Page 69 of Stella's Christmas Rescue
She settles back into me, and as she begins to drift off, says, “But you get an ‘A’ for being willing to do it so soon.”
“You’re an easy grader.”
EPILOGUE
One Year Later
Waking up in Jordan’s arms is the best way to start the day. I kept him up late last night and his shift doesn’t start until eleven, so I decide he should get to sleep in for the holiday. Max and Sugar stir when I get out of bed, and they follow me downstairs. Jordan’s house is a lot like Hanson’s. Two-stories, with one wide open living space for the first floor. But unlike Hanson’s the upstairs has three bedrooms.
I asked him once why he had so many bedrooms. He said the house was a good deal, and he didn’t care how many bedrooms it had, because the land was fertile. The first time I visited was last winter, so I didn’t really see it. But come spring, it was obvious.We had plenty of everything, to the point we were giving away morels and asparagus.
I make coffee for the morning and think about the day’s work. We decided to host Christmas Eve dinner for everyone who helped us survive Christmas Eve last year. Thankfully, Jordan’s house is also larger on the first floor. A couple of rented tables and chairs and too many decorations later, the first floor was set as of last night.
Jordan’s house. It’s still hard to think of it as our house. Outside of the new and temporary Christmas décor, every bit of the place is Jordan, from the roughhewn flooring to the dark walls. I was able to get rid of his god awful black leather furniture, but changing a man’s home takes time.
And time is running out.
I make a cup of peppermint to settle my stomach and start to work breakfast. “Hey, Sugar, how about some toast?”
She wags her tail, which gets Max excited, too. He bounces into a play stance, and before I know it, they’re chasing each other around the house. I hope they don’t wake my husband.
My husband. The words make me happy down to my bones. I happily sigh and make toast, while I go over all the details for the day. It’s important to have the timing down for the different foods, and we’ve already done as much pre-cooking as we could, so at least the desserts and appetizers are ready. I forgot how unbelievably stress-reducing it is to be able to plan things, and these days, I actually can plan things.
“Hey,” a sexy voice says behind me.
I turn around and smile. “Good morning, Husband.”
“Good morning, Wife.” he kisses me, then pours some coffee. “Is there butter, or did we use it all up in the pie crust?”
“Of course, there’s butter. But what for?”
“My toast.”
“What, no avocado for you?” I tease him.
“Blech, I still don’t know what’s up with your generation and avocados.”
I giggle, “Okay, Grampa.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He has been kind enough to have a box of avocados shipped to us every week since he found out that I love them. Once his toast is ready, he sits down and asks, “How’d you sleep?”
“Like a rock. You?”
“Same here. Except when Max and Sugar started twitching in their sleep. I swear they were chasing each other in their dreams.”
“Sounds like them,” I nod and laugh. “I’ve made a list for when you go into town today, just a couple more things.”
“For whenIgo?”
“I thought you were going to work today.”
His head tips back and he grunts. “Oh, right. I volunteered. I’m an idiot.”
“Don’t talk about my husband like that.”
“Well, I should have pawned the shift onto David. I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. I can handle the cooking. We did most of it yesterday, anyway. Besides, you had to let Michael have today off. It’s a big day for him.”
