CHAPTER TWENTY
Garrick
Kids aren’t on my radar. A fucking relationship hasn’t even been on my radar. I mean, I guess if I think about it, I’ve always wanted a big family like my own, but not until I have my business running on all cylinders, so I can support everyone.
I cannot have a kid now. I just can’t.
Blue’s face is ashen when we walk out of the guest room together. She’s staring at her phone and muttering to herself. At the top of the stairs, she grabs my hand and pulls me back into the bedroom.
She’s strong when she’s determined, and she looks so terrified I let her lead me. She shuts the door gently, peeking out as she does it, like she’s worried someone might be out there watching or eavesdropping.
I take a seat on the bed and she paces. She’s in a dress now, a sparkly red dress for the holiday, with candy cane hair clips in her pink hair, and tall heels on her feet.
I get a bit distracted by the way the heels make her calves pop and her round ass moves as she walks.
“Garrick.” She stops in front of me and I remember things aren’t happy or easy right now. “I’m ovulating.”
I just stare at her. “What?”
“I mean, I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I looked it up and now is about the right time in my cycle for me to be ovulating.”
“Shit.” My heart plummets to my feet like a lump of coal. “But the pill will take care of it, right?”
She looks so sad. I am such a fucking idiot for forgetting the condom. I never, ever do that. I just got so caught up in the moment and I lost all common sense.
Put me back in my childhood home and apparently, the worst, most irresponsible parts of me surface again.
“According to what I found, there’s no pill that will work if I’m already ovulating. All the pill does is prevent me from ovulating so I can’t get pregnant.”
I rub a hand over my face. “Okay. This is okay. We’ll figure this out, Blue. We’ll get through this together.”
“But we aren’t together,” she says. “We don’t want to be together.”
Before I can argue or tell her something stupid, like how she’s the only person I want to be with right now, or that I don’t think fucking her just that one time will ever be enough, she starts pacing again. Neither of those sentiments would be helpful right now.
“This is what we’re going to do. We’ll get the pill and I’ll take it and we’ll wait. We’ll just have to wait and see if I get my period in two weeks or not. Two weeks isn’t that long. We can wait two weeks and not lose our minds, right?”
I hop off the bed, grab her shoulders, and look her right in the eye. “We can wait two weeks. Two weeks is nothing. Let’s get the pill and get back so we can enjoy Christmas, okay? We’ll put all of this out of our minds until we have an answer.”
She sucks in a deep breath. “Okay. Good plan.”
Together, we go downstairs, make excuses and head out to the nearest drugstore. We get what we need and Blue takes the pill right there in the truck.
By the time we get back to the house, it’s fully dark. The house is lit up, as it is every Christmas, with a department store size inventory of colored lights and an ornately decorated Christmas tree in every front-facing window.
“Wow,” Blue says. “I didn’t get this view yesterday. Your parents really take the holiday seriously.”
It’s the first thing she’s said since she took the pill, and I jump on it as the distraction we need. “I think it’s a mixture of loving the holiday and guilt about always having to work on the actual day.”
“Oh, my god,” Blue says. “How am I going to raise a kid when I’m the mayor? I barely get home before eight every night as it is, and you’re gone for days at a time sometimes. My mother would make a terrible babysitter, and—”
I pull her into my arms in a tight hug. It’s difficult in the small space of the cab, but I manage it. “We won’t worry about any of that now. Chances are you aren’t pregnant and we’re going to pretend you aren’t until we find out otherwise.”
“Good,” she says against my shirt. “I like that plan.”
“Of course you do. I always have the best plans.”
She snorts and pulls away. “Are we doing presents first? I need to go up to my room to get them if we are.”
My heart melts for her just the tiniest bit. “You brought presents?”
“I’m not going to come to your family’s home to celebrate Christmas and not bring presents, Evergreen. What kind of monster do you think I am?”
I pull her in for another hug, kiss the top of her head, and let her go. “Presents first, then a dinner of takeout Thai.”
“Yum. My kind of Christmas dinner.”
“Neither of my parents like to cook.” I open my door. “I’ll go with you to grab the presents. We don’t need you getting lost again.”
