The four of us went in for a group hug.
“I feel the same,” Presley said. “Weird that three years ago, none of us lived here. Now we’re all here, making our new lives. I’m so fucking glad mine includes you girls.”
“Same,” I said.
“Amen,” Chloe added.
“We’re doing this again soon,” Presley said.
We all agreed, said good night, and took our leave.
I walked out thinking my night couldn’t have gone better. And then, as I climbed into my car, I got a text from Luke saying he was on his way to my place. Some nights were so good it was hard to believe this was my life now.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Luke
Myth: Christmas tree farmers loved Christmas and were the most festive guys out there.
Fact: Christmas tree farmers were usually tired, grumpy, and ready to not see another tree for a few months. Often our houses were the least decorated of anyone’s because we didn’t have time to do anything but sell Christmas trees to other people.
Every year I promised myself I’d take some time to slow down and appreciate the season more. Every year I failed to varying extents.
Having Addie helped. She wasn’t jaded or extra tired or overworked yet. Christmas was her favorite holiday. She still believed in magic and Santa, and I wanted to help her hold on to that for as long as possible and maybe soak up some of her wonder in the process.
This year, everything seemed different.
I should be more worn down than ever, what with the barn project and the late-night visits to Magnolia’s, preventing me from sleeping more than four or five hours a night, but I felt energized. Superpowered. And filled with more Christmas spirit than I could remember having for years.
A large part of that was due to the woman by my side. Magnolia had finished putting on a baby shower for a client just in time to join us.
Tonight was my dad group’s Christmas party, but instead of just us guys, this year it was us and our immediate families—twenty-four of us in all, soon to be twenty-six once Harper and Max’s and Quincy and Knox’s babies were born.
Ben and Emerson were hosting all of us in their recently expanded home. They’d doubled the size of their living room, so some of us were at a folding table in there, with the rest of the adults at the dining-room table. The kids had their own table in the kitchen. It was a little crowded but cozy. Maybe next year I’d host in the barn.
Addie loved playing with Ben and Emerson’s four kids and West’s three daughters, so she was having the time of her life. I was savoring every moment with the prettiest woman in the room.
Since hooking up, Magnolia and I had been stealing whatever private moments we could, and I wouldn’t trade my alone time with her for anything. But having her with me in public, going to a party as a couple—as a pseudofamily, really—had ideas lodging in my head and making me wonder if I’d found a woman worthy of becoming my real family.
We’d only been together a few weeks though, and I sometimes got the impression Magnolia wasn’t as ready to commit as I was. I knew she was working through a lot, figuring out who she was, building a new business, dealing with parental baggage, and now pondering an entire nonprofit foundation with her mother, so I understood.
I could be patient.
We were sharing a table with Ben, Emerson, Chance, and Rowan. We’d devoured a potluck meal, then taken a break for a white elephant gift exchange. Now we were back to the food scene, digging into an array of desserts, including divinity, peppermint brownies, gingerbread bars, and llama-shaped sugar cookies from the bakery, when Ben blew into Ruby’s karaoke microphone.
“Testing,” he said, standing between the living and dining rooms so we could all see him. “Don’t be alarmed. I won’t be singing.”
“Even the livestock would take off running if you did,” West bellowed.
“Unless he shares the cookies with them,” Chance called out to a round of laughter.
The eight younger kids and Chance’s teenage daughter, Sam, came out of the kitchen and crawled onto laps or settled next to their parents. Addie snuggled against my side, her eyes full of life and excitement.
“Did everybody get what they wanted from the white elephant exchange?” Ben asked, grinning like a bandit. He’d managed to walk away with the toilet night-light, which was the coveted prize of the evening that had been stolen multiple times.
“I heard Emerson’s happy with her hot-dog pen,” Knox said. “She finally has a hot dog that’s a full six inches.”
“I love my heart-shaped waffle iron,” Scarlet, West’s oldest, announced.
