I gotta get Ethan to school.
He took my kid to school every day. Every day. Unless he was out on an early morning case, which was rare, it was no fail.
Every day.
Mornings were now our thing, the three of us, but the school run was Merry and Ethan’s thing.
I felt wet hit my cheek.
“Shit,” he muttered, watching the tear fall.
“Stop making me happy,” I whispered.
His eyes came back to mine and his were dancing.
But when he replied, he was whispering too.
“Not gonna happen.”
“You need to be annoying on a more regular basis,” I demanded softly.
His body started shaking and his voice was doing it as well when he stated, “That’s not gonna happen either.”
“Okay, then you need to go because I have a lake house Christmas theme to plan and execute and that’s not gonna happen when you’re standing here being awesome.”
He audibly started laughing, and in the middle of it, he kissed me.
His laughter tasted great on my tongue.
The best.
“Okay, guys,” Ethan shouted. “Are you done with the gooey? ’Cause I been waitin’ in the hall, like, forever. I might not wanna get to school, but I’m cruisin’ toward perfect attendance third year running, which includes not being tardy, and, you take much longer, you’re messin’ with that mojo.”
Merry broke the kiss, and when he did, my tears had subsided.
This was because Merry’s kiss, as ever, was a good one.
It was also because my man and I were standing in his kitchen in his lake house, which would soon be my kitchen in our lake house, and we were staring at each other, laughing at my kid.
And I was finding I had a life that was filled with a lot of that.
Laughter.
So now, for a different reason, I had no room for tears.
*
I stood in Bobbie’s Garden Shoppe in her enormous Christmas section that was renown throughout the Midwest. It was this because it was so huge, she had to dedicate half her shop to it and half her parking lot, seeing as she had massive heavy-duty, heated tents where more of her Christmas crap was displayed.
I was there and had been for forty-five minutes.
But I found what I was looking for.
So there I stood, staring at a Christmas tree, and I was pretty certain I was going to buy the whole damn thing as it was—ornament by ornament, garland by garland—and resurrect it in Merry’s awesome new lake house. It was boho to the max, colorful with lots of berries and crystals and differently sized and shaped ornaments, very cluttered, stuffed full, totally awesome.
There was no other tree in Bobbie’s whole shop like it.
But I’d had a look at a couple of the ornaments, and even with Vi’s discount, to recreate that tree would cost a thousand dollars.
It was perfect for Merry’s pad, so I did not care.
Okay, that wasn’t true. It was perfect for me (I still didn’t care).
What I cared about was something else.
I whipped out my phone, jabbed my finger on the screen, and put it to my ear.
“Hey, babe. What’s shakin’?” Vi asked in greeting.
“Do you think Merry would lose his mind if I bought pink and purple Christmas tree ornaments?”
“How many?”
“A lot.”
“Okay, then, one hundred percent affirmative on him losing his mind.”
“Shit,” I muttered, already kind of knowing that was the answer.
“Say one ornament that you put on the inside of a branch close to the trunk that’s mostly hidden and he can’t see, you might get away with that. But more than that? No go.”
I stared at the tree. “What about canary yellow? And teal?”
“Negatory and negatory.”
“Lace cutout stars?”
Her voice was getting shrill either with hilarity, disbelief, or both when she asked, “Have you met Garrett Merrick?”
“Shit,” I muttered again.
“I thought you guys already decorated.”
“We did. My house. But we decided this morning we’re doin’ Christmas at Merry’s. So I need a whole new tree.”
“Ooo, sweet. Christmas by the lake. Awesome.”
Hold On
Kristen Ashley's books
- Holding the Dream
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- Illusion(The Vampire Destiny Book 2)
- Upon A Midnight Clear
- Son Of The Morning
- MacKenzie's mission(MacKenzie Family Saga #2)
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Billionaire's Redemption
- A Convenient Proposal
- A Dishonorable Knight
- A Headstrong Woman
- A Passion for Pleasure
- Atonement
- Beyond a Doubt
- Beyond Control
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)
- Conceal, Protect
- Conflict of Interest
- Confessing to the Cowboy
- Dreams Don't Wait
- Explosive Attraction
- Find Wonder in All Things
- Forbidden Fires (Bondage & Breakfast)
- Galveston Between Wind and Water
- Game On
- Gone with the Wolf
- Honor's Players
- Illusions of Love
- Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down
- Just One Song
- Living London
- Lone Wolf (Shifters Unbound)
- Love Resolution
- Lyon's Crew
- Mountain Moonlight
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Of One Heart
- Once a Bad Girl
- Once a Thief
- Once Again a Bride
- Once and Again
- Once Touched, Never Forgotten
- Once Upon a Kiss
- Once Upon a Prince
- One Desert Night
- One More Kiss
- One More Sleepless Night
- One Night of Misbehavior
- One Night Standoff
- One Texas Night
- Only Love (The Atonement Series)
- Operation Endurance
- Primal Bonds
- Questions of Trust A Medical Romance
- Reflection Point
- Retribution
- Savage Redemption
- Second Chance
- Secure Location
- Someone I Used to Know
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Soul Bonded
- Sunset Seduction
- Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters)
- Sweet On You
- Tempting Cameron
- That Carrington Magic
- The Bridgertons Happily Ever After
- The Demon's Song
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Lone Rancher
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- Translation of Love
- Twisted Perfection
- Vision In White
- When Love's Gone Country
- The Lost Tycoon
- Down on Her Knees
- Love, Your Concierge
- A Demon Made Me Do It
- Campbell_Book One
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- Born to Ride_A Clubhouse Collection
- A Question of Honor
- Blood on Copperhead Trail
- Passion and the Prince
- Top Secret Twenty-One
- Dungeon Royale
- Make Me Bad(Private Lessons)
- My Fair Billionaire
- Writing Our Song:A Billionaire Romance
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Redemption in Love
- The Masterful Mr. Montague
- Diamonds are Forever
- Every Second with You
- If You Only Knew