Free His First Christmas: The Lonely Billionaire - A Heart-Warming Romance Novel by Holly Rayner, Lara Hunter

step.
     
    Jason and his mother sat quietly in the ambulance as the paramedics worked on his father. His mother rubbed her eyes. She looked like the epitome of exhaustion.
     
    “Mom?” Jason asked.
     
    “Yes, honey?” his mother said quietly.
     
    “Will Dad be okay?”
     
    “I think so,” she said. She looked at Jason warily, and put an arm around his shoulder.
     
     
    The next day, Jason went to visit his father after school, the driver dropping him off at the hospital.
     
    “How are you, Dad?” he asked tentatively as he entered the room.
     
    “I’m fine,” his father said gently. “How was school?”
     
    Jason shrugged. He turned to his mother who was sitting by the bed. “Mom, you’re here? Who’s looking after the business?”
     
    His mom waved away the question. “It’s okay, Jason. The business will survive without us for a few days.”
     
    Jason raised his eyebrows. This was certainly news to him.
     
    Seeing Jason’s expression, his mother sighed. “I know…I know that flies in the face of how we’ve acted, all these years…”
     
    To Jason’s surprise, his father clasped his hand in his. “I’m so sorry, Son. Last night made me realize how much time I’ve been wasting… I know I should have spent more time with you and your mom…” he said, looking deep into Jason’s mother’s eyes. “I shouldn’t have chained myself to my desk all these years,” he lamented. “I shouldn’t have spent so much time on things…that ultimately don’t matter…” 
     
    “Don’t keep beating yourself up, Jackson,” Jason’s mom sighed, putting a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “I should have known better, too.”
     
    Jason’s father looked at the two of them. “This year, we’re going to fix our priorities. We’re going to spend a proper Christmas together, as a family. We’ll get away from the city and spend some quiet time in the cabin that we never use.”
     
    “That sounds wonderful, honey,” his mom said. She rose to her feet and gave Jason a hug.
     
    Jason felt overwhelmed at this overnight shift in his parents. Feeling like a great weight had been lifted, he hugged his mom back.
     
     
    The Hawthorne family’s first-ever road trip got off to an awkward start. None of them could recall the last time they had actually all spent time together, outside of their stilted dinners.
     
    His mother asked, “So…how are your lessons going?”
     
    Jason shrugged, before realizing that from her position in the front, his mother couldn’t actually see him. “Good,” he replied vaguely.
     
    His mother nodded. “How is your friend…uh…Michael? I haven’t seen him in a while.”
     
    Jason blinked, trying to think of who his mom could possibly be talking about. “Oh,” he said finally. “Mickey? I haven’t really been friends with him since fourth grade.”
     
    “Oh. That’s too bad,” his mother murmured.
     
    After a few minutes of silence, his father switched on the radio, and the rest of the ride was spent listening to sixties tunes. Jason peered through the window, observing the snow falling faster and faster with each passing mile.
     
    After about an hour, Jason’s father announced, “We’re nearly there. We just have to cross this last mountain…” he said, hesitantly, trying to focus on the road through the constant torrent of snow.
     
    His mom clutched at his dad’s arm suddenly. “Sorry,” she said. “Thought I saw a car coming…”
     
    The anxiety levels in the car rose as it became harder and harder to see anything.
     
    “Okay,” his dad said finally, “I’m going to pull over. We’ll have to wait till the storm calms down a bit.”
     
    His mother nodded, exhaling with relief as her husband pulled over to the side of the road.
     
    For a while, the three of them sat there in silence, watching as the outside of the car became completely blanketed with snow. Eventually his mom started idly humming a tune. Jason and his dad