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“You’re here,” she said.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

Colin scrambled out of the passenger side door. “Gabe!” With the exuberance of a child probably hopped up on sugar, Colin lunged at him.

Gabe scooped him up easily enough, even with the ache in his shoulder. Something like relief washed through him. Hell, he’d missed the kid. “What’d you do, eat your weight in cookies at your grandparents?”

“Kinda.”

He dropped Colin back to his feet, then grinned down at him, ruffling his already-messy hair. “Missed having you around, runt.”

Colin all but beamed, and Gabe kept his gaze on him, because he was afraid to look at Monica’s expression. He crouched down, so he could be eye level with Colin. “Hey, can I, uh, talk to your mom out here alone for a few minutes?”

He saw the way the kid’s faced changed. Hurt, probably, but something else too. Something closer to fear than Gabe could stand. He reached out, gripping Colin’s shoulder and squeezing. “And if all goes well and she doesn’t punch me for being a jerk, I’ll come in and have some cookies or something after we’re done talking.”

Colin glanced back at Monica, then leaned close to Gabe’s ear. “Tell her she looks pretty. Gets her every time.”

Gabe barked out a surprised laugh as Colin took the keys from Monica, then bounded for the front door.

Gabe stood back up, and neither he nor Monica spoke until Colin had gone inside and slammed the door behind him.

“I brought you a Christmas present.” Still she said nothing, just stood a safe distance away looking…something. He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was just exhaustion. “You look pretty,” he added.

Her mouth curved the slightest hint. “He told you to say that.”

“Yes, ma’am, though it’s never not true.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, your present.”

“Gabe—”

“It’s symbolic, so you have to let me give it to you.”

“Symbolic of what?”

He pulled open the door to the back seat of the truck and pointed inside. Monica peered over at the llama.

“What the hell is that?”

Notquitethe response he’d been hoping for. “It’s a llama. A housebroken pet llama, I’m assured.”

“You brought me a symbolic llama for Christmas.”

“Well, technically it’s my gift to Colin. My gift to you was sex. You said I could keep my gift card. Also, I couldn’t find a puppy. But if you don’t want it, Becca’s going to take it, and obviously I didn’t want Colin to see it before I ran it by you and—”

“Gabe. Breathe.”

“Right.” He took a breath, let it out.Breathe. Think. Stop babbling about a fucking llama.

“Llama aside—”

“Its name is Macaroni.”

“Oh, no, don’t tell me its name.” She hesitated, then stepped forward, then reached out and stroked her hand down the llama’s neck. “How is it so weirdly cute?”

She was close to him now, him standing next to the open door, her reaching inside the truck. He wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her, say all the words that seemed to clog his throat as she cooed over the animal.