She paused again.
“But…?” Meaghan prompted her.
“But—” She broke off.
The other women exchanged a glance.
“It’s his birthday too, isn’t it?” Sheena said. “I remember Fleance saying. Jasper Heartwell, the Christmas dragon.”
Delphine put her chin on her hands and narrowed her eyes. “And you two got together at Christmas, so that makes it your anniversary.”
“Ah-ha! And you want to keep him up all night, every night, busy with something else?” Sheena suggested with a grin.
“What?!” Abigail squeaked. “No, I—”
“You want us to help you get some!” Olly exclaimed with delight from behind her.
Abigail jumped in her seat. “Eek!”
“Eek and yes?” Olly asked placidly. “Cookie?”
Abigail took one of the still-warm cinnamon cookies from the plate Olly offered her, feeling tongue-tied. “Eek and, well…”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Meaghan asked.
“I can guess. Because Christmas is Jasper’sthing, and she doesn’t want to ruin it for him,” Delphine suggested.
“And you thought you could white-knuckle your way through the next month unsatisfied and unfulfilled?” Sheena added before Abigail could answer.
“Hey! I amsatisfied.And—stop laughing! That’s not it, but thanks for proving that everyone’s going tothinkit is, and—we have to come up with a plan before Opal gets here!”
“You have to do what before I get here?”
Abigail’s heart fell into her stomach. She didn’t want to talk to Opal about it, because Opal had already spent too much of her life worried about Jasper and the family curse that had come so close to claiming him.
She made a quickshushgesture to the rest of the table, and every single one of her so-called friends grinned evilly.
She covered her face as Opal sat down next to her and the others caught her up.
“Embarrassed?” Opal asked, leaning in for a hug. “Because you’re in love with my dumbass kid brother and want to make sure he knows it?”
I mean, also that. Not a day goes by that I don’t want to pin him to the bed for at least half the day—not that we’ve been able to do that in a few years.She gnawed on her lower lip.
Maybe it was better if Opal thought her issue was Jasper being too busy with Christmas to pin her to her bed as much as she wanted, rather than that he was hiding some deep, dark secret.
And… maybe thatwaspart of the problem, anyway? For real?
She and Jasper had a dream life. A beautiful home, amazing friends and family, and a daughter who brought joy and chaos into every room she set foot in. Jasper wasn’t only the love of her life, he was her fated mate. Her soulmate. It was a magical connection that even as a non-magical human she could feel, a bond of extraordinary power and love.
Which was a long-winded way of saying that six years into their relationship, shestillwanted to get down every chance they got, and chances were thin on the ground this time of year with how busy they both were.
“Um,” she said out loud. “Yes. Kind of. That’s some of it! But also—you know how he gets around Christmas, and this year it’s like…”
“Like you barely get to see him at all?” Opal gave her a sympathetic smirk. “All right. Forget this week’s book. Project Abigail Gets the Anniversary She Deserves is all go.”
Everyone raised their mugs in a toast. Abigail joined them, ducking her head with a grimace of embarrassment and a flicker of guilt.
Because as much as she wanted some alone time with her husband, that wasn’t the only reason she wanted her friends to conspire to take a load off Jasper’s shoulders.
