Page 100 of The Snuggle is Real
Charlie shrugged. “Sometimes. When Mama loses a job.”
“Well, good thing you’ve got your dad. He can help anytime you need it.”
Charlie looked up at me hopefully. “Will you?”
“Of course I will.” I squeezed her shoulder. “You just call anytime you need me, and I’ll come running. Every time, okay, Charlie girl?”
She slipped her scrawny arms around my waist and hugged me tight before running to catch up with Sawyer and Ash.
Vera sent me a concerned look. “Mason mentioned you’re only keeping Charlie over the holidays?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Her mom is in rehab.”
She clucked. “Oh, dear.”
“I’m worried about how she’ll handle everything when she gets out,” I admitted. “She’ll be in recovery, plus she’ll need a new job—probably a new place if she didn’t keep up the rent.”
“And then there’s Charlie,” Vera said softly.
“Yeah. She’s not mine.” The words tasted wrong in my mouth. “I mean, she’s mine in all the ways that matter, but not legally. I’m not her bio dad. Or even her adopted one.”
Vera rubbed my arm. She had such a comforting presence that I missed my mom. We’d been so close once, but that was a distant memory these days. We’d exchange a call on Christmas, and she’d invite me to come visit in the spring—sometimes I even would—but those childhood feelings of family and comfort were never there. They’d died with Nicole.
The closest I’d come to recapturing them were these past few days spent with Mason and Charlie.
“That must be scary,” Vera said. “To care and not have control of the situation.”
I nodded. “I wish…”
“What, sweetie?”
I checked to make sure Charlie wasn’t within earshot. “I wish I could keep her,” I whispered. “Permanently.”
Vera nodded. “You love her. That’s only natural.” She pursed her lips, thinking. “It sounds like LuAnne will have a lot of challenges ahead. Maybe she’d be open to accepting help if you offer?”
“Maybe,” I said.
Considering how she’d reacted to the idea of staying for Christmas, I doubted she’d want to linger in Christmas Falls. But…what other options did I have? For Charlie’s sake, I had to try to convince her.
After we left the tree festival, we popped into the nearby Mistletoe Movies, where Sawyer and Ash picked up a HoliGay productions film that was made right here in Christmas Falls last year, then browsed for a while at the bookstore, where I bumped into Nick once more.
I introduced him to Mason’s family as my brother-in-law, and surprise had flared in his eyes.
“I guess that date wentreallywell,” he murmured when they’d drifted off to browse the bookshelves.
“It did. Thank you.” I hesitated. “I, uh, owe you one.”
“No thanks necessary. I’m glad you’re happy.” He hesitated. “Leo and I are hosting a game day soon. My sister will be bringing her kids. Maybe you’d like to bring Charlie, too?”
I would have shut him down in the past, but that only hurt us both. Nicole would have wanted us to have a relationship.
“Text me the details. I’m not sure when Charlie is leaving, but we’ll try to make it.”
Nick’s smile had come easier as he left, and a weight sloughed off my shoulders. We weren’t exactlycomfortablearound each other, but it was a step in the right direction.
Mason’s family finished up their shopping and we headed to lunch at The Snowflake Shack.
There was an arch out front, with a bunch of mistletoe hanging from it, and trinkets and ornaments threaded through the leaves—a little toy car, a My Little Pony with cherry red hair, a rainbow friendship bracelet, and so many pictures and notes.
