AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s fat,” Patton said, laughing. “Not chubby, but fat fat.”
“Oh, hush,” their mother said. “I’ll find your baby book next and we’ll see who wins pudgiest baby.”
“Please,” Cady agreed.
“Is this some sort of new holiday tradition I didn’t know about?” Spencer asked. “Public humiliation?”
“There’s no shame in you being an adorable baby, Spencer.” His mother sighed. “You’re so tense. I think you’ve gotten worse than Patton these days.”
Everyone in the kitchen looked at him then. His brothers, his sisters-in-law and Tatum. She looked sad.
“He just needs some Christmas cheer.” Lucy shoved a cup of eggnog into his hand. “Eat, drink, be merry,” she said.
Conversation drifted back to him and his brother’s childhood. Lucy patted a chair at the table, conveniently located beside Tatum, and he sat. He leaned her way, his hand itching to take hers. Instead, he studied her profile, the ease of her smile and the curve of her cheek.
She caught him looking. “What’s wrong?” she asked him, softly.
He shook his head.
She frowned. “What is it?”
“It’s almost midnight,” he said, staring at her.
She swallowed, realization widening her green green eyes. “Oh...”
He could kiss her. He could tell her he loved her. But all he managed was “I...I want my time. Even if I have to take a rain check.”
“A rain check?” she repeated, her cheeks turning a rosy hue.
He stopped breathing. More time with her. “A deal is a deal.”
It was then that he realized the kitchen was silent.
“A rain check for what?” Cady asked.
“Did you two have plans tonight?” his mother asked, clearly delighted.
The silence stretched until it grew painful.
“We were going to watch Elf,” Tatum said.
“I love that movie,” Lucy gushed.
“Me too,” Cady said, glancing back and forth between him and Tatum.
“Is this an exclusive viewing?” Patton asked, amused.
Spencer wanted to say yes. He wanted to tell his brother to go screw himself and the rest of his family to mind their own business.
“Of course not,” Tatum said. “You’re all welcome.”
Spencer’s heart sank. No matter how his hands ached to touch her, her answer was still no.
14
TATUM FINISHED CLEANING up the cups of cocoa, empty bowls of popcorn, half-eaten cookies and candy-cane wrappers. Lucy busied herself straightening the pillows and putting the television cabinet back to rights. And Spencer was asleep in the recliner in front of the fire. He’d dosed off halfway through the movie and had been snoring softly ever since. Every time she brushed past him, she hesitated.
“You ready for tomorrow?” Lucy asked.
