Free Turkey in the Snow by Amy Lane Page B

Christmas. Is that so freakin’ bad?”
    Oh hells. “No,” he said shortly, running his fingers through his hair. No. It wasn’t. Amanda was young, and it was Christmas, and it wasn’t so freakin’ bad to want to see your family at Christmas. “Are you going to try to take her from me?” he asked, surprised when he said it, shocked at how close this fear was to the surface.
    “I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to come with me!” Amanda said excitedly. “I’ve got this sweet setup in Lincoln now, and my boyfriend says he likes kids and wouldn’t mind her. My best friend lives in the same complex and we’ve got a pool and—”
    “Please,” he said, his voice tinny and echoing in his ears. “Please rethink that,” he said when he could get his breath. “The social worker just okayed her for my house, and we’ve got a routine and a daycare worker and….” Oh God. Justin and Josie, they were… they were his home and his everything. She couldn’t just swoop in and take half his everything, could she? “I fixed up her room and we’ve got plans for Christmas .” No, oh please, Amanda, I gave you all my toys when we were kids, I fed you, I walked you home from school, and I never wanted anything, being your family was enough. Please don’t take this thing, this one thing, away from me when it’s so close to all I ever wanted.
    “Oh Henry!” Amanda laughed. “God, you’re so uptight! She’s a kid! She’ll be fine wherever she is. Some television, some McDonald’s, she’s all good!”
    “Right,” Hank said bitterly. “Because God knows we both turned out just fine!”
    There was a wounded silence on the other end of the line, and then Amanda inhaled. Hank recognized that inhale—it was the sound Amanda made right before she dug her heels in.
    “I’ll be there tonight. I’ll let you know if I’m taking her with me then.”
    Amanda hung up and Hank was left at his work desk, shivering, trying to tell himself that those were not tears burning tightly in the back of his throat.
    Suddenly he wanted Justin. He needed Justin. He told his supervisor that he was not feeling well and excused himself from his afternoon, then made a beeline for the gym.
    When he got there, he flashed his ID and went straight back to the gym daycare, so focused on talking to Justin that he actually stopped short when he heard Justin’s voice come out of an empty workout classroom to his left.
    He didn’t sound happy.
    “Justin! Baby!” came a female voice that Hank dimly identified as Justin’s supervisor. “You’ve got to calm down. It sounds like things are going great—I don’t know what your problem is!”
    “You don’t get it, Jackie!” Justin wailed, and as Hank backed up and leaned against the wall, the better to eavesdrop, just hearing his voice—even distraught—eased something in Hank’s chest and slowed his heartbeat. Justin charmed children, small animals, grim social workers, and Hank. Surely, Justin would find a way to convince Amanda that Josie needed to stay with him, stay with them, so this warm, almost painfully gratifying sensation of home didn’t need to evaporate like sweat after a run.
    “What don’t I get? He’s a nice guy, he likes children—hell, he has one built in—and I’ve seen him look at you. I think he sort of worships you. It’s weird. What’s the problem?”
    “He doesn’t like drama,” Justin said, and Hank grimaced. Well, he’d made that clear, hadn’t he? “And I want to bring him home. Home. You’ve met my mother! She’ll call in the whole family and they’ll grill him and I’ll be coming out too and there will be tears and… drama! And… I… I don’t want to scare him off, but… it’s so stupid.” Justin’s voice broke a little. “I just want to bring him home for Christmas. ”
    Hank found himself laughing a little—not from Justin’s misery, because he was pretty sure he could put an end to that—but from Justin’s enthusiasm. The way