Page 14 of Once Upon A Christmas Song

“I did.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got that under control now. Don’t worry about it.”

But I would, and there were more questions to ask. “Are you using anything else? Anything worse?”

“Like?”

“Anything you’re shooting into a vein?”

He scoffed. “You know that’s not me. I don’t even get a flu shot because needles are scary.”

I exhaled sharply. I hadn’t thought so, but I had to know. “Good.”

“You know better.”

“But I haven’t seen you, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he agreed after a moment, his voice breaking.

“Just relax now.”

Once I had the GPS programmed, we were off.

I had so much I wanted to say to him, but I waited until I was on the I-10 West and more comfortable with where I was going. When I turned to look at him, though, he was passed out. Since I figured he needed his sleep, I let him catch up on it while I drove.

It took a bit to get there, but once I went from Highway 1 to another freeway and finally reached Topanga Road, I found the property nestled in the hills and started down the private drive of what turned out to be several cabins scattered across a small area.

I woke up Dawson, who said his was the farthest out, and that he didn’t want us to use Ben’s, which I had the code for.

“I know the code for mine,” he assured me, taking my hand and only then seeing my duffel. “Oh, you brought clothes.”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling awkward suddenly. “I didn’t want to assume you’d have time to spend with⁠—”

“I have time,” he husked, tugging on my hand. “Come on.”

The cabin, two bedrooms, one bathroom, was small, about 1100 square feet, but it was cozy inside with wooden floors and a small fireplace, a lovely living room with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, a kitchen with Talavera tile, and a small reading nook overlooking the backyard. The main bedroom also opened out to the back, with a view of the canyon. It felt like a retreat.

“This is really nice.”

“It’s good now,” he whispered, and rushed me.

After I hugged him tight, I told him he needed a shower and new clothes.

“My skin sort of hurt when I tried the other day,” he confessed.

“Well, let’s try again,” I persisted gently.

Once he was under the water, he sighed deeply.

“Better now?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I think it’s because you’re here.”

I grinned. “Is there food in your kitchen or somewhere else?”

“In mine.”

“Okay, then, I’m gonna see what’s there, all right?”