Mom, Dad, and Nana reach him first, but Carol, Aimee, Jax, some of his old football buddies, and all the cowboys who’ve been with us since Charlie was in high school or college wait their turn to get a piece of him. While no one has said it, we all know this might be the longest he’s home for another few years.
Charlie gives Jax one of those weird bro hugs where they clasp one hand and slap each other’s backs with the other, smirking as he says, “How are you doing, Grinchie?”
Jax swivels to me, a look of betrayal shrouding his face. “You told him?”
“How could I not? Charlie is just as much a Christmas lover as me.”
“How dare you!” Jax narrows his eyes at me, but when he gets close enough for just me to hear him, he says, “You’re playing with fire, Freckles.”
Charlie steps off to say hi to Carol and Aimee, who he always referred to as his second parents.
I take the opportunity to give Jax the most confident look I can. “I can handle a little heat.”
“And I like a challenge.”
“We already know how that went for you the last time. I wouldn’t bother trying to humiliate yourself again,” I tease, quickly stepping back from him before anyone can notice how close we are.
While his jaw falls open, I take the opportunity to ask, “So, you and Charlie are going on a hunting trip while he’s here, huh? How long will you be gone?”
“Did I not mention it to you?” He looks genuinely surprised.
“No.” I lean my shoulder against the wall. “Sorry, I’mnot trying to be clingy or anything. I just thought you would’ve wanted to tell me about it since we came up with the idea together.”
“You’re right, and I want you to be a part of it.” He grabs me by the wrist and drags me over to Charlie, who’s talking with Clayton, one of his old football buddies.
“I think we should take Lauren on the hunting trip with us,” Jax announces to Charlie. “I’ve seen how hard she’s been working on the ranch, and I know you’ve been worried about her slowing down. This could be a good way to force her to rest.”
Charlie tilts his head in consideration. “That’s not a bad idea, but do you really want to do that, Lo?” He scrunches up his nose like he just ate a lemon.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I didn’t know Jax was going to suggest it until right now. I guess it could be fun to hang out with you more.” I also think it’d be fun to spend time with two of the most important men in my life, and I love that Jax wants to include me.
Charlie drapes his arm over my shoulders. “I want to spend some time with my baby sister too.” He pulls away, looking me in the face. “But if you’re going to come with us, you need to know you can’t talk while we’re out hunting. We need complete silence.”
“That’s fine with me. I’d prefer to hang out with you while you can’t talk anyway.”
“You’re the worst!” He pulls me in for a nuggie.
“Seriously, Char? I thought you would’ve outgrown the nuggie phase by the time you were twenty-five. Grow up.”
“Never!” He gives me another nuggie, and when I shriek, Jax tenses like he’s torn between putting a stop to this and trying to show he’s on Charlie’s side.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Jax carefully places himselfbetween Charlie and me. “We need to set a date for this trip. Mom and Aunt Carol want to do our annual cookie bake-off before Christmas, so it might need to be after.”
Charlie’s face lights up. “You should’ve seen the masterpiece Jax and I made several Christmases ago. Remember that?” He nudges Jax in the side, and Jax snorts.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jax snort before. I want to make fun of him for it so badly, but I can’t remember if that’s something we used to do around Charlie, so I settle for asking, “What’d you make?”
Jax’s face lights up. “Charlie and I decided we wanted to create a whole scene, so we made a gingerbread cowboy and sugar cookie woman from the city. We created this whole backstory for how they fell in love and created mutant half gingerbread, half sugar cookie babies. It was awesome!”
“Don’t forget about their Pizzelle dog. He was as big as the people! We carved out a normal cookie once it was made. And the size of his crap—” Charlie closes his thumb and forefinger to create a circle the size of a quarter.
When I furrow my brow and glance between the two boys, Jax offers, “We used Hershey’s kisses from my mom’s peanut butter blossom cookies.” Realization crosses his face. “You should come, Lauren. We can invite Rhett, Olivia, and Callie too. I wouldn’t mind some fresh competition this year.”
“That sounds fun.” My heart flutters. “I’d love the opportunity to whoop both your butts. Plus, if you’re inviting those three, I can team up with Callie, and Rhett and Olivia can be on a team.”
“That’s not fair. You can’t get a professional baker for your team when I’m stuck with Mr. Overbakes Everything here.” Jax thrusts his thumb in Charlie’s direction.
“Rhett is a really good baker too.”
