Twenty-Three | Avery
Twenty-Three
Avery
“S he what?” Cassidy hissed as we walked through the Frosty Fest sipping lattes. Kennedy walked in front of us, snuggled between Amelia and Ron as she held their hands and swung them high in the air.
“She said that Sam was going to have to protect us from Grant and then went on to mention Uncle Sam’s baby in my tummy.”
“Are you?”
“No!” I blurted out, still feeling out of sorts and overwhelmed by everything. “We only had sex one time, and we used a condom. So unless the universe is messing with me and it was defective, we should be fine.”
“I bet the baby will look like me,” Cassidy replied, completely ignoring my current freak-out.
“Could you not make this about you right now?”
“Oh, calm down. It’s probably nothing. I mean, I am still a bit shocked that you and my brother are hooking up, but I can’t say that I didn’t see it coming.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how you two have liked each other for years, and the second you came back to town he looked like one of those idiots in the movies with the stars in his eyes. I knew it was only a matter of time before you guys acted on it, especially once you moved in with him.”
“I did not move in with him. We’re just staying there temporarily.”
“I don’t know that Kennedy will love sharing her room with a baby. You guys might want to start looking for a new house. One with more space for your growing family.”
“You’re the worst,” I joked, taking a sip of my latte as I followed Kennedy to a booth with stuffed animals. “Also—if you buy her another stuffie, I will permanently disown you.”
“Yikes. Someone is wound up today,” Sam joked, startling me as he snuck up behind me. “But I don’t blame you. Cassidy will do that to people.”
“Hey,” I said, turning to give him a kiss.
Once we came clean to Kennedy, she took the privilege of telling everyone she knew that Mommy and Uncle Sam were dating. It was kind of nice not to have to worry about our relationship in public, but I definitely felt like people at work were judging me.
“She’s just grumpy because Kennedy won’t stop trying to tell people about your little secret ,” Cassidy said loudly behind her hand.
Sam looked at me and frowned. I shook my head and let out an irritated breath.
“She thinks that Kennedy’s dream is real, and she’s getting a little too excited about something that’s not even on the way .”
Amelia and Ron turned to give us a curious glance but then had their attention pulled away by Kennedy, who was showing them the Santa and Mrs. Claus stuffies. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone pulled out their wallet and bought them for her.
“I mean, if that’s what she wants, I don’t mind leaving work early and going home to make that dream a reality,” Sam offered, tickling my sides.
“Oh my gosh,” I said with a snort. “You two knock it off. I can’t handle both of you right now.”
“No, but you sure can handle this cock tonight when we’re alone,” Sam whispered in my ear, giving me chills.
“Eeeew. Stop.” Cassidy dramatically shivered as if she had any idea what her brother just said to me.
“You don’t even know what he said,” I objected, swatting her on the arm.
“No, but it’s the way he’s looking at you. Get a room already.”
“We have one. At my house. Which will be empty tonight while we wrap presents and have—”
“Don’t you dare,” I warned, knowing Kennedy was eavesdropping again. It was her new favorite thing, and I found we had to be even more careful about what we said these days.
“Fine, take all the fun away. I gotta get back to the booth, but I just thought I’d come say hi. Let me know when you’re done, and I’ll see if I can get out early.”
“Okay, I will.”
I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, feeling nervous about PDA in front of his parents. He chuckled and smacked me on the ass when no one was looking, making my skin flush with heat.
I tried to stay focused on what Kennedy was looking at so I could finish the rest of my shopping. Thankfully, I had already bought things for Cassidy, Amelia, and Ron, but I wanted to make sure Kennedy had plenty to open on Christmas morning.
It was our first Christmas without her dad, and while I knew she was feeling angry toward him, I didn’t know how she would feel Christmas morning with everything being different. I hated that I couldn’t give her the familiarity of doing Christmas in the house she grew up in, but deep down, I hoped that these new experiences would be enough to shape some happy memories for her.
I sent Kennedy off with Cassidy for a bit while I made my way back around to all of the booths we could keep track of and bought the last gifts for Kennedy. Amelia and Ron were champions at remembering exactly which items she wanted and went out of their way to take the shopping bags to their car so she didn’t see them.
By the time we were done, I was exhausted and ready to call it a day.
I texted Sam to let him know we were finishing up and that I would get a ride back to his place with his parents since they were dropping off all of the gifts we were hiding from Kennedy.
He replied to let me know he would grab takeout on his way home and that he was leaving soon. The plan was to have dinner, drink some wine, and then put on Christmas music while we spent the night wrapping all of our gifts together—minus the ones we got for each other. It was weird how we fell so easily into a relationship and how my heart was so open to it. I’d felt a happiness with Sam that I hadn’t ever felt with anyone before, including Grant.