“I’m fine with the way it is now.The guys are good about letting us have some time alone when we need it,” Lacy said.If they moved in with Hal and Tracey, they had kids.She loved them, but they weren’t conducive to romancing a mate.
With the house plans approved, she and Rory thanked them and headed to the bunkhouse for the night.
Rory hugged her.“Hal and Tracey are the best.”
“They are.”
“I’ve got to get something out of the truck, but you can’t see it.”
She chuckled.“Okay.I’ll take a shower and?—”
“Not without me.”
She smiled and kissed him.“All right.I’ll meet you in the bedroom in a few minutes.”
She heard Rory talking with Wyatt and figured he was hiding her gift in his room.And then Rory barged into their room.“Shower time.And then dinner.”
11
When Leyton, Frank, and Florence arrived at her house, they walked in through the garage door and saw the Christmas tree down, the ornaments smashed.
“Not again,” Frank said, taking hold of Florence’s hand and squeezing it to comfort her.
Her heart and his were pounding with anger.
Leyton was on his phone with Dan right away.He put it on speakerphone and told him what had happened.
“Don’t search the house.Some of us will be there right away,” Dan said.
“Timothy or his brother has been here.Or both of them,” Leyton said.
Frank wanted to check the rest of the house to make sure no one was still inside.But after being put in the clinic the last time, he did what Dan told him to do.
Frank took pictures of the mess, but then he and Florence began cleaning up the broken ornaments.
Leyton ended the call and began helping them.“I guess we’re going to have to put someone on the house even when you’re not here.”
“We’ve got the new security videos up,” Florence suddenly said.
Frank had forgotten all about them.
They checked the videos and saw two men there, both with blond, curly hair and beards, stocky builds, and brown eyes, who looked like carbon copies of each other.
“Timothy and Manning,” Frank said.“So now we have confirmed that both are here.”
Dan arrived with Chase and Stryker.“Hell, what’s wrong with these bastards?”Dan asked.
“Timothy hates Christmas.Maybe his brother does too,” Frank said.
“Or maybe they’re just mad that they can’t reach Lacy, and they’re showing their frustration since I’d taken her in at first.”Florence put another broken ornament in the trash bag.
Shannon and Dan’s wife, Addison, showed up with ornaments to replace the ones on the tree as the guys righted it.Only this time, they were beautiful, gold-embroidered balls with Styrofoam centers, gold acorns, wooden rocking horses with yarn tails and manes, and Victorian papered and shellacked balls with little gold ribbon ties.All were non-breakable.
Florence smiled.“What do I owe you?”
“Nothing.We’ve been gathering non-breakable ornaments since your last catastrophe,” Shannon said, “just in case it happened again.”
“Well, they’re beautiful.”Florence began hanging the new ornaments.
