Page 53 of Time to Shine

“Thanks for thinking of that,” Landon said as they placed the purchases in the back of the Jeep. “You basically saved Christmas.”

“I saved your mom from a bathrobe. There’s still the problem of your dad. A hat and gloves are not good enough, buddy.”

“He’s a simple guy,” Landon argued. “But I’ll think of something to add. I hope they’ll be able to take all this home if they fly out here.”

“They totally can. Just pay for another checked bag for them. I’ve got extra suitcases.”

“Maybe I’ll get her a gift certificate to a garden center back home,” Landon said. “I could order one online, right?”

“Totally.” Casey nudged him. “Look at how excited you are.”

Landon was excited. He knew a few premium gardening items weren’t going to make up for years of selfishness, but it was something.

Casey was smiling at him. His cheeks were pink from the cold, and snow swirled around him. He was achingly cute, and Landon wanted him to keep smiling.

“You know what?” Landon said. “I think meeting Dougie Hicks would be a pretty great Christmas present for Dad.”

Casey’s grin grew wider, dimples cutting hard into his rosy cheeks. “I think Dougie Hicks would like to meet, uh...”

“Mike,” Landon said. “Mike and Joanna Stackhouse.”

“Love them already.”

Landon realized he was smiling right back at Casey. Everything he could think of saying in that moment would be too much. Too honest. Things like “This was the best day I’ve had in maybe years” or “I love spending time with you” or “You make me want to be brave.”

Instead, he said, “Let’s go home. I’m starving.”

“Figures. You haven’t eaten in like an hour.”

Chapter Nineteen

“So,” Landon said, “we’ve been invited to spend Christmas with the Hicks family.”

“Oh,” Mom said. “That’s nice. Are you going? We can cancel our plans.”

“No!” Landon said quickly. “I mean all of us are invited. You guys too.”

He was video calling them from his bedroom two days after his shopping trip with Casey. He still wasn’t sure joining the Hicks family for Christmas was the right move, but he needed to at least give his parents the option.

“Invited where?” Dad asked. “Don’t they live in Florida?”

“They rented a cabin near Banff, in the mountains. I guess it’s huge and fancy, so there’s room for us. That’s what Casey said, anyway.”

He saw the change in Dad’s expression, from confusion to excitement. Mom didn’t seem convinced.

“We don’t need to intrude on their Christmas,” she said. She’d always been more like Landon, his dad more like Erin. “But if you want to, we can stay here. It’s all right.”

“I want to spend Christmas with you.” Landon meant it. He hadn’t spent many holidays with them over the past eight years. But for that reason, he would understand if they’d rather not bother flying out to Alberta. It’s not like he deserved it. “If you want,” he added.

“Do you really think the Hickses won’t mind if we join them?” Dad asked.

“If they’re anything like Casey, they definitely won’t mind. Casey loves meeting new people.”

“He sounds very nice,” Mom said.

“He’s great. He’s...been a good friend.”

Landon had been working through a lot of thoughts and feelings about Casey over the past couple of days. When Casey had touched his sleeve, Landon had been overcome with a shocking bolt of lust. It wasn’t something he was used to feeling, and it wasn’t something he wanted to feel about Casey. So he’d been distancing himself from Casey, as much as he possibly could, anyway, which basically amounted to spending a lot of time hiding in the basement. He needed the space to think, and to figure out how he was going to stop crushing on his roommate.

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