Page 49 of Season of Gifts

“The career boost, obviously.”He kept pace with her toward the door, not offering to roll one of the bags.“They didn’t have to let you take point on this.Better make it count, temp lead.”

If she ground her jaw any harder, she’d crack a tooth.“You asked for me?”

“Recognized your name when ol’ Wade there said you were tem-po-rar-ily—”

The singsong and the smirk were making it awfully hard not to kick him in the nuts.

“—heading up the team that fucked up the design.Your bosses offered to send out a real lead, but I said I was sure you could handle fixing it.So”—he spread his arms and mock bowed—“you’re welcome.”

Once she kicked him in the nuts, she would follow up with a punch to the jaw.She’d get fired, no question.But then she could march right over to the ticket windows and catch the next flight back.A burning acid in her veins urged her to do it.Fuck the consequences.

She dragged the bags over the grippy mats, through the doorway, and into the cold.Automatic doors made exits so unsatisfying.“Not gonna thank you for that, Adam.My husband is dealing with a family emergency.I’d be better off back at home.”

He jerked his neck down and teetered on the curb when she came to a stop.Curling her hand tighter around the roller handle pinched her ring into the soft skin of her palm.She rode the pain, a tiny fraction of the zing Henry had given her with the clamps.Good for focus.

Adam huffed, shook his head, and spat into the gutter.“So you found somebody you’d sayyesto, huh?”

Two somebodiesblazed like a neon billboard in her head.A dangerous answer with an ex who’d proved himself a petty jackass.“I found the right marriage for me.”

And if either of her spouses would give her an update on their status, she’d be a whole hell of a lot calmer about their odds of keeping it that way.

Chapter twenty-six

Jay

Henry’swarmpromisesfadedinto silence.Jay rubbed his fingers on his napkin and tapped the button to replay the voice message.

My dear boy.

He spooned up another bite of scrambled eggs and oatmeal dinner, the metal clinking against the bowl.

I’m so very sorry to have missed speaking with you and Alice last night, hearing your voices and seeing your faces.

No point in takeout without Alice to share it with, and she’d texted almost an hour ago that she was safe in South Dakota.He’d sent victory ribbons instead of asking if that was weird, being in the same state as her parents.It was one of those western states anyway, probably enormous, and she’d be like six hours from them, so maybe it didn’t feel strange at all.

I regrettably dozed off before our call and came to wake much too late to disturb you.I imagine you slept nestled around each other in our bed, soft and warm, your breath quiet and even.

They had, mostly.Tonight would be the real test.The last time he’d slept alone had been…

He stirred more cheese shreds into the oatmeal.Getting down to the bottom.Maybe another bowl.Some seasoning this time?Henry probably put seasoning in it.More than salt and pepper.

Well, he shouldn’t count September, because he couldn’t say he slept all that well by himself that night on the farm.Not after turning his back on Henry and Alice.Serves you right, then, doesn’t it?

“Shut up.”The voices in his head didn’t actually listen, but growling at them felt better than accepting their words as fact.Danny would tell him to interrogate why he felt that way, to get to the bottom of the thought and see if he could untie it, let it float away.But sometimes thoughts were more like stones dragging behind him than balloons that could just lift off if he let them.

So not September, and not last Christmas, either, because he’d had all the noises of the family around him then.More like… The hotel.Last year and then some.Henry had gotten him the room and assigned him homework and given him their sheets to wrap around himself, because Alice had needed one-on-one attention.One night, and he’d been focused on Henry’s tasks for him the whole time, and then the next day—his dick twitched.Yeah, that had been a good day.No chance of that tonight.

…talk about that later.I love you, Jay.

And now he’d missed the whole middle of Henry’s message.Not that he hadn’t heard it a half-dozen times already.

“No phones at the table, I know.”Henry’s empty seat waited on the far side of the Christmas calendar basket.“But this one’s a stand-in for you, so I think you would make an exception.”

He hit the end of the oatmeal and sagged back in his chair, pooching out his stomach.“Sooo full.”

Alice wasn’t there to laugh, or Henry to order him to stand and display himself, or either of them to stroke him or straddle him or listen about his day.

But he did have an assignment.Scooching up straight, he plucked the card from the table.First clue in tonight’s scavenger hunt.He wouldn’t have Alice’s help, but Henry never made the game tough, just fun.Card in hand, he pushed back the chair.

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