Page 50 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
“Dear God, you both look like you haven’t slept all night,” I said, handing my tray of food to my husband.
“You don’t say?” Jim said, forcing a smile on his face.
I couldn’t help but laugh, seeing my brother-in-law in this shape. His hair was a disaster, and Spencer’s was, too.
“Okay, well, do you guys need to shower?” I asked, unsure why they were in our room.
“Fuck!” Spencer said while Jim’s eyes darkened and narrowed at his brother. “I forgot I haven’t even taken a shower yet.”
“There’s no time for that,” Jake said, waving them off, his eyes set on punishing these two men.
“Stop telling us what there is or isn’t time for,” Jim snapped. “I’m getting in the fucking shower and brushing my teeth. I’m just here to ensure you weren’t trying to get laid while we were bringing in the last of the wood.”
“Awesome,” Jake said. “Now that’s taken care of, we need to?—”
“Jake,” I said, interrupting him from treating Jim and Spencer like they were working on a chain gang. “Let them go freshen up.”
Jim and Spencer smiled with their usual cockiness to Jake, igniting Jake’s pettiness even more.
“There you have it. You don’t want to upset your wife over the holidays by not listening to her, right?” Spencer asked.
“Of course I don’t, and that’s why you two need to help me and Collin harness the horses to the sleighs that the women will ride into town today.”
Jim and Spencer’s expressions of victory instantly faded when I gasped excitedly.
“That’s right, baby,” Jake said, walking over to me with a victorious expression. “Dress warm because I had two sleighs delivered this morning, and the horses to pull them should be here momentarily. I thought it would be thrilling for our wives to be pulled into town by sleigh since we’re all in the North Pole spirit.”
“The kids are going to lose their minds,” I said. “I mean, wow.”
“Wow is right,” Jim said, his eyes laser focused on his little brother.
Jake snapped his fingers, “Chop, chop, Gentlemen. We have wives to indulge in Christmas cheers and fantasies.”
Before I could say anything more, Jake led Jim and Spencer from the room to harness horses to the sleighs he’d rented. I had no idea how Jake and Collin had pulled this out of their hats so fast—to Jim and Spencer’s extreme displeasure—but they had, and it was as comical now as it was entertaining. God only knew what else they’d planned, but if it stayed in the vein of elaborate Christmas traditions like horse and sleigh rides, we were guaranteed to have the most epic Christmas of all time.
CHAPTER 27
Jake
All right, all right. I let off the gas a little on my brother and hispartner in crime,Spencer. Collin and I gave them enough time to freshen up and prepare for the newest round of Christmas madness—theLive Nativity scene, starring all of us.
“Where are the kids?” Avery asked us, even though we men weren’t supposed to speak about anything unrelated to the Nativity.
I glanced at her where she stood in observance, bundled warmly in layers of scarves and a big, puffy coat.
“The Christ-child which you seek has been born,” Collin declared as if he’d memorized the Nativity script for a play.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” my lovely and adorable wife said as she stood next to Avery and took in the visual of us dressed as the Three Wise Men and shepherds. “Where’s Mary and the baby, though?” Ash questioned, looking around.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t thought this part entirely through when planning to torture my brother by making him part of alive Nativity set. When Jim asked why we didn’t have Mary or a baby in the manger, I couldn’t understand his smug look when I said it would be fine without them. I knew I was doing this for all the wrong reasons, but I was banking on it turning out right in the end.
Regrettably, it seemed like the first visitors to our scene had noticed the plot hole I’d hoped would be overlooked, but what was I supposed to do, pull one of our wives up here to stand quietly as Mary and then recruit a baby? Inthisweather? I’d take my chances on screwing up the Nativity story over screwing with the wives.
Rules to follow, remember?
“Away in a manger…” Collin and I began responding in song.
That was another rule. If anyone questioned our Nativity story, our responses could only be returned by singing Christmas carols.
