“’Kay, Merry.”

I turned on the tap to run water over butter and maple syrup residue, completely unable to continue even pretending to be annoyed after hearing Merry tell my boy to grab a scarf and gloves.

I watched Merry’s hand put his plate on top of the other ones in the sink as I felt his other hand light on my hip.

“Easy to get a tree, grab some cheap ornaments, and put it up. I’ll even get one of those big blow-up snowmen for the front yard, you and Ethan wanna do Christmas here,” he said in my ear.

“I can’t do Christmas unless Santa has anointed my house with Christmas vomit,” I told the sink. “You up for that?”

I heard his chuckle and felt the heat of him come closer as his hand slid from my hip to my belly.

“We’ll get an air mattress. Ethan can sleep on that in one of the extra rooms. Grace can sleep in Ethan’s room. Everyone comfortable. Do presents here, breakfast, then later, go to Rocky and Tanner’s. Dad’ll be there. Vera and Devin too. Jasper and Tripp as well, Keira attached at Jasper’s hip, like usual. Big family thing when we do Christmas dinner.”

Big family thing.

A big family thing that Merry wanted.

But he wanted that family thing to start here, in his house, with what we were building.

I closed my eyes.

Ethan had a room at Merry’s and it was definitely his room. Not a junk room. Nothing was in the closet but some of my kid’s clothes. Shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush in the crappy bathroom Ethan used that Merry was going to gut after Christmas and redo.

The roof, furnace, AC, and windows had been first, obviously, and Merry hadn’t fucked around with those. He had us there and he had that frequently, he’d told me, so he took care of that right away. Right away, as in, he had work scheduled to start practically the day after he moved in.

I had clothes in Merry’s closet and doubles of all my stuff (except makeup—that required an investment, but I had bits and bobs, so I was getting there) in his crappy master bath.

We were all but moved in.

And now—Merry’s house being so big, the great room a place where we could all be together, Ethan liking showing off its awesomeness to his buds so sleepovers continued to be frequent (they just happened at Merry’s), and Merry pretty much taking over the care of my kid when I was at work nights or evenings—we were mostly here.

We might sleep at my place once or twice a week.

But Merry’s place was becoming home.

This was intentional. He gave both of us sets of keys the day he’d closed on the house. The first night we stayed over, which was the first night he was in the house since we’d helped him move, we found he’d bought an Xbox so Ethan would have all he needed to feel at home. And he told me to pack us both and make it so we weren’t lugging bags back and forth all the time.

“Settle in, baby. You and Ethan,” he’d whispered to me in the dark that first night in his house. “I think we’re all past the idea of sleepovers.”

I was. Definitely.

My kid would go to the ends of the earth for Merry, so I figured he was too.

I just didn’t know Merry was at that place.

But I was glad to know.

And the next day, I settled us in.

Right then, however, I knew just what place Merry actually was in.

And it was even better.

I turned in his arm at the sink, looking up at him.

“You want Christmas,” I whispered my guess.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Didn’t wanna say anything, but since Ethan mentioned it and seems he’s good with it, there it is.”

“Then we’ll have Christmas here. I’ll talk to Mom.”

He smiled down at me and I saw excitement in his face that made my badass Merry into my badass Merry who could be cute.

“Thanks, baby,” he murmured, bent in and touched his mouth to mine. When he lifted up, he said, “Since you’re off today, I’ll go get a tree and we’ll decorate it tonight. You got time to go out and get some ornaments? Lights? Whatever else we need?”

Did I have time for Christmas decoration shopping during Christmas shopping season, when the population at large should be at its best but was undoubtedly at its worst, doing this for a tree for Garrett Merrick’s awesome new lake house?

I totally had time.

“I have time,” I confirmed.

He looked like he was fighting laughter, which was telling me I wasn’t hiding my enthusiasm for that day’s chores, when he said, “Cheap shit, babe. Just to get us by. I have a feeling next year I’m gonna have more Christmas crap than anyone needs by a long shot.”

My exciting new plans for the day flew straight from my head.

“What?” I asked.

Merry didn’t repeat his feelings about what would happen in the next year, which, my guess, included Ethan’s and my Christmas stuff being at his awesome new lake house.

Instead, he got bossy.

“Go to Bobbie’s. Ask Vi if you can use her discount. Get those plastic tubes of ornaments, the ones that are twelve for a buck. Get a couple. And some lights. But don’t mess around with the lights, babe. You should always invest in good lights. Next year, we’ll find a way to use the extras.”

I blinked, what Merry said earlier going straight from my head.

“Twelve-for-a-buck ornaments? Only a couple tubes?” I asked.

“How many you need?” he asked back.

“I don’t know. Are you buying a proper Christmas tree or a Charlie Brown Christmas tree?”

His head jerked back like that question was an affront.

“First Christmas here with you, Ethan, and Grace, I’m not gonna get a shit-ass tree.”

That was nice.

However…

“So what you’re saying is, the good part, the part I like, you want twelve-for-a-buck ornaments, two tubes of them, but you’re gonna get a nice tree and you want me to go whole hog on the lights because you have a dick and lights have a plug and that’s the way of the world.”

Merry was no longer affronted.

His lips were twitching.

“You want three tubes of ornaments? Knock yourself out.”

Thirty-six ornaments on a full Christmas tree.

Not gonna happen.

“I’ll get what I get,” I declared.

Merry’s face again lost its humor. “Serious, Cher, we’ll have your shit here next year and we don’t need decorations for two trees.”

I was back to thinking about Merry’s plans for the upcoming year.

“We’ll have my shit here next year?”

“Yeah.”

I waited for him to say more.

He didn’t say more.

“Did I miss the invitation to move in with you?” I asked.

His humor yet again returned. “No.”

I waited for him to say more.

Again, he didn’t.

“Are you gonna steal my decorations so you have them next year?” I asked.

His amused face got close.

“No, baby. I’m gonna put in two decent bathrooms. Then I’m gonna buy better furniture because my shit sucks. After that, after we’re all good and used to each other and I got a nice home to offer my woman and her boy, a real home, a comfortable home, I’m gonna invite them to move in with me. When they accept, I’m gonna have to accept all her shit. There’s a lot of it and it includes fifteen boxes of Christmas crap. And don’t deny you got fifteen boxes, sweetheart, because Ethan and I lugged every one of those fuckers out of your garage, and when we did, we counted them.”

He said the last quickly because I’d opened my mouth.

He also didn’t stop talking.

“So, to end, we’ll have your shit here next year, so we don’t need expensive stuff for the tree we have this year.”

“The master is pretty big, gorgeous,” I said quietly. “We could put a tree in there next year with our new decorations.”

His expression got more amused. “Jesus, Cherie, no one needs a tree in their bedroom.”

“But I want one.”

“Then get what you want to decorate this year, and next year, we’ll put a tree in our bedroom.”