Chapter 6
The Christmas gathering was already in full swing inside the Heart Falls fire hall. Light glowed through the windows, the faint sound of music and laughter slipping through the door each time someone new entered.
Kevin lingered outside, waiting for Edison.
Not only for his arrival tonight—but in the bigger sense. In the life sense.
Everything had shifted since their wintery art gallery date. It wasn’t just the kiss, or the way Edison had looked at him as if Kevin was made of magic. It was the quiet hope in his voice when he’d said he liked being with Kevin.
Kevin had never expected to fall in love with someone like Edison. Not because Edison wasn’t everything good—he was. He was joy and sparkle and light in human form.
But Kevin, if he was honest, had figured he’d end up with someone…quieter. Someone closer to his own flavor of reserved. Except that wasn’t how it had worked.
Thank God.
Because now? Now Kevin knew what it was to laugh so hard he couldn’t breathe while Edison narrated their next holiday deliveries like a game show host. He knew what it felt like to stand behind Edison in the chilly wind and watch him hug half the town with a goodie tray in one hand and his heart in the other.
To witness the way people lit up when they saw him.
To feel lucky every time Edison slipped his arm into the crook of Kevin’s elbow.
Kevin wouldn’t change any of it. Not the brightness. Not the volume. Not even the glitter.
Especially not the glitter.
A crunch of boots over snow brought him out of his thoughts as Edison appeared around the side of the building, cheeks pink from the cold.
A giant grin bloomed instantly as he caught sight of Kevin.
He wore the same coat as last time—bright red with navy accents—and the rainbow scarf Jinx had made him.
Kevin’s chest squeezed.
“I swear, you always show up looking like a freaking catalogue ad,” Edison teased, fanning a mittened hand in front of his face. “All dapper and serious. You’re hot enough to summon an early spring.”
Kevin huffed a laugh and offered his arm. “And you look like the spirit of Christmas threw a parade and crowned you the grand marshal.”
“Excellent,” Edison said, looping their arms together. “I’ll have you know I take my duties very seriously, so get ready for some serious Christmas good-cheering.”
Together they continued around the side of the building toward the side yard where the annual snowman exhibit had been set up. Kevin had heard about it—one of the firefighters’ pet projects—but seeing it in person was something else.
There were at least twenty snowmen. Some upright, some toppled over. Some with scarves, some with little foam swords. A few lay face-first in the snow, and one had what looked like a plastic ribcage sticking out of its middle.
Kevin blinked. “Are they…zombies?”
“The theme this year is Snowpocalypse,” Edison said proudly. “Alex told me all about it. The front-line soldiers are the good guys. The others are in full infected mode. It’s very dramatic. High stakes.”
A plastic flamingo had been impaled on a stick and planted like a flag. It’s bird head was missing, replaced with a snowball with the classic carrot nose and coal eyes. Kevin gestured toward it. “And that one?”
“Casualty of war.”
Kevin laughed, shaking his head. “Of course.”
Edison pulled him toward the huddle of snowmen in the center, where a bench nestled between two upright posts with old fashioned signposts saying how far to the North Pole and Santa’s workshop. Some joker had added one that gave the distance to West Edmonton Mall. Fairy lights framed the setup.
Across from the set up sat a tripod with a camera holder, and the cardboard sign read Selfie Station.
“Come on. We’re doing this.” Edison practically bounced. “The lighting’s perfect, and I need to immortalize the scarf in all its glory.”
Kevin let himself be dragged. “So, this is for documentation purposes?”
“It’s for thank you card purposes,” Edison replied sweetly. “Now sit.”
They squished together on the bench, thighs brushing, breath visible in the air between them.
Kevin tried not to stare, but Edison’s lashes had caught snowflakes, little diamonds that clung to the dark curves.
His cheeks were pink, his eyes impossibly bright, and Kevin’s heart thudded painfully in his chest.
He wanted to say it right then.
Wanted to grab Edison’s hand and say, I love you. I think I might love you more every time you laugh. Every time you give someone a handmade gift, or talk to dogs like they’re toddlers, or tell me I’m allowed to be quiet.
Instead, he pressed a gloved hand to Edison’s cheek, leaned in slowly, and kissed him.
The flash went off the exact second their lips met.
Edison fluttered his lashes. “We’re going to look like a couple on the cover of a romance novel.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Kevin grinned. “I’d be proud to model with you.”
The answering heart-in-eyes was clear enough.
They took a few more photos—silly poses, serious ones, one with Kevin impulsively lifting Edison bridal-style, which nearly ended in both of them face-first in the snow.
Finally, Edison reached out and wrapped his arms tight around Kevin’s waist. “I like this,” he said softly.
Kevin rested his forehead against Edison’s. “Me too.”
A long moment passed. The kind where time slows down, where Kevin felt as if he could stay right there forever. With the snow falling and Edison wrapped around him because nothing else mattered.
But then Edison’s arms tensed slightly. He leaned back with something in his eyes that looked suspiciously like nerves.
“As much fun as this is,” he said, clearing his throat, “we should head in. I promised Yvette I’d taste test her new cranberry punch and pretend not to notice how much rum is in it.”
Kevin nodded. “Lead the way.”
They brushed snow from each other’s coats and headed toward the front doors of the fire hall. As they walked, Edison slipped his hand into Kevin’s and held on tight.
Inside, warmth hit them in a rush along with the smell of turkey, chocolate, and cookies.
Christmas lights ran across the ceiling in zigzag patterns.
Someone had hung tinsel along the beams. A small stage had been set up at the back, with a mic and speakers.
Music played softly in the background, some classic crooner version of “Let It Snow.”
People were gathered in clusters all around them. Edison waved, and at least six smiling attendees waved back in the first ten seconds.
Kevin knew most of the Heart Falls residents now, at least by sight. He nodded at Brooke and Mack by the dessert table, exchanged smiles with Declan and Sydney, and spotted Ryan and Maddy setting out extra chairs.
Brad was by the buffet, arguing with Alex about whose meatballs smelled better.
The two of them both wore appropriately ugly sweaters for the evening, although Alex’s was decidedly brighter—his sweater glowed like an underwater aquarium lit with spotlights.
It was as bright as if an entire string of Christmas lights were tangled around his torso.
Brad’s sweater glistened in the lights, covered with way more glitter than was probably safe near an open buffet.
Edison leaned in. “Want to take bets on when the sweater competition starts?”
“Hopefully before we go blind from the flashing lights?”
“He’s committed,” Edison said solemnly. “You have to respect the hustle.”
They were almost to the coat rack when Kevin stopped. His surprise was ready. Carefully chosen. Maybe even perfect.
But he didn’t want to give it to Edison in the middle of the coat line.
Edison, still holding his hand, glanced back with a questioning smile. “You okay?”
Kevin squeezed once, grounding himself in the feeling of Edison’s glove against his own. “I’m great.”
The best he’d been in years. Better than great.
Because somewhere between the first delivery on Thursday and the moment they stood here now, hand in hand beneath blinking Christmas lights and surrounded by people who made them feel like family, Kevin had stopped worrying about whether Edison was too bright, too much, too dazzling for someone like him.
He’d realized that Edison was exactly what he wanted. Exactly what he needed.
And Kevin would do whatever it took to make sure Edison knew it. Even if it meant fully embracing his rainbow side—with glitter on his scarf and love in his actions.