She doesn’t argue, which makes it clear just how freaked out she really is. We sneak inside and hurry to our room where she pulls out the largest of her two suitcases, puts it on the bed, and starts pulling out gift bags and wrapped boxes.
There’s so much stuff it covers the entire bed.
“You really didn’t have to do all this, Blue.”
She looks at me like I’m confused. “Of course I did. You want me to be a believable girlfriend? I’m going to bring gifts for everyone. Including you.”
I’m beyond glad I had the foresight to get a truly nice gift for her. I figured we could just say we were saving the gift-giving for the actual day, but this is better.
“Thank you,” I say. “I don’t think I’ve said it before, but I really appreciate you doing this for me. You’ve gone above and beyond what I could have asked or expected.”
Her smile is warm and open. “You’re welcome. I’ll expect you to work your ass off for the festival planning.”
I’m not sure I’m going to have much time for that at all. I’ve had three emails from Horizon Solutions since I’ve been at my parents’ house. They have a ton of requirements, and I’m going to have to work night and day to meet them all. But now is not the time to discuss how much I’ll have to give for the festival. “Ready to head down?”
She nods, and we gather everything up and head downstairs.
“There he is.” Mom hurries over to us with a tight smile. The rest of the family are seated on couches in the den at the back of the house. An enormous Christmas tree takes up most of the room, its light almost blinding. Beneath it are piles and piles of presents.
My parents have always gone, and will probably always go, overboard.
“We were starting to worry.” Mom reaches for the bags and boxes we’re carrying. “Garrick, you didn’t have to do all this. I’ll put these under the tree.”
“I didn’t do it. These are all from Blue.”
Mom’s eyes widen in honest shock. “Oh, how sweet.” She takes the gifts and puts them under the tree, but she looks oddly uncomfortable.
“There you are.” I spin to see my dad walk in with a tall woman, her hair in a loose bun, wearing jeans and a hoodie. She looks familiar, but I can’t place her. “Look who decided to join us tonight.”
I grab Blue’s hand and drag her with me toward my father. I’m not sure why, but I’m definitely thinking having her by my side is a good idea.
“Hey, Dad.” I hold out my hand to the woman. “Garrick Evergreen, I don’t believe we’ve met.”
The woman laughs. “I told you he wouldn’t remember me, Howard.”
That laugh also sounds familiar, but… “Avery? Avery Blackwell?”
“See, he hasn’t forgotten,” Dad says with a brisk nod of satisfaction.
Avery’s smile is open and warm. “It’s good to see you again, Garrick.”
“You, too. This is my girlfriend, Blue.”
Avery’s smile falls as she shakes Blue’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Avery is my ex-girlfriend. The one I dated in eleventh grade who introduced me to paranormal romance. We lasted about a month and my fondest memory is the love I found for romances involving vampires and werewolves. I have no idea why she’s here. Christmas has always been just for family and the rare significant other. “Are your parents here?”
“Nope.” Avery’s smile gets bigger, almost painfully so. “It’s just me. It was so nice of your parents to invite me.”
Does that mean she’s dating one of my siblings? Wouldn’t she have said they invited her, not my parents?
My mother walks over and stands next to me. “You and Avery used to be so close. Isn’t it great to see her again?”
“It’s good to see you again, Avery.” I turn to my mother. “Should we open presents? I’m sure we’ve kept Layla and Colton waiting long enough.”
“Oh, they’re fine,” Mom says with a strained laugh. “You should take some time to catch up with Avery. She’s living in Sugar Valley again and working on ski patrol for the winter.”
“I’m a nurse,” Avery says. “I’ll be working at Doctor Olivetree’s office in the summer.”
“Isn’t that wonderful?” Mom asks. “Blue, honey, why don’t you help me separate out the presents so these two can catch up?”
“Sure,” Blue says, but she doesn’t move. She looks up at me, the concern on her face obvious.
My parents are trying to set me up. While I’m here with a girlfriend.
I grip her hand tighter. “Blue should get to know Avery, too. You’ve got a house full of people who can help you, Mom.”
Mom huffs. “Everyone else is busy,” she says in a low voice. “I’m sure your girlfriend can handle a task as simple as sorting gifts.”
