Page 129 of Theirs for the Holidays

Sawyer gives me a look over Violet’s head that tells me his mind is on the same track though. There will be time for that later.

I force down my anger and take a breath. “Okay,” I tell her. “We’ll put it aside for now.”

“Okay,” she murmurs back.

She stares into the crackling flames in the fireplace, not really seeing anything. I know that look. That hollow-eyed, listless stare. It’s the look of someone who’s been through something traumatic and is trying not to relive it with every breath they take.

It looks wrong on Violet’s beautiful face, and my heart clenches painfully in my chest. I have to do something to help distract her from the pain she’s feeling.

So I get up and force a smile, going over to where there’s a Santa hat on the mantle. It feels like forever ago that we weredecorating her place for Christmas, and it’s time to get some of that cheer back.

I plop the hat on my head and put one hand on my hip. “Enough of this,” I say. “We’re going to do something fun.”

“Like what?” Violet asks, looking up at me. She still looks worn down, but there’s a ghost of a smile on her lips. That’s a start.

“Christmas movie marathon. We’ll watch some of the classics and some of those awful ones where the girl gives up the job of her dreams to move in with a guy who sells Christmas trees for a living or something.”

Violet’s smile grows. “They’re kind of romantic, in a way.”

“What would be romantic is if the Christmas tree seller guy moved to the big city with the girl and got a real job,” Sawyer says. “Let him make a sacrifice for once.”

“But the Christmas tree farm has been in his family for generations!” Violet says, sounding playfully scandalized. “You can’t ask him to give it up to move to the big city with their expensive coffee and dirty air.”

“Christmas is once a year. He can come back to the farm for the holiday season. What does he even do when it’s summer time? No one’s buying Flag Day trees.”

Violet giggles, and it’s such a beautiful sound after seeing her gripped with panic earlier.

I send Sawyer to make popcorn and gather snacks, and we all pile onto the couch to watch the movies.

Sawyer and Violet continue their good natured debate through all the silly movies, and she even laughs when he starts teasing Rhett about looking like one of the shaggy Christmas tree farm guys.

The mood lightens a lot, and by the time the credits are rolling on the last movie, we look over and Violet is asleep with her head on Sawyer’s shoulder.

It’s not quite late enough for bedtime yet, but Violet’s probably wrung out and emotionally exhausted, and none of us want her to be alone right now.

I pick her up and carry her to bed, getting her settled and tucked in before climbing in with her. Rhett and Sawyer follow suit, all three of us just wanting to be near her.

“Did you take your painkillers?” I ask Rhett in a whisper.

“Yes, Dad,” he answers, and I can hear the eyeroll in his tone.

“Good.”

“We’re going to need a bigger bed if we keep this up,” Sawyer comments.

He’s not wrong about that. It’s a tight squeeze, but none of us are really complaining. If we’re going to make a habit of sleeping with Violet, we’re definitely going to need more space. I’m not even the tallest of my brothers, and my feet are barely on the bed as it is.

It hits me, as I start to drift off, that planning for a bigger bed means I’m starting to see this as a permanent thing, rather than just a lie we spun to fool Violet’s family.

I’m starting to plan for a future with her, which was never in the plan, but somehow feels right.

41

VIOLET

I gointo the bakery the next morning.

Lennox kept saying that I shouldn’t, that I should make Isabelle wait until after the holidays if she wants my building so bad, but the thought of dragging it out just makes my stomach hurt. All three of the guys were hovering around me over breakfast and while I got ready, and I know they were just trying to be protective because they’re worried about me. It’s the same way I felt when Rhett got hurt, and it’s wild to think that it was just two days ago when that happened.