Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Aaron
Every time with Jenna is better than the last, and when we’re apart, I can’t wait until the next time I get to see her.
And while it’s weird that I don’t have to get Colin today, I know I’ll get to spend more time than normal with Jenna, which will make this whole week far more enjoyable.
Plus, I think it’ll be good for our relationship for me to have more open ended time rather than constantly having to rush off to pick up my son after only a couple of hours.
I stayed the night last night, and this morning when she’s making us coffee she says, “Why don’t you plan on coming over again tonight? Pack a bag and stay the night. And we can split time between your place too, if you want.”
It’s cute how she tosses it out as casually as she can, barely glancing at me as she says it.
I catch the slight apprehension in her face, though, at the invitation.
“That sounds perfect,” I say, tugging my shirt down.
“We can do tonight here again, and then tomorrow night at mine? Or would you rather stay here all week since you have to be at work in the mornings.”
She grins at me. “Don’t you have to work too?”
Shrugging, I shake my head. “I don’t typically have much of a commute. I also already blocked out these two weeks while Colin’s out of school months ago. Sure, there are a few things I could do, but I don’t want to train my clients to expect work out of me during my stated vacation time.”
“What about the farm?” she asks, handing me a mug of coffee.
“Thank you,” I murmur, accepting it. “My mom has a good handle on the farm. And at this point, I’m not cutting down any more trees myself.
If someone wants one, they can choose from what we have left, which is admittedly not much this close to Christmas, or they can cut their own.
The U-cut section still has plenty to choose from, and we have tools people can rent for pretty cheap if they don’t have their own.
Besides,” I shrug, “business starts slowing down by now. Today might be a little busy still, since it’s the weekend, but next week …
” I shake my head, sipping my coffee. “It’ll be pretty light.
So, no, I don’t mind staying here if it makes your life easier.
Then on Wednesday, I can just bring your bag over to my place when I leave here so all you have to do is come over once you’re done with the last day of ChristmasFest.”
She raises her eyebrows at me. “Aren’t you planning on stopping by for the closing?”
Grinning, I nod. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.” That’s another one of those traditions Colin and I have. Jake and Mara make a big production at the end of the evening of Santa leaving to get ready to deliver toys that night. It’s a lot of fun. I wonder if his mom will take him …
I bat that thought aside. I shouldn’t be so concerned with what she’s doing with Colin. They’ll start their own traditions, and it doesn’t have to impact mine. I still need to text her about the Christmas Eve PJs, though. If she’s planning on doing that, I don’t want to step on her toes.
Jenna steps in front of me, pressing up to give me a kiss. Something about spending the night together has made us both more comfortable with each other, and the morning’s been full of little touches, quick kisses, the kind of things people do in established relationships.
“Well, if you get bored, feel free to stop by ChristmasFest to say hi.” She grins. “I always like seeing you.”
“Even if you know you’re going to see me tonight?”
“Especially if I know I’m going to get to spend the night with you again.”
When Jenna heads to work, I go home. But like I told Jenna, there isn’t much to do at my house today. There’s no work to be done, and when I stop by the farm, Mom shoos me away. “Go finish getting ready for Christmas,” she tells me, as though there’s a million things I still need to do.
I suppose I could go ahead and wrap Colin’s gifts, even if I won’t give them to him yet.
That doesn’t take long, though. Typically, I leave a few unwrapped and set them out for him to wake up to on Christmas morning with tags saying they’re from Santa.
But since Santa will visit his mom’s house this year, I go ahead and wrap everything.
But in less than an hour, I’m once again at a loose end. So I text Amelia, since that was the only other thing on my to-do list today.
Hey. I hope you’re having a good time with Colin. I usually give him Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve. I got him some last month, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted to do that on Christmas Eve or would it be okay for me to give them to him at dinner?
Once I hit send, I grab my keys, put on my jacket, and head to ChristmasFest. I do still need to find a present for Jenna. I’ve been to her house a few times now, and I know she doesn’t have a ton of stuff beyond furniture in there. I could get her something cool to hang on her wall, maybe?
I smirk as I get an idea—she’s probably the type to use some kind of planner. The year’s almost over. I could get her a fancy new planner.
