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“Children. Do not make me separate you,” David, Grayson’s dad, barked out from his seat at one end of the table.
“Honestly, I’d prefer it,” Avery grumbled.
“I’ll share with you, Auntie Avery,” Zoey lifted her plate.
“Thank you, sweets, but I’ll be okay.” Avery winked at Zo before sending a glare to Sawyer.
Ignoring his siblings, Matthew, Grayson’s brother who sat across from me, leaned in. “Zo was telling us that you and Wren are planning the Winter Festival.”
“We are.” I took a bite and waited to see if Wren would jump in. When she didn’t, I continued. “I could use all of your help if you have the time. We’re under a tight deadline and want to do a Santa’s Village theme.”
Zoey’s eyes lit up. “Would the real Santa come?” she whispered.
“That’s what we’re hoping for, princess.” I looked at David. “I was hoping Wolfe Construction could donate time to create a small house for Santa.”
My daughter wiggled in her seat. “You have to do it, Grampy David.”
Grayson’s dad chuckled and pointed his fork in Zo’s direction. “I think you stacked the deck asking in front of this one.”
I knew he wasn’t serious. “So you’ll do it?”
“I’m guessing a simple construction would be easy. We could build the larger pieces off-site and a few days before the event, install it.”
“We might need help with one more thing,” Wren piped up next to David, studiously avoiding my gaze. “We’d like to see if Santa can bring his reindeer, but we’d need a temporary pen to keep them in.”
“If you can get the specs from Santa, I can let you know if we can do that.”
“Oh, gosh, can we ride them?” Zoey squeaked out.
I bumped her shoulder with mine. “I don’t think so, kiddo. But we’re hoping you might be able to pet and feed them.”
“I might have a few elf friends that could help out.” Mia worked part-time at the construction company and part-time as a plus-size model.
Zoey turned star-filled eyes to Mia, who’d likely earned the title of favorite aunt for the rest of her life.
“Would you need help decorating the interior of Santa’s house?” Avery asked me.
“We do. I was hoping you’d help with that.”
“We were also thinking about doing a baking competition.” Wren looked expectantly at Ruby.
“And you’d like my help?” By her grin, I knew she was in.
“Yup,” Wren responded. “We also considered inviting small businesses to set up and sell their products. It’ll be close to the holidays, but people always have last-minute shopping to do.”
“Roz,” my mother looked at her friend. “What about that vendor event we went to last month? I bet we could find interested people if we reached out to the group page.”
“That’s a great idea.” She looked at me. “Do you have an interest form created yet?”
I shared a knowing look with Grayson. There should never have been a doubt his family would help. We spent the rest of the meal brainstorming. Wren snuck side-glances at me, and I wondered if there was a way to get her alone. We needed to clear the air.
My chance came as we were cleaning up. Wren excused herself and took off down the hallway toward the bathroom. I sped up when she opened the door and slipped inside before she could close it.
She let out a startled yelp. “What the hell are you doing?”
I shut the door and locked it behind me. “We need to talk.”
“And so you’re going to hold me hostage to do it?”