Page 56 of Jack Frosting

“While we’re on the subject, any ideas for him for Christmas?” he asked.

Clayton’s phone went off before I could answer.

“Hello?”

I couldn’t hear every word on the other end, but I knew enough that it wasn’t Eli or Gareth. And it didn’t seem like bad news because Clayton was smiling.

“I can understand how that might’ve happened,” Clayton said. “I will save this number and call you back tomorrow if I don’t receive an offer letter by noon.”

An offer letter?

“Thank you so much. I look forward to working for you. Goodbye.” He hung up. “That was Cooper, the guy I interviewed with months ago.”

“And?”

“He was so caught up in work, he didn’t realize I hadn’t started yet. I guess some wires were crossed and I was never contacted by HR with an offer. He finally looked into it and realized nothing had been done.”

“I hope he apologized,” I said. “That’s kind of ridiculous.”

“I mean, it’s hard to disagree with that, but if their offer is what he said it would be, then it will be worth the wait. He also offered a sign-on bonus that’s more than enough of an apology.”

SEVENTEEN

CLAYTON

The job was perfect. Life with Jack was perfect. And it was almost Christmas!

I only had to go into the office twice so far this month. For the most part, it had been more remote than originally advertised, and all relatively simple tasks. It was shocking how much they were willing to pay, but Jack convinced me that they were willing to do so because I required so little training to do what they asked of me.

It allowed me to splurge on Christmas this year. A few weeks ago and I had been worried about being able to celebrate it at all. Now, I was fairly certain I had found everything on Henry’s list and I was planning on asking Jack to go with me on a vacation during Henry’s Easter break.

Last week, I invited Eli, Gareth, and Trey over for Christmas Eve dinner to celebrate our good fortune, though I knew it was a long shot this close to the holidays. Eli politely declined, informing me that they had a tradition at his brother’s house, but invited us to join them there. Since my entire guest list would be at Lane and Raquel’s, I accepted the invitation.

In a few hours, we’d be heading over to their house for the party, so I’d spent all morning in the kitchen, baking a few desserts to take over there. Henry was in his room and Jack had left early for the gym to finish with a few clients before the holidays.

From the table, my phone vibrated. I put the last of the brownies into the oven and went to look at it.

Jack: Need anything while I’m out?

He would often check in like this lately and it was adorable. I’d never dated anyone that was so concerned for me or my needs before and it was intoxicating. Sometimes he’d even pick up a surprise dinner for us. I often got caught up in work at home and wouldn’t even notice what time it was. On days with no hockey games, that is.

I couldn’t say when – maybe it was longer than I thought – but Jack had moved his clients around so he could attend every single one of Henry’s hockey games. He always reminded me of the games on those mornings as well.

In less than a year, I’d gone from finding solace with a stranger in a bathroom stall to asking my boyfriend on a vacation for a Christmas present. It was wild that it was the same person in both instances.

I’d be forever grateful to The Stable and to Eli and Gareth, especially if things worked out with Jack. Although Jack hadn’t said yes to the Bermuda cruise yet. I was definitely getting ahead of myself.

I didn’t hear him pull into the driveway, so when the kitchen door opened, I was a little surprised.

“Hey!”

He looked dreamy as fuck. His black lycra pants hugged his calves under white running shorts and it wasn’t hard to imagine what his chest looked like under the tight-fitting long-sleeve active thermal. It helped that I had seen it, but damn. He also had these adorable bandless ear muffs clinging to his ears.

“What?” he asked. “Do I have something on my face?”

“You’re about to,” I said, closing the gap between us quickly to kiss him.

“Mmmm.” He responded in kind, pulling me against his body. “Merry Christmas Eve to me. How was your morning? Where’s Henry?”