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I hold it up to my throat, then turn around and lift my hair off my neck.

"Tie it for me."

His fingers work the knot at the back of my neck and take about four times longer than a knot requires. I run my thumb over the tooth. "I love it."

His eyes stay on the necklace instead of me. "It's not anything fancy."

I let my hair fall and turn back around. "I know. That's why I love it."

Then I remember. "Actually, I did get you something."

His eyebrows lift.

"Hold on."

I get up and go into the kitchen. The Walgreens bag is still tucked inside my purse. When I come back, I keep one hand behind my back.

"I didn't wrap it."

"Neither did I."

"True, but I don't even have a bag for you."

I hold out the box of condoms. He looks at it, then at me. "Thoughtful."

"I saw them and thought of you."

We both laugh, and then I clamp a hand over my mouth, remembering that Hildie is asleep down the hall.

"Funny how that works."

"I know. Christmas magic."

"How long was the one in your wallet in there, exactly, anyway?"

He doesn't answer right away, which is concerning either way.

"Couple years, maybe."

I stare at him.

"Carson."

"Three, maybe."

"You had a three-year-old condom folded in your wallet?"

"Allegedly."

"Well, mystery solved."

"Hang on," he says, and goes to the cedar chest under the front window.

He comes back with quilts. Three of them, plus a wool blanket, plus two large pillows off the sofa. He starts building something on the floor in front of the tree. I jump in to help.

"What are we doing?"

"I used to love making pallets on this floor when I was a kid. That couch is five foot four." He shakes a quilt out flat and squares the corner with his boot. "And as you know, the bed's not much longer."