“River’s done some investigating too,” Reese said. “As far as we know, Gael doesn’t have any family in DC. We think he moved here to get away from the ex. He has a grandmother in Virginia Beach. The rest of the family resides in the Bay Area. That’s where the ex was slapped with a restraining order too.”
“Jesus—poor kid,” Colt muttered. “He’s Kit’s age, isn’t he?”
“Twenty-three,” River replied quietly.
Either way, too young to have gone through such an ordeal already.
“I’ll talk to Kit,” I murmured. “They’ve grown closer lately.”
Colt nodded, then lifted a brow at me. “We might wanna get it through his little brat skull to keep this quiet, though. Boy was telling all his friends at the auction.”
Good point. Kit was so happy to finally have friends that he sometimes didn’t know when to keep something private.
“We’ll talk to him,” I repeated. “Gael’s RVSP’d to attend our holiday party too, so it’ll be nice to see him.”
“That’s great,” Reese said. “Santiago’s gonna try to get closer to him too. Make sure the boy knows he can feel safe with us.”
Wonderful idea.
Kit: Don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep.
I yawned and pulled the soft blanket higher up. My Daddies should be here any minute now. I’d brushed my teeth and everything. I’d rubbed my stupid lotion on. I’d changed into jammies. Now I was just lying on the couch and waiting.
I snickered tiredly at the cartoons running on the TV. I hadn’t seen this episode of SpongeBob before.
We had a fire crackling softly too, and it made me want more hot cocoa with whipped cream, sprinkles, marshmallows, and chocolate chips, but then I would have to brush my teeth again. Also, I’d already had three…
When I finally heard Colt and Lucas outside, I sat right up and stared at the door. They’d been working so darn hard the whole day! I mean, I had done lots too, but not as much as they had.
The door opened, and—
“…we’ll see what Rosa says,” Lucas said. “As we’ve discovered, she has strong opinions about Christmas.”
“Good plan,” Colt replied.
“Hi, Daddies.” I waved at them.
Colt glanced over, surprised. “Hey, little darlin’. What’n earth are you still doin’ up?”
I shrugged and rubbed my nose. “I don’t like falling asleep without you.”
“Oh, sweet boy.” Lucas walked over to me and kissed the top of my head, then slipped a hand under my chin. “Well, we’re marching you straight to bed. You need your eight hours.”
I smiled and closed my eyes as he kissed my nose. “Okay.”
I couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow anyway! Because I had a stress ball gift for Colt and a new glasses case for Lucas—with a cute message on it, of course—but I’d left the latter home since I hadn’t thought I was going to win the stress ball today.
“How are we out of marshmallows already?” Colt asked.
Oops. “I think it’s very important I go to bed now.” I kicked off the blanket and hurried off the couch. “Love you, good night!”
WEDNESDAY
Sloan | Corey | Archie | Greer
Sloan Wallace
“Hi, Shep!” Loki yelled. “Daddy, there’s Shep!”
I winced at the volume and chuckled at his enthusiasm, still riding the waves of relief. Only Jamie and Kyla had been a little feverish, and it’d passed in twenty-four hours. Loki was fine. Jason was fine. Emma-Jo was fine.
“If it ain’t my whole brood.” Greer smiled widely as we got closer to the cabin. “You ready for a movie marathon with Corey and Archie?”
“Yeah!” Jamie cheered.
“Is there Wi-Fi?” Jason asked.
I snorted. The priorities of an eleven-year-old.
“All I heard was, you’re gonna give me a big fuckin’ hug,” Greer replied.
To no one’s surprise, he met us halfway and wrapped Jason in a bear hug and didn’t stop until the boy was grinning. Which took a while.
“Christ, that’s enough!” he groaned through a laugh.
“Not yet, it ain’t,” Greer insisted. “I’m sick of your damn fist bumps. In this family, we hug.”
Hear, hear.
I ushered Jo and Loki into the cabin, where Archer and Corey were waiting with beautiful smiles and way too many snacks. Hell, Archer had gone all out. I could barely see the coffee table for all the bowls. Food too—sandwiches, fruit cups, mac and cheese, and his special crispy chicken.
If I knew my frog-loving boy, he was the one who’d prepared the pullout couch for the kids. The day Greer reluctantly brought a flat-screen out here, Corey had bought new bed linens for the couch—for this very reason. Sleepovers and movie marathons. Of course, the sheets and pillowcases had frogs on them.
“Oh wow!” Jo was sold.
I wanted nothing more than to kiss both Corey and Archer, but we were still being discreet around the children.
“Goodness—is this cozy or what?” I sat Loki down on the edge of the bed and helped him remove his coveralls. “Shep and I are gonna be jealous of you all night.”