Page 38 of Daddy's Little Christmas

“You want company on the way back?” I asked.

He hesitated—just long enough that I could see the old instinct to minimize himself rise and fall.

“Yes,” he said, meeting my eyes this time. “I’d like that. If you don’t mind.”

Something warm settled in my chest at the sound of it.

“I don’t mind,” I said. “Let’s go.”

We stepped outside together.

The walk to the Hearthstone was short, but it didn’t feel rushed. Snow muffled the street, and our boots fell into an easy rhythm. I debated, for half a block longer than necessary, whether to put an arm around his shoulders.

I didn’t.

Instead, I stayed close enough that he could lean if he wanted to.

Halfway there, he said quietly, “Tonight was… good.”

“It was,” I agreed.

He nodded, eyes forward, hands tucked into his coat sleeves. “I didn’t feel in the way.”

That was the only thing he said, and it told me more than anything else he could have offered.

At the inn steps, he turned toward me. His lashes were heavy, his shoulders slack with the kind of tired that comes after you stop holding yourself together.

“Thanks,” he said. “For… all of it.”

“You’re welcome,” I said. “Goodnight, Rudy.”

He nodded, already half turned toward the door.

“…’Night, Daddy.”

The word landed between us, soft and unmistakable.

He froze.

Color rushed into his face as he looked back at me, startled, like he’d only just realized what he’d said.

I didn’t tease. I didn’t pretend I hadn’t heard it. I stepped closer and rested my hand briefly at the back of his neck—steady, grounding.

“Sleep well, sweetheart,” I said.

His shoulders dropped in a long breath.

Then he went inside.

I stood there for a moment longer, watching the light shift behind the window, aware of the quiet truth settling into me.

I had learned, a long time ago, that offering care came with consequences. It invited closeness. Attachment. Feelings you couldn’t neatly box away when the moment passed.

Rudy was only here for two weeks.

And already, I knew this would cost me something.

Chapter 8