“It’s about time you showed up, humbug,” he called. “Get in here. You must be freezing your ass off.”
I chuckled as I climbed the porch steps and accepted the beer he offered.
“Would it kill you to admit that you missed me?”
Barrett scoffed.
“Are you kidding? It’s finally peaceful around here without the sound of you dragging your knuckles all over town.”
He shoved me in the shoulder. We jostled each other through the doorway, just like we used to do when we were boys. Some things never changed, no matter how many years had passed.
In the dining room, Ruby was setting out plates and silverware on the large oak table. I’d built it for Barrett as a wedding present, and he stubbornly refused to get rid of the damn thing after the divorce, no matter how much I hounded him about it. I didn’t want him staring at a daily reminder that his marriage was over.
Ruby pulled out a chair at the head of the table and gestured for me to sit.
“As our guest of honor, you get the best seat in the house.”
“That’s really not necessary—”
Before I could finish, she produced a Santa hat from behind her back and tugged it onto my head.
“Now you’re ready for the Christmas season,” she declared.
I shot Barrett a withering look. His lips twitched with amusement.
“Do you see what I have to put up with? I’m glad she finally has someone else to torture for a change instead of me.”
Ruby swatted his shoulder lightly.
“I’ll take my Christmas cheer somewhere else if you don’t like it. And that includes the holiday fudge I have cooling in the fridge.”
Barrett placed a hand over his heart.
“Just teasing, pumpkin. Please don’t deprive your dear old dad of his holiday fudge fix.”
She smiled and kissed his cheek.
“That’s what I thought. You’d be lost without me.”
I watched Barrett and Ruby together, feeling a tug in my chest. He was a very lucky man to have a daughter like her, and I envied him sometimes for that. I always thought a family was out of reach for me. That privilege belonged to better men than I could ever be.
“Come on, come on,” Ruby insisted. “Let’s eat. I’m starving!”
She waved to the spread of food on the table—pizza and wings, my favorite. Not exactly a seasonal feast that I would have expected for a Christmas fanatic like Ruby though.
Instead, this was a meal that saidwelcome home.
Chapter three
Ruby
“Rise and shine, lazy bones!”
I slid through the house on my socks. Last night, I barely slept a wink because today was the Annual Holiday Market and we had to get an early start. I pounded on Dad’s bedroom door, then did the same to the guest room door where Dean was sleeping.
“Get up and get moving!” I called. “We don’t have all day!”
Dean shuffled out with a disgruntled look, running a hand through his disheveled salt-and-pepper hair as he leaned against the door frame. Wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants slung low on his hips.
