“I’ll tell my family, too. As soon as we get back.”
That makes me laugh.
“What?”
“I just yelled at them all to not let anything touch the sacredness of Christmas Dinner for you, and you’re going to race in like a wrecking ball.” I catch her chin and stop her from protesting. “A beautiful, perfect wrecking ball. Let’s go tell them that we broke up. But we’re also going to tell them that we’re working out our differences and they shouldn’t be surprised if they find us sleeping on the same couch tomorrow morning.”
Her eyebrows lift, and her cheeks pink with pleasure. “Are we working out our differences? I thought you ordered me a detachable version of your cock because we needed a clean break?”
I groan. “I was too hasty in thinking that.”
“We can’t continue like we were.”
“We won’t.” I kiss the tip of her nose, then lift her faceanother inch so I can cover her lips with mine. “We’re going to keep talking. And we aren’t going to stop until we get it right this time. So you can tell them when we get back to the farm, or later, if you want. It’s Christmas, Rory. All I want for the last few hours of the holiday is for you to be genuinely happy.”
Chapter 28
Rory
I don’t tell them.
It’s not the coward’s way out, I justify to myself. When we get back to the farm, there’s a thick white blanket of snow everywhere, but my whole family spills out onto the porch anyway. And they are earnest and sweet.
“How’s Dani?” asks Cassie.
“Are you hungry?” asks my mom.
And Jules makes it clear that she values me deeply. “Thank God you’re back, we need a fourth for euchre.”
Garrett wraps his arm around my waist and kisses my temple. “Dinner first, then a savage card game?”
“Sounds perfect,” I whisper.
And it is.
“Mara made us all Christmas crackers,” Aunt Tabitha says as I’m ushered into the dining room.
So before we dig in to the feast, we take turns making them pop with the people who sit beside us. Instead of the paper crown and a plastic toy that would be in the usual crackers from the store, there are delicate twisted wirecrowns threaded with tiny, glittering beads, and hand lettered knock knock jokes that make everyone groan.
“Knock knock,” Mom says to Dad.
“Who’s there?”
“Anna.”
“Anna who?”
“Anna partridge in a pear tree.”
Garrett glances at his. “I think I’m next.” He clears his throat and looks at me. “Knock knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Tuta.”
I shake my head, already laughing. “Tuta who?”
“Two turtle doves.”