Blue squeezes my hand, letting me know she’s here for me. “I’m sure I can handle it, but I’d love to get to know Avery.”
Gratitude to have her on my side warms me and gives me the strength to stand my ground. “If no one else can sort the presents, Blue and Avery can do it. I’d like to talk to the two of you, Mom and Dad, alone.”
“Now, Garrick,” Dad says in his gruff, commanding voice. “There’s no need to be rude to our guest. Do as your mother asks.”
There was a time that voice would have sent me running. Instead of fighting back or acknowledging my hurt, I’d get the hell out of the house and look for trouble. It was the only thing that made me feel better. “I’m not the one being rude.” I smile at Avery. “It really is very good to see you again, but I need to speak to my parents.”
Avery glances at my parents, twisting her hands together nervously. “Of course. I’ll help Blue sort the presents.”
“Thank you.” I look down at Blue, and she gives me a small nod. She doesn’t argue or even look annoyed by this whole thing. She just has my back, no questions asked.
Finally, I let go of Blue’s hand. She gives Avery a kind smile and says something to her in a low voice that makes her laugh. Blue might say I’m the charmer, but she has her own ability to make everyone feel welcome and accepted.
I lead my parents out of the room, down the hall, and into my father’s office. Dad’s face is red and I can practically see smoke coming from his ears. “What the hell are you doing, Garrick? You can be reckless, but I’ve never known you to be rude.”
I am so angry there might be smoke coming out of my ears, but I’m also hurt. I thought there might be a chance for me to have a relationship with my family again, but I was obviously wrong. “You don’t think it was rude to set me up with Avery when I’m here with a girlfriend? How do you think Blue is feeling right now?”
My mother has the decency to look ashamed. “We aren’t setting you up. We ran into Avery on the slopes today and invited her because it’s been so long since we’ve seen her.”
I stare her down. “You invited her to our family Christmas so she can sit around and watch all of us open presents? That makes no sense.”
“Don’t speak to your mother that way,” my father roars.
“After today, you won’t have to worry about me speaking any way to either of you,” I say calmly. It’s clear to me now that my parents are never going to change. They’re never going to see me as anything but a screw up. They’re never going to stop trying to manipulate me into doing what they think is best. “I’m done.”
My mother presses a hand to her chest. “You’re overreacting. We simply invited an old family friend to a family get together. That’s no reason to cut us out of your life.”
“It is when you’re trying to manipulate me to get me to do what you want. Have you even thought about what I want?”
“What you want is moronic,” my father says. “You’re just trying to prove a point. Well, you’ve proved it, and it’s time for you to come home and start contributing to the family business.”
I’m so furious I can barely speak. “I knew it. I knew you suggesting I move my business back here was just a ploy to get me to work for you. How long were you going to let me run my own business before you forced me back?”
“Oh, now you’re just being dramatic,” Mom says. “Your father and I are retiring. We won’t be forcing you into anything. You would come back here and you’d see that working for the resort makes the most sense. You’d also see, if you just opened your eyes, that Avery is a wonderful woman. She’s educated, capable, and competent. She loves to ski, and she’s planning to stay here in Sugar Valley. I’m sure Blue is very fun, but she’s not the kind of woman to create a family with.”
Her words bring me right back to the mistake I made with Blue this morning. I might be starting a family much sooner than I ever planned, and it makes me go cold from my toes to the top of my head. But even in the middle of the terror, I know that if the worst happens and Blue is pregnant and she goes through with the pregnancy, she will be an amazing mother.
She’s loyal and caring, but she’s also fiercely protective of the people she cares about. Any kid would be lucky to call her mom.
And if my mother can’t see that, that’s her mistake.
“I’m done,” I say. “I’ve tried, but I refuse to stay here and allow you to manipulate me and be cruel to my girlfriend.”
My mother pales and grips the nearest chair like she needs help staying upright.
“You will not leave this house in the middle of our family Christmas,” my father says. “I won’t allow it.”
I shove my fists in my pockets so I won’t be tempted to shake some sense into him. “Hate to break it to you, Dad, but I’m not a little kid you can boss around anymore.”
