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“I don’t want a Walmart pumpkin!” she pouted. “There’s a pumpkin patch near the church I go to. I was told we could just take one.”
I blew out a breath.
“You know, you’re going to have to start being less of a Scrooge since we’re having a kid now.”
“A Scrooge?”
“Someone who’s so undeniably grouchy that they suck the holiday spirit out of everyone around them.”
I narrowed my eyes at her but that only made her smile widen.
“I’m guessing you’re going to want a Christmas tree next?”
“Of course, I am. But I promise I won’t decorate until after Thanksgiving.”
“I don’t believe you!” I laughed hoarsely, and while I was doing my best to dig my heels in, I couldn’t help but feel happier than I’d ever been. I’d never really celebrated anything since my parents died. I was usually alone on Christmas and other major holidays, sometimes keeping the bar open just to fill the time.
But having Sierra here was changing everything. Suddenly I did want to go to a stupid, freezing cold pumpkin patch and buy a stupid pumpkin that would rot within a week because it meant I’d get to experience that with her, not by myself. Not anymore.
We finished our dinner and headed out into the flurry of snow that dusted the streets enough to make them wet and shiny in the fading daylight. We passed the bar, which was rather busy for a weekday.
Two hours later, I was trudging home with a massive pumpkin. Too large, in my humble opinion, but Sierra wanted it, and Sierra got it.
“This is at least sixty pounds,” I grumbled, trying to keep my grip on it as we neared the apartment. I sure as hell wasn’t going back for a second one if this one dropped and shattered on the ground.
“You didn’t complain the last time you picked me up and had sex with me on the counter in the bathroom.”
I blushed, baring my teeth at her. Well, she wasn’t wrong about that. Although I’d much rather be carrying her naked body around than a fucking pumpkin.
Eventually, we made it back to the apartment and I set the pumpkin down on the counter, sighing with relief while my arms burned from the effort of carrying it nearly a mile across town.
“Do you have to go check on the bar tonight?” she asked, unwinding her scarf from around her neck.
“No, I have no reason to. Plus, I’m freezing to death.”
She smirked as she roped her arms around me, hugging me from behind. “Let’s go cuddle up on the couch for a while.”
I wasn’t going to argue with that. A few minutes later we were nestled under my thickest blankets, both of us in pajamas. We’d started watching some nature documentary series in the evening that occasionally made Sierra cry, but she was obsessed, so I didn’t argue when she sat down with her nightly carton of ice cream and tucked into the show.
But an hour passed, then another, and I found myself on the edge of falling asleep when Sierra perked up.
“What’s up?”
“Do you think my mom left town yet?”
“I highly doubt it,” I breathed. I sat up a little straighter, patting her thigh. “I want to think she has, but she seemed pretty damn and determined to get you back to the East Coast.”
“But the restraining order… That should stop her, right?”
“I don’t know, do you think it would?”
Sierra mulled this over for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. My mom is used to getting what she wants.”
I tried my hardest not to make a comparison between them, no matter how badly I wanted to tease her for it.
“Sometimes I wish she could just be happy for me. Happy that I’m happy. Happy and… proud of me.”
“I’m happy for you. You landed the best-looking man in Montana.”
