And then he decided he’d better stop talking before Kaira’s queasy face became Kaira’s upchucked banana, and reminded her she had one more stocking to oversee the emptying of.
Jordy wasn’t expecting any surprises, of course, since he’d been the one in charge of gifts, but Rowan had found a few small items to slip into the stocking when Jordy’s back was turned.
Seeing Jordy’s baffled face when Kaira pulled the matching novelty socks and tie out was priceless. They were kind of terrible—navy blue with neon pink and covered in cartoon dinosaurs. Kaira loved them.
“Daddy, Santa gave you a tie for work!”
“Yes, yes he did,” Jordy said dryly and shot Rowan a look. Jordy would have worn them anyway, Rowan was sure, but getting Kaira in on it ensured he would probably wear them to his next game.
The next item Kaira unearthed was the large flat magnet Rowan had found for the fridge—a comprehensive chart that converted kitchen measurements from Imperial to metric, and in some cases between volume and weight. Jordy’s struggle to conceptualize metric was a constant delight to Rowan, who enjoyed Jordy’s consternated expression every time Canadian packaging betrayed him and failed to include both sets of measurements. Not that it happened as often as it would elsewhere. Canadians couldn’t make up their minds about anything. Weather was measured in Celsius but ovens in Fahrenheit?
Jordy shot Rowan the bitchiest of bitchfaces, clearly salty about Rowan’s dig, but how could he resist? The one time Kaira asked him to use one of Rowan’s cookie recipes while Rowan was at work, he’d sent a string of grumpy, petty texts about incomprehensible measuring systems.
“Ooh, magnet. What’s it for?”
“It’s to help Daddy bake.” Kaira nodded like this made perfect sense and pulled the next item out.
As each was revealed, Rowan was glad that he’d contributed, since Jordy seemed incapable of getting himself anything that wasn’t purely functional. His stocking looked like he’d emptied his bathroom cabinet into it.
Well, other than the boring sports socks and granny candies, of course.
By that point Kaira had worn herself out and was ready for another snuggle, so they cleared away their presents and put onThe Muppet Christmas Carol, the only one worth watching, and passed the rest of the morning like that.
By lunchtime, the chicken had cooled and was ready to be turned into soup, so after their meals of eggs and toast for Kaira and leftovers for the adults, Rowan set the pot to simmering. It might not be a traditional Christmas feast, but the smell of chicken soup permeated the house and had them all ready for dinner that night.
After the sun had set and Jordy had transferred a snoozing Kaira back to bed, he and Rowan cuddled up on the couch, looking at the tree.
“So it might not be morning anymore, but you still have a present under the tree to open,” Jordy murmured.
“Mm.” Rowan was curled into Jordy’s side, his head resting on his shoulder, and he didn’t want to move. Any other night and he would have suggested they make use of Kaira’s shockingly early bedtime in an adults-only fashion. But tonight it felt good just to be close. Not to mention that a five o’clock wakeup and a day with a sick kid weren’t exactly great for one’s libido.
“Rowan, I’m asking if you wanna open your present.”
“Present?”
“Yes, present. Someone was a very good boy”—Rowan shivered; maybe his libido had gotten enough rest after all—“and has presents under the tree.”
“But Kaira….”
“She won’t notice. She’s a bit young to care too much about presents from other people to other people.”
So Rowan let Jordy extricate himself enough to grab their gifts for each other. The large bag he placed on Rowan’s lap wasn’t exactly heavy, but it had weight enough and was stuffed full under the top layer of red and green tissue paper. Inside were a set of leather touchscreen-compatible gloves, a matching scarf and hat in a burgundy that Rowan had been assured looked good on him, and finally a brown leather messenger bag with a “handmade in BC” label and his initials stamped in the bottom corner of the flap.
“Jordy,” Rowan choked. There was no way Jordy had purchased this in the past forty-eight hours. He’d bought this for Rowan his friend, not his lover. Rowan ran his hands over the leather, then flipped it open to find pockets of varying sizes and uses tucked everywhere. Damn.
“I figured anyone working at a library or a college needed a good leather bag.”
“It’s a university, you heathen,” Rowan bitched, mostly so he wouldn’t give in to the tears threatening. “Thank you. I love it. I love you,” he added impulsively and kissed Jordy in thanks.
“My turn,” Jordy said breathlessly once Rowan finally released him.
“It’s a bit of a letdown after this.” Rowan didn’t have the funds to spend what was probably a good thousand dollars—the bag alone could cost that much, and Rowan was pretty sure the hat and scarf were cashmere.
Jordy gave Rowan an unimpressed look, then unwrapped the small flat box. Rowan had agonized for the past three weekswhat to get his friend/employer/unrequited love and had finally settled on something that would help him build happy memories with Kaira—a family pass to the science museum.
“I got the one for two adults, since I’m sure you’ll want to add the new nanny—”
Jordy cut him off with his lips.
