“Exactly.” He grins, and I chuckle. “If you’re going to mark a memory, might as well have it be something worth remembering.”
I hum, looking around the room. “What about here? All your memories in this house can’t be bad, can they?”
“No, I guess not.” He juts his chin at the corner of the room. “See that spot over there by the slider? That’s where my mom put the Christmas tree every year. We had the same one my whole childhood, with the ridiculous fake snow clumps on the needles. Half the lights didn’t work anymore, and it was too big for that spot, so it was always crammed in the corner and butting up against the ceiling. But my mom loved that tree. Shesaid it was the only snow we were going to get in Vegas, so I might as well appreciate it.”
“She’s not wrong,” I say. “What happened to the tree?”
“It’s in the attic somewhere. Dad stopped bringing it out after she died.” He stares off at the corner, remembering a different time.
“Have you thought about bringing it back down?” I ask when he’s been quiet for a while.
Hayes shakes his head. “No, but I thought about getting one like it with working lights.”
I’ve never liked fake Christmas trees, especially ones with fake snow on them. But as Hayes stares at the corner like it holds the only part of his childhood that doesn’t make him hate this house, I decide I wouldn’t mind it.
“Christmas was the one good day around here,” Hayes continues. “Dad actually showed up for breakfast and presents on Christmas morning. And since it was a holiday, Mom would be laughing—smiling even. It was the only day they wouldn’t fight in front of me. As I got older, I realized that didn’t mean they weren’t fighting at all, but at least for that day, it felt like we were a family.”
“Sometimes a day is all we can ask for.” I shrug, knowing that a little too well.
He tips his chin at me. “What about you?”
“Christmas wasn’t really the same for me after I lost my parents,” I admit. “It was one of the few events my uncle would bring us all together though. He always got me exactly what I asked for. He loved throwing his wealth around, and Christmas was a good excuse for it. One day a year, he spoiled me and my cousins.”
“Oh, right.” Hayes seems to remember something. “Your cousin is Mason. He’s a good guy.”
“You know Mason?”
“He’s married to the sister of our VP in the LA club.” Hayes rakes his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know him well, but we’ve met.”
“I forgot that Reed’s family had MC ties,” I say. “And I didn’t realize they were Twisted Kings. I haven’t seen Mason in a while. He’s eight years older than me, so we were never close, but he and Sienna were always kind to me. And even after he moved to LA, he’d check in. He said if I ever needed help or wanted to get out of Vegas to just call him.”
“You didn’t though?”
I frown. “I couldn’t. My uncle was horrible to me, but that’s nowhere near as bad as he was with his own children. I couldn’t drag Mason back into it after he’d finally gotten away. He deserved to be happy. Although, I should probably call him and let him know what’s going on now that I’m here. How did I not think of that?”
“There’s been a lot happening.” Hayes smiles, glancing down at Charlie. “I’ll shoot him a text with your new phone number and let him know you’re okay.”
“Thank you.” Tears sting my eyes at his thoughtfulness. “It’s amazing when you think about everything that came before this.”
I reach for Charlie. Even in her sleep, her fingers curl around mine when I touch her palm.
“I never thought something so perfect could come out of such a mess.”
“Like a phoenix from the ashes,” Hayes says.
“Maybe that’s what I should have named her: Phoenix.”
“There’s always the next one.” He winks. “Speaking of… I think it’s past her bedtime.”
“You’re only saying that because you’re ready for a littlebedtimeof our own.”
“I’m always trying to get you into bed, freckles.”
“Shameless,” I tease.
He grins, standing, and pulls me with him. “And proud of it.”
31
