Chapter 15 #2
Mom finally broke, doing her delighted giggle thing. Then she poked me in the arm. “I like Harris.”
“Me, too.” I waggled my eyebrows.
“Evil,” she repeated. It only took a second before her smile was back. “I like seeing you so happy, my son. Am I going to lose you to this charming town and the handsome, honorable rancher?”
“I don’t know that you can actually call him a rancher,” I began, trying to deflect. Her pointed look cut me off. I sighed and set my fork down. “We haven’t talked about anything past New Year’s.”
“Damn, this is good,” Dad said, shoveling another bite into his mouth. Instead of chewing, he tucked it into his cheek and asked, “You going to?”
I shrugged. I didn’t want to commit to anything at this moment. Not to them. Mom would start spinning fantasies about our future, having us married and old, and Dad would complain that five hours away was still too far. I just didn’t have it in me. “We’ll see.”
“Well you should. I saw the way you were with each other. There’s a connection there and you should—”
“Mom.”
“All right, all right.” She held up her hands. “How’s your blood sugar? You’re a little snappy this morning.”
I clasped my hands in front of me and fought for patience. “I’m not answering that.”
“Ty, we just worry,” Dad tried to placate.
“I know. I get it. I do. Were I in your position, I would too. But try to see it from my point of view. If I didn’t have diabetes, I could still be ‘snappy’ as you called it.
Because my mother is meddling. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether I’m high or low. I am not just a chronic illness.”
They both looked shocked and I decided right then and there if they pushed it, if they insisted I check my blood sugar—which they’d done in the past—then I was hugging them goodbye and walking out.
I loved them to pieces, I really did, but this was a point of contention.
And I was done making allowances for them.
Either they trusted me to manage the diabetes, trusted that I would ask for help when I needed it, or they didn’t.
“You’re right,” Dad said after a moment. He wrapped an arm around Mom and I noticed she had tears in her eyes. She nodded, but didn’t speak. “We’ll do better.”
I’d heard that before, but I knew it was a process. As long as they actually tried, I’d keep forgiving them. “Thanks.”
Mom sniffled, wiped her nose quickly, then put on a bright smile. It was even almost real. She picked up her fork and cut off a bite of her French toast. “Will you send me pictures of you both tomorrow night? I’d love to see you dressed up all fancy.”
She added a little hand flare at the end, and I appreciated the subject change. I laughed. “Yeah, sure Mom. You bet.”
When I got home, Harris’s truck was parked at the house. Since I was in need of a tight hug, I raced inside, barely giving Cheddar more than a cursory pat. He followed me as I went in search of Harris, only to stop dead when I stepped foot in the living room.
“What the fuck?”
Harris’s head peeked out from behind a rather large Fraser fir. I could tell because it had that gorgeous blue-green color to the needles. It had to be at least six and half feet tall and was nice and full. He grimaced. “You’re back early.”
“It was just breakfast. They wanted to get on the road. What is all this?”
I mean, I knew what it was. Clearly. But what I wanted to know was why?
Harris understood that because he answered, “You wanted a tree. So a tree you shall have. I planned to surprise you with it.”
“Consider me surprised. Harris.” His name was hardly more than a breath. He’d literally shocked the air out of my lungs. The tree wobbled and I hurried over to help him steady it.
“Thanks. Let me just…” He bent again, able to tighten the screws on the stand. After a minute, he stood upright and I stepped back to admire it.
“Where did you get it?” I whispered.
Harris rubbed the back of his neck. “Cut it this morning. From the back of the property. I figure we’ll plant a new one in the spring.”
“It’s beautiful. Perfect.” I ran my fingers along one branch, the scent of pine and a little bit of citrus wafting up. I inhaled deeply, taking the scent of Christmas into my lungs.
“Here. Look. Morgan dropped off extra decorations. Though if this is the ‘extra’ I can’t image what he actually has in his house.
” The last was said with a bit of a mutter, and I turned to where he was standing.
There were three red totes and when Harris opened the lid, I saw I was filled with carefully packed ornaments.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I said, crossing to him in a quick stride and grabbing him. I hugged him tightly and he squeezed me back, breathing out heavily and ruffling my hair. After a second, he bent and tucked his face against my neck, kissing the skin.
“I wanted to,” he murmured. “I want Christmas with you.”
I pulled back, but only enough so I could grab his face and kiss him senseless.
This was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me.
Harris had heard what I didn’t say, and he made it happen.
Reached out to Morgan for decorations because he didn’t have any and actually went out and cut down one of his own trees.
My heart simply swelled with affection for this man.
“I want to keep kissing you.” He gave me another slow, heat-filled kiss. “And other things. Christ. So many other things. But I have to drive the sleigh this afternoon, so if you want to decorate, we need to do it now.”
My blood heated, just at the suggestion. But I really did want to decorate this tree and bring some festive cheer to this house I adored. So I pulled out of his hold, saw the brand new stockings, three of them, hanging on the mantel, and nearly threw myself back into his arms.
No. That would have to wait. But speaking of sexy things.
“Maybe after you’re done with the sleigh rides, I could join you for one?” I asked casually, bending to pick up the string of lights I saw neatly coiled in one of the totes. I stuck my ass out pointedly. “You know what those sleigh bells do to me.”
Harris growled playfully and made a grab at me, but I dodged it, laughing. He chased me but I held up the lights and he let out a sigh, giving in. He nodded and together, we wrapped them around the tree.
I found a Christmas playlist and with the carols crooning in the background, we decorated the Christmas tree.