Chapter 15
Fifteen
GARRETT
Two Days until Christmas
I hate leaving Aidyn and going into work for the second time during the week when I’m supposed to be off, but I couldn’t ignore this cry for help.
I find Nat in her office, throwing things into a box. Shit.
“You can’t quit.”
She drops the box and puts her hands on her hips, eyebrows arched.
I’m seriously off my game. An announcement like that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull. “Please don’t quit.”
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a secret boyfriend to woo?”
“Woo?” I tentatively walk closer to her desk. No sudden moves and all that. “Are you okay?”
“Was it that smooth-talking muscled rat bastard. I told him not to call.”
I have so many questions. But I don’t ask them. Not yet. “Jonah is worried about you.”
“Yeah? Where is he?” She peeks behind me like Jonah might be there.
“I think he’s hiding in the TARDIS.”
She slams her hands on the desk. “The wedding was over a week ago. Why haven’t they taken that thing yet?”
“You tell me.”
This close, I can see her eyes are red and puffy. She flings up her hands. “I don’t know. Evidently, I don’t know anything. Just ask Jonah. He’ll tell you.”
“Nat…” I move closer, but she shakes her head. “What’s going on? Why did you yell at Jonah?”
She snorts. “When did we start hiring twelve-year-olds?”
“Stop stealing my lines. Do you want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head again. “Men suck. You know that right?”
I laugh. “Better than most.” Something isn’t adding up. “Is this about Ramon?”
Her eyes close for a second, and then she drops into her chair. “No. Not Ramon. I mean, I wish. It’s my boyfriend.”
“Wait, what? You have a boyfriend?”
“Rude, boss.” But her lips twitches, and I take it as a good sign.
I pull the empty chair around and sit across from her. “I mean, you’re always talking about Ramon, so…” I shrug, not wanting to insult her.
“Yeah. The guy is hot and so damn sweet.” She sighs. “Do you think he’d give me a chance?”
“Nat.” My voice is sharper than I intended. “I’m not indifferent to your situation, but I have a hot Irishman waiting for me, so could we move this along?”
Her mouth drops open as she stares at me. “Wow. Way to be sensitive.”
“Nat, I’m begging you—”
“I’m madly in love with Ramon, but that’s not relevant to our conversation. My boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, actually—is a jerk. He’s breaking our custody agreement and keeping Bella for Christmas.” She taps her finger furiously on the desk. “It’s my year to have her.”
“You have a child?” I ask, my voice rising an octave. I tamp down my surprise and squeeze her hand. “I’m so sorry, Nat. I didn’t realize.”
Her mouth opens and shuts. She tilts her head. “When I say this, I expect your outrage on my behalf—”
“Outrage? Eh. More like concern.”
“On my behalf,” she says again, “to remain the same. Bella is a Great Pyrenees.”
“A dog.” I immediately know by the look on her face that it’s the wrong thing to say. Is this what happened to Jonah? And is he still hiding in the TARDIS? “That’s horrible.”
“Ha. Nice try.” She studies her nails. “Go back to your hot fifty-year-old boyfriend.”
“Not fifty. Not even forty.”
She flashes me a quick smile, but it fades just as fast. “Seriously. I’m fine.”
“Okay. Putting that aside for now, why are you here? Why is Jonah here? I gave everyone the week off.”
“Well, someone had to clean up the disruption in the spacetime vortex.”
“The wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Hold up. You’re a fan?”
“I’ve watched some episodes.” I take her hand. “Focus, Nat.”
“Fine. I needed a place to go. And then Jonah found me sitting in the TARDIS—”
“Not just sitting,” Jonah says, from the doorway of the office. “You were yelling exterminate over and over again.”
She jumps to her feet and points her finger. “That’s no reason to call the boss!”
“Actually, it’s the perfect reason. Thank you, Jonah.”
He nods with a mulish expression. When he turns to leave, I hold up my hand. “Wait. Don’t go. I have questions. So many questions.” I nod to the other empty chair in the room, and he sits with a dramatic sigh.
“Nat,” I say, turning to the more urgent of the two, “you said you need a place to go. Wait—were you serious about spending Christmas with me?”
She snorts. “That was a joke.”
“Then why not go home?”
“I can’t.” She waves her hands around. I’ve never seen Nat this emotional before. Not quite the right word. Uncontrolled? “There are all these…children there.”
“Children?”
“Nieces and nephews. So many.”
I rake my hand through my hair. What is happening right now? “Did you invite them?”
“Duh. It’s Christmas, Garrett. I’m not a monster who hates— I mean, of course, they were invited.
” She sinks back in the chair. “And it was fine until fuckface called and told me I couldn’t have my baby on Christmas, and then Mably Jane painted my refrigerator with grape jelly, and I lost it.
My mom told me to go and cool down.” She huffs.
