Page 12 of Wrecked for the Holidays

“Papa, you wanna feed the reindeer?”

“I’m good, love. I’ll keep holding the food for you.”

Jakob made sure he shared some food with every single reindeer in the pen, along with a picture of each. He thanked them individually for letting him visit today.

Jakob might be the tiniest bit of a brat, but he was also a sweet boy who didn’t want any creature feeling left out. I imagined that had something to do with the exclusion his parents had forced upon him, but I wasn’t willing to spoil the day with quite that much introspection. Sometimes, good days just needed to stay good days.

Chapter 7

Jakob

Operation Get a Papa For Christmas was going better than expected. We’d spent a wonderful morning in Tannenberg picking out the perfect tree—gorgeous and round and lovely—feeding the reindeer, and taking so many selfies. I put one of them as the screensaver on my phone. We hadn’t known each other long, but we were so cute and happy-looking together that it seemed wrong to bury it in my photo files.

That first kiss was the bestest, most romantic, hottest kiss I’d ever had. Technically, it was the only kiss I’d had, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t know it was spectacular. ’Cause it was. If those teenagers hadn’t started hooting and hollering at us from a distance, we could have continued it.

Reed was sweet and protective when he ensured my hand wasn’t injured further. A few over-the-counter Tylenol this morning had taken care of my hand, but he’d insisted I keep it against my chest to avoid it being jostled, and he’d carried the feed for me. The sign of a perfect Papa.

After we left the tree farm, Papa gave me the job of finding a restaurant for lunch. Since the town had an old-world German feel, I picked a place with the same vibes. My goulash soup and his pretzel were delicious, and then we shared an equally yummy wurst platter. Papa laughed at my sausage jokes like a good Papa, even though they were kind of dumb. My hot chocolate with a peppermint stick straw piled high with fresh whipped cream and chocolate shavings was the bestest part. It had been the most perfect day so far, and I still had a few more hours before I returned to the real world of adulting.

“Do we have to head back right after lunch?” I wasn’t ready for today to be over. Reed looked concerned and didn’t answer right away. “I promise that I feel fine. The meds work great, and I’m not sore or anything. I’m having a nice time, and I’m not ready for it to end.”

“I’m not ready either, love. My mom gave me some decorations when I bought my place, but we should find a few new ones too. Let’s walk through town and see if we can find anything in a store.” With that, Papa signaled for the server to bring our bill.

“Jakob, what are you doing?” Papa’s voice was stern, but I wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong. All I’d done was get my wallet out so I could pay the bill. I was bewildered.

“I’m getting my wallet. You paid for the Christmas tree and the reindeer visit. I should buy lunch. That’s fair.” Papa’s eyes narrowed and he gave an abrupt shake of his head.

“Absolutely not. Put your wallet away.” Reed didn’t say anything else until my wallet disappeared into my pocket. “Silly boy thinking he’s buying his Papa’s lunch.”

Reed put some cash on the bill holder tray and I slouched back in my chair with the tiniest bit of a pout. On the inside, fireworks exploded in my belly. Reed called himself my Papa and I wasn’t going to let him take it back. Still, I had to at least pretend to care about who bought lunch. All my romance novels made it out to be essential.

“I wanted to buy you lunch.”

“You can make it up to me by going on a walk with me.” I rolled my eyes at that piece of ridiculousness but smiled so he knew I wasn’t really mad. “C’mon, love, let’s hit the streets.”

With that, he pulled out my chair, and we went to find some new ornaments. The first place we stopped only had cheap plastic toys without any glitter to make them fun, so we passed on them. But the next store was full of hand-carved everything from wooden wreaths to nutcrackers. There were so many to choose from that I narrowed my choices down to three so I could try to eliminate some.

“Reed, what do you think? Which one should I get?” This was a serious decision. It was my first Christmas ornament, and I didn’t want to pick the wrong one. “I can’t decide.”

“What are our options?” Reed asked as he looked over my shoulder.

“The nutcracker is option one, the Christmas tree is two, and the bells are three.Which do you like best?”

I chewed on my lip while I considered it. Papa placed his hands on my shoulders and peered at the options before us.

“Love, there’s no way I could pick one. We’re getting all three.”

Reed reached around me to scoop them off the counter and take them to the register. I wanted to protest and tell him he shouldn’t buy me things, that I should be the one buying them, but I was too happy to put up a protest. Maybe Papa hadn’t decided to keep me the way I’d already decided I was keeping him, but even I could tell he was into me. That was pretty damn cool.

#

“Papa, do you think we can decorate it tonight?” We’d—mostly him—dragged the tree into the family room and set it up in front of the picture window. “It looks kinda sad without any decorations.”

We were sitting on the couch, side by side, admiring how great it looked. It was a magnificent choice if I do say so myself. The remains of our drive-thru dinner were scattered on the coffee table.

“That’s going to take some time, and you still have to go to bed at a decent hour so you can go to work tomorrow.”

“Ugh. I don’t wanna go.”

---