Page 72 of Sawyer
God, did he look that bad? “The fresh air will be good for me.”
“You don’t have a coat.” She made a clucking notion with her tongue. “Hang on.”
She disappeared for a moment behind the server station. “Someone forgot this coat last week and still hasn’t claimed it. I figured it was a tourist. You can use it so you won’t freeze.”
Then she proceeded to help him into it and buttoned it up, checking his collar, being very much like the mother he’d accused her of being earlier. Kyle only watched her, a soft smile on his face.
When Madison finished, she gave him a brief hug—another rarity—and propelled him to the door. “If you feel faint, you tell Kyle immediately. Do you hear me? Brooke’s got this elaborate holiday photo she wants to take of everybody, and we do not need you having some bruised eggprotruding from your forehead. Kyle, keep a firm grip on him, okay? Do you need some soup? I could have?—”
“I’m fine, Madison.” Then he leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, because he really was. “Thanks.”
“It’s nothing.” She turned and punched Kyle in the chest. “Well, you have your marching orders. Don’t mess it up. Don’t I have enough to worry about with holiday diners coming in, expecting me to make tonight the most magical Christmas meal of their lives?”
“I’ve got him, Mad,” Kyle said, fighting a smile.
“Then go.” She unlocked the front door and opened it. “I’ll see you both later.”
The door closed quickly after they stepped out. Sawyer was grateful for the coat. The wind had come up and was biting. There were snowflakes in the air again.
“Looks like we’re going to have a white Christmas,” Kyle commented, a bracing hand under Sawyer’s elbow. “Dean’s going on about how it’s the most magical of all the holidays.”
Sawyer knew Dean was right. But it wasn’t because of the snow. It was because of them.
His found family.
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Being out of cinnamon seemed a small bit of nothing after the dramatic events of the past twenty-four hours of Operation Sawyer.
While an inconvenience, the normality of it assured Thea life went on, regardless of the circumstances. When someone used up the cinnamon—she thought she knew who—you got another jar.
Why couldn’t parent-children relationships be so easy? You felt a little down on yourself, they gave you a hug. You came home with a B on a test, they told you that you were still a star.
You tell them you’re getting married to the most wonderful man in the world, they send up a cheer and tell you how happy they are for you.
Her holiday mood dipped as her thoughts took a personal turn, so she swung around and held up the empty bottle. “Excuse me!” she called to the merry group in the kitchen. “Who used the last of the cinnamon? I need it for my icing.”
Dean lifted his hand even though everyone had already swung around to stare at him, confirming she wasn’t the only one who’d identified the culprit. She tried to look stern, but itwas tough since he was wearing an ugly green Christmas sweater with a jolly swan on the front plus reindeer antlers on his head. Her mood immediately lifted.
“I’ve been making hot toddies nonstop, Thea. Sorry!” Dean grinned at Jacqueline. “Good thing Mrs. Claus already visited last night, or I might have gotten coal.”
Mrs. Claus only uttered a classic French sound Thea still hadn’t mastered. “It could still happen,chéri.”
“I have some at the restaurant, Thea,” Madison called after giving Dean a stern look. “Let’s recall our rule of putting something on the grocery list if you use it all.”
“It was Christmas Eve!” The bells on Dean’s sweater tinkled as he threw up his hands. “Plus, we were all worried about Doc, and Kyle put me in charge of making sure he had a drink last night as we opened presents.”
Sawyer had concerned all of them, coming home with Kyle, who had recounted the whole story before Sawyer had sent off that final text to his parents and then blocked them. She’d showered him with pastries while Dean had made everyone hot toddies.
Operation Sawyer was more than a success. It was a motivational story, one that deeply touched her because she was looking for answers to some of the same questions that had plagued Sawyer.
“You get a pass this time,” she told Dean. “Madison, I’ll go to the restaurant. It’s your day off?—”
“Yours too, Thea,” Madison refuted, “even though you made bread and desserts today.”
“Like you weren’t helping Nanine with dinner today,” she countered, taking off her apron as Nanine only watched with an amused expression from her position at the stove. “Be back in a sec. Anything else we need? The stores are all closed, so I need honesty here.”
