It really made him mad.
He hadn’t even bothered to decorate their house.
Laird hadn’t brought it up, so he didn’t bother. He assumed that they were going to celebrate Christmas. He had bought Laird some odds and ends, little things. It was really hard to know. He got Laird a briefcase for his new venture in school, a couple of gift cards, a few dress shirts.
They hadn’t had Thanksgiving together. He’d gone to Raven’s for the day. And Halloween, Laird had worked.
He didn’t like this at all.
He didn’t like how it made him feel that he didn’t like this at all.
He felt whiny and mean-spirited.
So he knitted hard to work out his shit. He figured out after half an hour or so that he was doing a shawl…
He was really on a roll when a persistent sound distracted him. He frowned, glancing up, but nothing in the room should be making any noise that sounded like jingle bells.
Nothing.
He muted the television. He wasn’t sure whyCriminal Mindsreruns would have bells, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.
He tilted his head, listening.
No, that was totally jingling bells.
Maybe one of the Wi-Fi speakers was playing Christmas music in another one of the rooms. They could get glitchy and turn on by themselves fairly easily.
It used to freak him out.
He headed through the darkened birthing center, looking around, but everything seemed to be quiet and solid, as it should be. Then he went to the front door to peer out into the snow and see if he could see something. There was a chance that maybe it was a dog’s collar, and he needed to bring him in.
He supposed it could be a serial killer. That would be interesting, a little inconvenient and kind of aggravating, but interesting.
Although he thought he could probably defend himself from a serial killer, he had rage, a healthy sense of self-reliance, and at least a million hours of watching police procedurals and true crime shows.
Finally, when he didn’t find anything inside, he headed for the front door. Maybe there were some misguided carolers or something who had found their way to him because his light was on and were trying to get him to make a donation to something, he didn’t know. But one way or the other, he was not having it.
When he opened the door, though, it was Laird, draped in tinsel and wearing a Santa hat, shaking a double handful of jingle bells yelling, “Ho ho ho!”
His eyebrows shot up and Devon stared really hard. “What are you doing?”
“I am coming to get you for the holiday walk.” Laird stopped jingling and came up to give him a very cold kiss on the mouth, their noses touching and making him shiver. “Naomi is on her way. She will be on call for the rest of the evening. She says she wants to get away from everybody fora little while and just sit in the quiet with the fake fireplace on in here. So I told her to go for it.”
Devon’s mouth dropped open and he hugged himself because it was chilly outside. “But you’re on duty tonight.”
“Nope. I have found a substitute—someone who wants to pull a couple of doubles to make some money. Nick agreed to it, and I am yours for at least tonight, if not longer. So what do you say, baby? Let’s go holiday.” Laird looked so happy, beaming, and his eyes just twinkling.
Devon found himself tearing up, his lower lip quivering. “I thought you didn’t like the holidays. I thought you didn’t want to spend holiday time with me.”
“What?” Laird immediately dropped the jingle bells and came to wrap both arms around him. “What? Baby, I’ve been working doubles and triples trying to get enough stuff put aside so I can start school in January. I’m so sorry if you thought I didn’t want to do holidays with you. I thought you had a birth on Thanksgiving, or I would have fought for that day off, too.” He had to admit, Laird did look genuinely stricken.
He sniffled. “I really want to decorate the house. Can we do that tomorrow? I have all the stuff.”
Laird squeezed him tighter. “You know it. I never thought. God, baby. You should have said. I don’t have anything, because I was always renting, and I was single, so I always volunteered to work.”
Tears streamed down his face. “I felt so ungrateful, but I was so mad!”
“I’m so sorry.” Laird held him, closing the door behind them for warmth. “So sorry, baby. I had no idea.”
