees farther apart under the table.“But the card says it’s a Christmas movie night.”

“Exactly.It’s a date.Following the path Henry laid out for us.You’ll choose a movie to share, and so will I.”Sliding free of his teasing fingers, she wrapped her hand over him and stroked his forearm.“Obviously we don’t know what outfits he intended, but we can improvise.A pajama party.”

He lowered his voice.“But I don’t wear pajamas.”

“Rules are rules.”Her smile shifted to one side; her eyes darkened.“You gotta wear whatever you sleep in.”

Alice’s flirty face raised the thermostat in the diner.Even better, she didn’t sleep in pajamas either.

He would stay home and take care of the dominant he had, unless the other specifically told him to do otherwise.That would be serving both of them.“I will if you will.”

“Of course.”She squeezed his hand tight, her gaze a promise.“The rules apply to both of us.”

“Then I’m in.”

The anxious push to head north quieted.They’d hit a lousy stretch of road, but nothing fundamental had changed.The rules still existed.He could still follow them, still trust in them.Alice was here to enforce them.

Chapter seventeen

Henry

TofulfillMother’srequestfor an amusement both lighthearted and meaningful, Henry brought a small selection of fiction from the home library.For most of the day, he read aloud, slipping out briefly during one of her naps for much-needed throat lozenges to calm the scratchy burr developing from overuse.

The private room was pleasant enough, and her oxygen mask had been replaced by nasal tubing that simplified conversation, though he kept their discourse short.Chatting was one of the many mild activities that unreasonably robbed her of breath; extended exchanges necessitated she rest her eyes—during which time he read aloud until her body relaxed into healing sleep.

Her half-eaten dinner waited on the rolling bedside tray for removal.An improvement over yesterday, and yet.Mother dearly needed the nutritional building blocks represented in those calories.Tucking his finger between the pages, he paused the antics of Iris Murdoch’s debut novel.“You’re certain you couldn’t manage another bite or two?A healthy appetite is one of the signs your care team is assessing.”

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