Page 19 of A Man for the Holidays

“Paige?” I call.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t move.” I say.

“What?”

“Just close your eyes.”

“Why?” she asks.

“Just do it.” I order.

I slowly and quietly make my way toward the couch and pull the lid off one of the boxes. There’s a large silver star, coated in glitter inside, and I carefully take it out of the box. I place it on the floor next to the tree as I hear Paige call from the foyer.

“What’s going on?”

“Keep your eyes closed, Paige,” Quinn tells her.

When I’m finally ready, I head out to the foyer and grab a hold of Paige’s hand, then slowly walk her into the living room and we stop beside Quinn, only several inches away from the tree.

“Are you two going to tell me what is going on?”

“Okay. On the count of three. One…” I say.

“Two…” Quinn adds.

“Three…” we say in unison as Paige opens her eyes.

“Wow!” she gasps, looking at the tree.

“Surprise!” Quinn says.

She takes a step toward the tree and carefully fiddles with all the ornaments hanging from branches. She then takes a look at me before shifting her eyes to Quinn, and then I notice her eyes focus on the floor where the star is resting. She kneels, then picks up the star and looks at the two of us.

“It’s tradition for you to put the star on the tree every year, Paige,” I tell her.

She gives me a warm smile and then turns to face Quinn. “I think Quinn should do the honors this year.”

Paige holds the star in her outstretched hand, for Quinn to take it, then she looks at me and I feel my eyes well up as I say, “Thank you.”

Quinn reaches out and carefully takes the star from her hand, then turns around to face the tree and raises his hand. He positions himself against the tree and places the star on top, then smiles as he turns back to face us. I go to the kitchen and pour another glass, returning to the living room I hand Paige her eggnog. The three of us stand together and I look at Paige just as I’m about to take a sip of my eggnog when she says, “A toast?”

I lower the glass, then look at the two of them before focusing my attention on Quinn as Paige says, “To a wonderful tree.”

She then looks at me and I raise my eyes at Quinn and say, “To a beautiful Christmas wish.”

His cheeks blush as he gives me a smile. Then when Paige and I both turn our attention to him, he stares at the two of us for several seconds before finally saying, “To a Christmas miracle we’ll never forget.”

The three of us clink our glasses in a toast and drink our eggnog. My eyes flick from Paige, to Quinn, then back to Paige again as movement beside the fireplace catches my attention out of the corner of my eye. I spin around to see the tree slipping from its base and I drop the glass of eggnog to the floor as I reach out to catch the tree to stop it toppling over. As I do, Paige drops her glass and assists me by trying to help balance some of the weight, but I feel the tree slipping from my fingers.

“Quinn, quick, give me a hand,” I say.

He comes toward me, then raises his hands, catching the star, just as it falls from the tree. The three of us carefully stand the tree up straight again, and I keep a firm hold of it with Quinn, while Paige adjusts the base, making it as secure as she possibly can. When we’re positive the tree is safe and stable, we carefully step back and move away. I carefully pick up the pieces of broken glass off the floor, walk to the kitchen, depositing them in the trash. Grab a dish cloth and clean the floor of our eggnog disaster. Once back in the kitchen I then turn around and press my ass against the kitchen counter, as I stare out at Quinn in the living room. He carefully stretches his body, and stands on his tiptoes, then places the star back on top of the tree before slowly moving away. He kneels and inspects the base under the tree, and I hear Paige say something beside me.

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Huh? Of course, I like him. Why wouldn’t I? I mean, he’s perfect, isn’t he?”

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