The way Braden does with me...? Wes pushed those thoughts aside.
It was noon before everyone was dressed, fed and ready to leave. Apparently it was a Roth family tradition to go into the woods and cut down their own tree on Christmas eve.
“Why do you do it so late?” Wes asked as they drove.
“My parents have always done it that way. They say the tree should be special, and it should be about Christmas. If it’s up for weeks ahead of time, then it doesn’t feel new, like something special for that specific day.” He chuckled. “I don’t know. It’s something Mom came up with when we were kids, and Dad always says a happy wife makes a happy life.”
Those words soured Wes’s stomach, though he wasn’t sure why until Braden said, “Though, I like ‘A happy spouse makes a happy house’ better.”
The fact that his words helped made Wes feel like an idiot. “You’re cheesy.”
“You like me that way.”
He did.
A little while later, the vehicles were parked and the army that was Braden’s family stomped through the trees, looking for the perfect one. It wasn’t a short walk, and no one could seem to agree on which one they wanted.
“I’m tired, Uncle Wes.” Jessie tugged on his arm. He picked her up and swung her onto his back.
“I got you, kiddo.” He paused when Braden stepped up to them and ran a hand down Jessie’s back. When he did, she relaxed against Wes, resting her head on his shoulder.
“Ma, Dad. If we don’t pick one soon, we have to go. Jess is getting tired,” Braden called to his family.
Damned if what Braden said didn’t hit him in the chest. “Thanks. We’re good, though. I don’t want to ruin the day for everyone.”
“They can stay if they haven’t decided. If we need to go back, we need to go back. She’s more important that picking the perfect tree.”
Who the fuck was this guy? How many times had Braden said the wrong thing, but, when it counted, always said the right thing? He didn’t know if he realized that. Didn’t know if he realized that the more Wes was around him, the more he feared he wouldn’t ever want to be without him. That he made Wes think and feel shit he never thought he would again.
No, things he hadn’t felt before.
“Hey.” Wes grabbed Braden’s arm when he tried to walk away. “Thanks.”
Braden just winked at him. “I’ll put it on your ‘I owe you’ list.”
Again, it was the perfect thing to say. The asshole.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They’d picked an eight-foot tree. Braden and his brother Evan put it in the stand and watered it while their mom and sisters made dinner. They were going easy tonight because they were all pretty exhausted after a long day.
They sat around the living room, the kids on the floor around the coffee table, eating grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.
“’Member when Braden made us grilled cheese?” Jessie asked Wes. Braden wasn’t sure if she was too tired to remember the “R” in Remember, or if she always said it that way.
“I do,” Wes told her.
“Braden’s were better,” she replied.
“Jessie!” Wes’s eyes darted around the room, obviously embarrassed.
“Hey. Can’t blame her for speaking the truth.” Braden smiled, and everyone else laughed, including Emmy and Lizzy.
“That’s okay, because I taught him how to cook.” Emmy gave Jessie a thumbs-up. He couldn’t love his mom more. Any of his family, really. They took Jessie and Wes in without question, though he knew they all wondered what was going on between them. Braden wondered, too. And regardless of the fact that none of them ever really understood his attraction to both men and women, they never gave him a hard time about it, either.
“Can we decorate the tree now?” Billy asked. His sister had named the little boy after their father.
“We sure as hell can!” Braden and his dad both shot to their feet.
“As soon as everyone puts their dishes away,” his mom added. So they did. The kids raced to the kitchen, cleaning up without whining probably for the first time in their lives. They’d already pulled the boxes out, and his dad had added the lights, so once the dishes were gone, kids ripped into containers and started hanging decorations on the bottom half of the tree.
Jessie jumped right in as Braden knew she would, but Wes stood back a little, the way Braden knew he would do as well.
“Get your ass up here and help,” Braden told him. Jessie was too busy decorating to call him on his language. “If we don’t help we’re going to have a seriously lopsided tree. Most of the decorators are shrimps, if you didn’t notice.”