Page 34 of Waiting for You (Balsam Cliffs #3)

“Hey, thanks man!” The pimply delivery driver happily takes the twenty I pulled out of my wallet and runs back to the car before I can change my mind.

I drop the boxes on the ottoman in front of the fire where Eve lounges on the couch in just a tee of mine while she flips through the channels.

“How about the old classic clay animated Christmas movies?” she asks, pausing on the channel that’s playing them.

“Whatever you want, Peach. I never got to laze in front of the fire with pizza and cupcakes with you for Christmas. It was always a make-out session in the barn before we had to come back to the family festivities.” I sit next to her, pulling her into my side and opening the two boxes.

“I wasn’t complaining. But I do love this part too.” Leaning up, she kisses me on the cheek before grabbing a slice of my supreme.

“Did you really distract me with a kiss to steal my pizza?” I pinch her side.

She giggles but grabs a slice of her own pizza in the other hand and snuggles into me to watch the old Christmas movie.

This moment right here is the something I’ve been missing in this house since the day I moved in. I needed her and the ease of our relationship.

In the last three weeks, Eve has made me watch every Christmas movie twice and we now have a Christmas tree in my living room, my bedroom, her living room and her teeny tiny loft. Four. Trees.

Four.

Who the hell has that many Christmas trees?

I wanted to protest but the moment I saw how happy she was to have a Christmas tree in the bedroom, I knew that I would one hundred percent put a tree in every single room of my house and hers to make her smile.

“Hunt, do you know what time we are going to the inn tonight?” she shouts from the bathroom.

Mom wants all the kids around to decorate the tree together and since the festival starts tomorrow we’re all going to be around today. Gunnar and Willow are driving in and should be here any minute.

Another tree. I smirk to myself before answering her. “I think they ordered the Chinese food for six, so probably five-thirty?”

Most of the businesses on Main Street that aren’t tourist based closed early today and that includes Eve’s office. They wanted to make sure the parking was abundant downtown. And none of the businesses minded that they had to close early.

“I can’t wait to decorate with everyone.”

I slip into the bathroom behind her and wrap her in my arms, resting my head on her shoulder as I watch her put on makeup. “You know I think you’re stunning without makeup right?”

“I do. And I appreciate that. But I want to look nice with everyone else tonight. But I also appreciate being able to be bare faced with you.” She reaches over, kissing my cheek.

“It’s how I prefer you. Bare faced. Bare assed. Bare.” Swatting at my shoulder, she pushes me out of the bathroom.

“Stop distracting me. Go… build something.”

“You’re no fun.” I yell down the hallway on my way to the kitchen table where I’m designing a new gazebo for Emma.

“I don’t want to interrupt you, but it’s time to go.” Eve quietly comes into the kitchen, placing her hand on my shoulder.

Looking around I notice the sun has set already. How long have I been working?

“Shit. I’m sorry, Peach. I ignored you all afternoon.”

“No, it’s fine. I caught up on some work in the library. I watched you for a few minutes and you were totally in the zone. What are you working on?” She peeks over my shoulder.

“Oh, um… Well, I was designing a gazebo for Emma and the inn. But then I got sidetracked thinking of what kind of playground our future kids would want. So. That’s what I’ve got here.” I hold out my book to her.

“A playground for our future kids?” She takes it gingerly.

“It’s nothing really. I just got sidetracked waiting and apparently now I’m holding us up. I’m so—”

She stops me from talking by wiggling her way into my lap. “It’s not nothing, Hunt. It’s everything. It’s our future.”

I crush my lips to hers, deepening the kiss until her phone dings and mine. The family chat is looking for us.

“Guess our time is up. Ready?” I help her up off my lap.

“Yes. So ready.” A smile plays on her lips and I’d give anything to know what’s going on in that head right now.

The ride over to the inn is quiet, but the inn is a different story. Olivia is screeching with excitement over the ten foot tree Mom found for the inn’s large living room with cathedral ceilings.

All of our phones ding at the same time.

Gunnar: We are bringing two guests with us. Don’t make it weird.