“She’s not the boss of me.” Her head jerks up, and she gives me a warning look. “Don’t say it.”
I can’t help but laugh. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Jonah snorts. “Mr. Bishop is the boss of you.”
She makes an outraged sound and gestures to Jonah. “See what I have to deal with? Twelve-year-old know-it-alls.”
He jumps to his feet. “I’m twenty-two.”
“Prove it.”
I jump between them. “Hold on.” I give Nat a look, and she leans back in her seat and crosses her arms. When I’m sure she’s not going to do anything else, I turn to Jonah. “Why are you here?”
“You said—”
“Not in Nat’s office, Jonah.” A headache is starting right behind my eyes. “Why are you here at work? It’s your day off.”
“Oh.” He shuffles his feet and shrugs. Then shrugs again.
“Jonah.” My sharp tone has him jumping to attention. Okay.
“I didn’t know where else to go. And same as Nat. I needed someplace quiet.”
“Did children invade your home too?” Nat asks, looking more sympathetic than she did ten minutes ago.
“Close. My roommates are throwing a party. I don’t like a lot of noise. Or people. Or noisy people. And I figured the TARDIS was free—only it wasn’t.”
“Okay. So much to unpack here. But first, let me assure you both— We’re not keeping the TARDIS.”
“We should, boss. It’s relaxing.”
I ignore her. “What about your family? Are you going home for Christmas?”
He shakes his head. “It’s just my brother. And we don’t get along.”
My heart breaks for the kid. Spending Christmas alone—except that’s exactly what I was going to do. “So here’s what we’re going to do—”
“I can get your dog back for you.”
Nat’s eyes are wide. “You can?”
“How big is your boy—ex-boyfriend?”
“Not as big as you.” She smirks. “Finally, those muscles of yours will come in handy.”
“What about all the lifting I do around here?”
Nat moves around her desk and me. “Did I say finally? I meant again.” She touches Jonah’s bicep. “Perfect. Just don’t get any ideas. My heart belongs to Ramon.”
“Pfft. You’re not my type anyway.” Jonah pulls her hand off his bicep. “The boss is more my type.”
What the fuck? “That’s not—”
But they talk right over me.
“Grumpy?” Nat guesses.
“Yeah, sure. But it’s more about his bossy personality.”
“Hold on.” Nat tilts her head. “I’m bossy.”
Jonah laughs. “But you’re not interested, and more importantly, not a guy.”
“Gotcha. I hope you like pizza. That’s always our Christmas Eve eve meal.”
“I love pizza.”
“Great. How do you feel about rugrats?”
I stare at them as they walk out of Nat’s office. Nat turns and gives me a big smile. “Thanks, boss.”
Jonah winks. I’m ninety-nine percent sure he’s just messing with me.
Now that’s sorted, I can go home to my…family. Maybe this Christmas won’t be so bad after all.
The house is quiet when I get home. Aidyn’s van is still here and Jane’s car. I enter through the garage into the kitchen. Jane’s in the dining room, wrapping presents. One side of the table has stacks of wrapped presents and a much smaller stack of unwrapped presents. Are these hers? Or Aidyn’s?
“Where is everyone?” I ask.
“I think Lanie’s in her room— I mean, the room she’s been staying in. Mom and Dad went shopping.” She stops, and I let out a sigh.
“And Aidyn?”
She focuses on cutting the paper. “He’s somewhere.”
“Jane.”
Her eyes dart to my face. “What? He was helping me and then…I don’t know. He got upset, I think. Said he needed a moment. I didn’t follow him.” She huffs. “I don’t have a death wish.”
I dial down my frustration. No need to take it out on Jane. “Thank you.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say he went to your office.” She smiles. “Good luck, bro.”
I want to ask more questions. What did you say to upset him? Instead, I walk through the house listening. The door to my office is shut. Which doesn’t mean much. I’ve been keeping it shut ever since my mother decided to rearrange my furniture.
I knock on my office door. Nothing.
Should I just go in?
I start to knock again when the door flies open, and Aidyn is there, glaring at me. He rubs his eyes. “Sorry, love. I thought you were Jane. You don’t have to knock. It’s your office.”
I follow him into the room and shut the door. “Jane said you were upset.”
He faces my bookcase as if he’s reading the titles. Similar to the way he did in my office at work. “It’s nothing.”
Obviously, it’s something. He won’t look at me, and his eyes are red. “Aidyn…”
He shakes his head, and I want to wrap my arms around him or scream in frustration. Something about the set of his shoulders warns me he wouldn’t welcome either of those.
“Are you upset I went into work?”
His laugh is harsh. His voice is rough. “Christ. I told you to go.”
I choose my words carefully. “You did.” I reach to touch him, but drop my hand. I hate not knowing how to help him. “But that doesn’t mean you want me to.”
He turns abruptly, and I step back. “It’s not that, okay?”