Before I say anything I might regret, I walk out of that office and head up to the guest room. I pack up all our stuff and carry it out to the truck. Then I grab Barry from the backyard and get her settled in the truck.
The whole time, my brain is spinning over whether my parents are right and I’m being overly dramatic. I don’t come to any conclusion other than I can’t stay here. I just physically cannot be in this house a moment longer.
When I step back into the family room, no one seems to be aware of my impending departure. Even my parents look relaxed and happy, chatting with two of my brothers. They probably assume I’ve cooled down and will decide to stay.
They really don’t know me at all.
Blue and Avery must have finished sorting the gifts, because they’re together on a love seat away from the others. They seem to be deep in conversation and are both smiling.
I could easily join them and pretend everything is fine. I could pretend I have parents who respect my wishes and care about what makes me happy.
Maybe that’s what a better person would do, but I’m not that person.
I avoid a pointed stare from Hudson and go over to Blue and Avery. Blue looks up at me with a smile, but worry in her eyes.
Bending over, I whisper in her ear. “Come with me?”
She doesn’t hesitate. She smiles at Avery. “Looks like Garrick needs my help with something. It was great meeting you.”
Avery keeps her obvious confusion to herself. “You too. I’m definitely going to have to make a trip to Yuletide to see how much it’s changed.”
“Stop by the mayor’s office and say hi when you do.” Blue gets to her feet and follows me toward the door.
We’ve almost made it when my mother’s voice cuts through the happy chatter. “Oh, for heaven's sake, you aren’t seriously leaving, Garrick. This is overly dramatic, even for you.”
I look down at Blue, but she shrugs, like she’s telling me to do whatever I need to. She must see something in my eyes, because she nods and I just know she has my back, no matter what.
I turn to face my family. “We’re heading back to Yuletide. It was good to see you all. Thanks for the hospitality.”
“You’re leaving on Christmas?” Theo asks, completely bewildered. He sees our parents as warm, generous, and loving. He’s always blamed me whenever there’s been any kind of conflict between us. I don’t expect him to take my side this time.
I could lie and say there’s an emergency or that Blue’s family needs her, but they would all ask questions or want to help and it would get too messy. “I’m sorry to miss out on the gift exchange. My presents to all of you are under the tree.” I wave and pull Blue along with me before anyone can say anything else.
“This is unacceptable,” my father roars. It shouldn’t surprise me he expects me to stick around after the argument we had, but he never seems to expect me to rebel, no matter how many times I do it.
Blue doesn’t ask questions. She just walks briskly beside me through the house and to the front door.
“Garrick, hold up.”
It’s Hudson, so I turn to face him. I wrap an arm around Blue’s shoulders like I can protect her from the drama - or maybe I just need the comfort. “Sorry, Hudson. I thought I could do this, but I can’t.”
“Clearly.” Hudson says with a weak smile. “What happened?”
“The usual.”
Hudson winces. “When Avery showed up, I thought…” He glances at Blue, grimaces, then looks at me. “I didn’t think they’d go this far. When they said they just want you to be happy, I believed them.”
“Problem is, they’re completely wrong about what will make me happy.”
“Yeah. I get it.” He slaps my shoulder, then wraps both me and Blue up in a bear hug. “Love you, brother. Nice meeting you, Blue.”
We hug him back.
“Lovely meeting you,” Blue says.
“Love you, too, Hudson,” I say.
We break out of the hug and turn for the door. I wish I could take Hudson with us. I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with my big brother.
“Don’t leave, yet.”
We turn back again to see Maisey racing down the hall, her arms full of packages. “Take these with you.”
“You can just mail them to us,” I say. My family tries with gifts, but other than Hudson, none of them knows me well enough to give me what I’d really like. And the reminder of how little they know me always hurts.
I can accept I’m partly to blame for that, but I don’t think there’s any way to change it at this point.
Maisey frowns. “Okay, but at least take the gifts you got for each other.”
“We’ll take them all.” Blue gathers up as much as she can from Maisey and elbows me until I take the rest. “We have room in the truck and we’ll save you the trouble of shipping them.”
“Thanks, Maisey,” I say. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, big brother. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
We wave goodbye again and leave as quickly as we can.