Free A Fairytale Christmas by Susan Meier Page B

ornament to hang at the top of the tree. “Haven’t you ever done this before?” she asked jokingly.
    But he replied seriously. “I go to my parents for Christmas dinner and spend twelve-hour days at the office. Not much point in having a tree in my condo.”
    “Then it’s lucky you’re learning how to decorate one,” Brody said, teasing the way Gwen was. “Because I’ll want a tree.”
    “And you’ll want a tree now, too, Drew,” Gwen said, handing Brody a colored ball to hang near the gold star at the top of the tree. She caught Drew’s gaze, sending him another signal by glancing at Brody, then back at him. “Didn’t you tell me that you were going to start delegating more of your work to your vice-presidents, so you could have more time at home?”
    “Yes,” Drew answered quickly, glad she’d brought that up because he hadn’t really told Brody that part of the plan.
    Not wanting his nervousness to show when he spoke, he grabbed an ornament and walked around the back of the tree, to the side in front of the window, away from both Gwen and Brody, and began decorating there.
    “While I’ve been here, I’ve only really worked half-days.”He peered around the tree at Brody. “Not that I’m going to cut my schedule in half now that you’re living with me, but I can see that it would be possible to only work eight-hour days if I delegate.”
    Brody said, “All right!”
    Drew sighed with relief. “I was also thinking we should get a house.”
    Gwen peered over at him. “A house?”
    “Yeah.” He avoided her gaze. He’d thought about moving out of the condo and into a real house because of her. She’d made this shabby old house into a home—something he didn’t think his streamlined condo could ever be. And a family needed a house. He and Brody might not be a big family, but they were still a family.
    Brody danced for joy. “A beach house?”
    Drew cautiously said, “Would you want to live on the beach?”
    “Hell, yeah!”
    Both Drew and Gwen said, “Don’t say hell.”
    Brody laughed. “This is great!” He pulled his cell phone from a pocket in his pajama pants. “I have to text my friends.”
    With that he zipped out of the room, and Drew froze. Except for when they worked together at night, this was the first time he’d been alone with Gwen since their kiss, and he absolutely didn’t know what to say. He knew he’d hurt her. He’d hurt himself. Brushing her off after that kiss had been the hardest thing he’d ever done. He’d thought about it for days afterward. Mourned the decision he knew he had to make.
    “A house sounds like a good idea.”
    “Yeah.” He picked up another ornament for the tree and looped around to the back side, avoiding her. “A condo’s no place for a kid. He’ll need room to roam.”
    “On the ocean? Is he going to walk on water?”
    Her comment made him laugh. Again. She always knew how to make him laugh. “No, he’ll have miles of beach to walk on.” He sucked in a breath. “I’m probably going to have to get him an ATV. A surfboard. A boogey board. Scuba gear.”
    “You’re going to be busy.”
    He laughed. “It feels weird.”
    “But I’ll bet it’s a good weird.”
    It was. “Had you told me two weeks ago that I’d be looking for ward to living with Brody I would have thought you were nuts.”
    She chuckled. “Haven’t you ever thought about having Brody with you for longer than two weeks?”
    Using the tree for protection, he answered honestly. “Yes. Because I was an only child I’d grown up thinking how much fun it would be to have a big family.” He shrugged. “But a few years after Brody was born I settled to just have him with me for one holiday.”
    “Why didn’t you try for more?”
    “Because I knew Olivia would fight me. I didn’t want Brody to see us fighting or risk losing the scant visitation I had.”
    “Sad.”
    “Yeah.”
    She walked around to his side of the tree. “So why didn’t you find another