Wyatt: Are y’all like swingers now? winking emoji

Willow: No!! We have two teens with us. They needed a place to stay. Candice is pregnant. We were contacted by the social worker at the high school to help them out. So we are going to welcome them nicely into our very normal and loving family. eyeroll emoji

Emma: Oh the normal and loving family? You want two houses down, girl. This family only has one of those.

Gunnar: I’m serious, guys. Don’t be fucking weird about it. They need the loving part of the Keaton family right now.

Willow: He’s protective over them.

Me: Why are they staying with you? Anything we need to avoid in topics?

Willow: Their parents are drug addicts. All of them.

No supervision most of their lives so they found love in each other.

Too much love because she got pregnant and the parents kicked them out recently when they learned that CPS would be breathing down their necks again.

So the social worker that dealt with Porter’s niece called us.

We had gotten an application in to foster before changing our minds, happy to just be the favorite aunty and uncle.

But life had other plans. So please. Be nice.

Evelyn: Of course we will.

Mom: I’m offended you think we aren’t normal, Emma.

Emma: I’m sitting right here and you respond in a text message. That’s not normal.

Emma: Shit. Now I’m doing it.

“We made it!” Gunnar announces loudly as if we weren’t all waiting for him.

“Babe, I don’t think we really needed to make an entrance like that.” Willow’s voice follows from the mudroom.

“Oh, we definitely did.” He dips behind the wall, presumably to kiss his wife like he always is. “Everyone, we would love for you to meet Candice and Jeremy.”

Mom and Pops are up and running to them, but we all wait for them to have their moment before we descend on them. These poor kids don’t need to be scared off.

I notice that Emma and Eve go missing from the big family love fest. But when they return with two blank stockings, glue, and glitter I immediately know what they’re doing.

Watching them, Emma pulls Willow off to the side really quick and Willow’s hand flies to her chest, the tears welling in her eyes.

Walking over to them, I’m nosey and want to be involved. “What are we doing?” I whisper.

Emma nearly punches me and Willow jumps out of her skin. Evelyn is used to me sneaking up on her, I think I’ve desensitized her to any jumpscares.

“We’re making them stockings. We can’t hang stockings for everyone but these two poor babies going through the hardest time of their life!”

“Oh, I agree. But what about presents? Christmas is Tuesday. Should I run out?” I offer. Those kids can’t have nothing to open on Christmas.

“Gunnar and I may or may not have a truck load full.” Willow winces.

“Need me to grab it and sneak it into the office?”

“That would be great!” Willow hugs me.

“I’ll help you.” Eve laces her hand in mine.

“Oh, good. So you two can have a quickie outside?” Emma crosses her arms.

Who the hell does she think I am? It’s fifteen degrees out there. “You’re out of your mind. We prefer the fire.” I wink over my shoulder before leaving her to wonder which fire I’m talking about.

“So. Talking about our future kids, and then Gunnar and Willow show up with kids who are having a kid. What a night, huh?”

“Do you want babies with me, Peach?” I nudge her shoulder with mine.

“That night, laying by the fire, I could imagine our sweet baby growing in my belly while we spent a night by the fire eating pizza and watching movies. Then I imagined decorating a tree with our little toddler. It’s a dream I didn’t know I had but I want more than anything.”

“What do you say we make a baby tonight?”

“Hunter. You just told Emma you wouldn’t take me for a quickie.” She rolls her eyes.

“Fine. But soon?”

“How about we move me in first?”

I stop dead in my tracks. Did she just say what I think she did?

“Evelyn Thomas. Are you sayin’ you’ll move in with me?”

“Sure am. If my landlord will let me out of my lease.”

I pick her up and swing her in the air. “Fuck your landlord. I happen to know him personally and know that he won’t risk a tittie twister. He’ll let you out.”

“Oh, such a professional contract.” Her laugh fills the air and I feel like I’ve won the fucking lottery.

I can’t wait to go get all her things tomorrow morning so she can be mine for good before we start the holiday festivities.