Dom gave us a smile. "I'm going to leave you guys to it. I think Lyds wanted to give me a list of things that needed fixing."
Dante nodded and said with less tact, "I just don't want to be around this sappy shit so I'm going to see what I can find in the kitchen."
Mia flushed red as they left. I looked at the bags by the door and then back to my girlfriend. "Find everything you need?" I asked with a laugh. There was no point in resisting. Mia was holiday crazy and nothing I did or said would change that so I would roll with the madness.
"You have a big house," Mia told me.
"And you're decorating every inch?"
"Without fail," Mia told me defiantly. She untangled herself from me so she could take off her coat and scarf before rummaging through some bags. Boxes of baubles and lights and various other things were in her arms when she rejoined me.
"Start from the bottom and work our way up?” Mia suggested.
"Whatever you think is best, princess."
We both sat on the floor as she opened boxes, pushing them towards me. "Did you ask Dante about dinner?"
"Yes and he'll be there."
"Have you spoken to Stefan yet?"
I didn't answer her question.
"Luc," Mia said softly.
"Mia, can't he just go to Andrew's for Christmas?"
She looked up at me as she finished placing a bauble on the branch. "He wants to spend Christmas with your Mom. His Dad's not even here over Christmas."
I hated the fact that Mia had spoken to Stefan so much that she knew all the little details.
"He can't sit in his room all day," Mia tried to reason.
"I don't see why not."
"It's either you ask him or I do," Mia told me, realizing I wouldn't listen to reason.
That would not be happening on my watch. Mia would not talk to Stefan on her own. Not when I couldn't trust my brother not to try and twist things again. If Stef wasn’t a giant liability, I would have asked him to join the family business after the stunt he pulled.
"I'll do it," I grumbled.
"You're not happy about it."
"Mia, he tried to drive us apart. I'm not the boy's biggest fan at the moment."
"You need to let it go."
"You're too forgiving," I told her, narrowing my eyes.
"I haven't forgiven him. I just think maybe he's been punished enough. No one's talking to him properly in the house, Luc."
I’d had to pull Dom off Stefan once my handyman had found out about the lies. Preferably, it would have been good to see Dom knock some sense into his thick skull but at the risk of having Lydia and Mia mad at me I had broken it up.
This was one of the reasons I was so drawn to Mia. She wanted to see the best in people and to give them a chance. She was the light in all of my darkness. Mia was well within her rights to do so but it didn't mean that I had to do the same.
"You know how to hold a grudge," Mia said with a sigh. She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the lips and I moved to try and deepen it, but she pulled away. "Now, help me with this tree."
Chapter Forty Five
