Then he saw a baby the day it was born and then possibly never again.
But it wasn’t true with Raven and his little one, or for that matter, Wren and her little one. He was building a family here. In more ways than one. He patted his stomach, feeling very literal.
Laird chuckled, hauling him up. “No more deep thinking. Hot chocolate. Weird hot pastry. Crafts. Costumes. Come on, baby.”
Naomi breezed in then, and she frowned at him. “You’re still here.”
“We were just leaving. I was pouting.”
“Stop, it’s boring.” She rolled her eyes and pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“My coat?—”
“You have twenty seconds. Move.” She winked at him. “Leave your knitting here. Whatever it is, you can finish it next time you’re on call.”
He grabbed his coat, his mitts, his hat, and his scarf.
Laird stared at him, and Devon blinked. “What?”
“Do you realize your mittens don’t match?”
“Neither do my socks. I just wear the ones that are spares. You know, when I make something, and I don’t like it enough to make a second one?”
The stare didn’t fade. “That’s awful.”
“What?”
“Seriously, that’s just awful. You wear mittens you don’t like enough to make a second one of? I’m going to buy you a pair of mittens when we go downtown. Let’s go.”
Laird was cute, but weird. Really, genuinely weird.
Good thing Devon loved him.
Chapter
Fourteen
Laird had never been more glad to have asked for time off.
Devon hadn’t been pouting. He’d been hurting. And it had been his fault.
The holiday stroll had been amazing, for sure. The hot chocolate tasted rich and decadent, the churros had been flaky and cinnamon-y, and the weather had been Christmassy.
Devon had squealed when they’d seen the little blown glass ornaments shaped like balls of yarn with knitting needles in them. “This is perfect! Now we find one for you.”
“And for the baby,” Laird had said. It was, apparently, the perfect thing to say. He’d ended up with a stethoscope-shaped ornament, and they’d picked a little heart with a Santa hat for the baby since they’d met on Valentine’s Day.
It was going on the tree they’d set up this morning as soon as Laird wrestled these lights into submission.
Devon was putting boughs of greenery on the mantelpiece and adding flameless candles all around. It wasadorable.
He’d never seen so many knitted ornaments, pillows, or bunting.
He didn’t even know what bunting was until he met Devon. Now he knew. There was a lot of bunting involved in Devon’s life.
“I have this weird Santa hat for the top of the toilet tank.” Devon held it up, and it was a red velvet Santa hat with fuzz for a toilet tank.
“Is that hygienic?” Laird asked.