She also does need a new coat … something warmer than what she wears. I left the one I brought over for sledding so she could use it if she wanted to, but I haven’t seen her wear it. Maybe she feels weird about wearing a borrowed coat as an everyday item? If I got one for her, though …
I could get both, that way if one thing is a miss, there’s a better chance of her liking something.
And since I’m going to see her at ChristmasFest, I could check out her office, see if she has a planner on her desk.
If I know what brand she likes, it’ll make it easier to get her something she’ll use.
When I get to ChristmasFest, I wander the aisles, seeing if anyone has any cool calendars or planners or organizational tools that I think she’d like. I figure I’ll likely bump into her eventually this way, plus I’ll be able to scope out what’s available without her knowing what I’m doing.
Just as I spot a booth that has what I’m looking for—handmade notebooks with tooled leather covers that I’m pretty sure are refillable, which means if she likes it, she can just replace the guts when she needs to—Jenna spots me. “Aaron!” she calls, waving from the end of the aisle.
Torn between happiness at seeing her and disappointment that she found me before I could check out that booth, I make for her instead of the vendor. “Hey! There you are.”
She gives me a funny look. “Why didn’t you text me when you got here?”
I shrug. “I thought it’d be more fun this way. Sort of like a weird, Christmassy hide and seek.”
Laughing, she shakes her head, stepping in close and giving me a kiss. My hands immediately go to her hips, but she pulls away before I can do more than return a quick press of my lips against hers. Probably for the best, considering we’re in public and at her job.
“You’re goofy,” she says, grabbing my hand and turning to lead me back the way she came.
She stops short in front of the booth I was planning on looking at.
Reaching out, she caresses one of the journal covers—green leather with a tree of life design on it.
“Aren’t these gorgeous?” she asks. “I keep stopping and looking at them at least once a day.”
“They are. I’d probably look at them daily if I were here too. Have you bought one yet?”
Pressing her lips together, she shakes her head. “No. I’d really want to take the time to look over all of them and decide which one I like best. But I don’t have time. I shouldn’t shop while I’m on the clock, and when I’m not on the clock, everything’s closed.”
“You did take Mondays off. So that’s not entirely accurate.”
She gives me a pointed look. “Would you want to go to work on your day off?”
“I work at home, so …”
I laugh when she rolls her eyes and throws her free hand in the air, huffing and moving down the aisle again.
“If I came in on my day off,” she says, “I can guarantee I’d immediately be roped into some crisis or other.
Even when I’m not here, I usually get texts from someone who’s upset about something. ”
“I guess that’s what happens when you’re good at your job. Everyone knows you’ll have the solution to their problems.”
Glancing back at me over her shoulder, she smirks. “That or they’re hoping if they throw enough crap at me, I’ll collapse beneath the weight of it and slink away with my tail between my legs.”
I pull her to a stop, then realize we’re in the middle of a high-traffic area and guide her into a corner next to one of the groupings of potted trees. I haven’t actually been in here to check them out in a couple of weeks. “The trees look great.”
“Thank you. I’ve made sure to follow your instructions for how to make sure they do well.”
My heart warms at that. “I appreciate that. Not everyone seems to care that much. They think the instructions are more suggestions, and then they get mad when their trees get droopy and sad.”
“Well, since you came in here and tore that vendor a new asshole for dumping coffee in the pots, everyone has left them alone and let me or my designees take care of them. I posted a watering schedule in the back so that everyone knows when they’ve been watered last. And the other vendors are watching out to make sure that the trees stay healthy and that no one else is dumping their leftover drinks into the pots.
A couple people told me they stopped some teenagers from doing that last week. ”
“Oh, wow. I’m, uh …” I look at her, frowning. “Wait. Did you say I tore a vendor a new asshole?” Affronted, I cross my arms, feeling the need to defend myself. “I did no such thing. I just impressed upon them that they were responsible for the trees losing their needles.”
She giggles. “Yeah. ‘Impressed upon them’ by reaming them in front of god and everyone.”
I can’t help laughing at that description, and I let my arms drop. “That’s not quite how I remember it.”