“I keep telling you, it’s avibe, man.”
“Parker? Don’t you have somewhere to be? A contest to lose? A guy of your own who needs you to whisper sweet nothings in his ear?”
Parker’s smile turned smug. “Your concern for Jameson is touching, Gideon, and I’m gonna go and tell him all about it right now. The bromance between you is the stuff of legends. I find myselfalmostjealous.” The soul-deep satisfaction in his eyes said he was nothing of the sort.
“You know, Jamie and I have lived in this town together foryears,” I reminded him. “We got alongfinebefore you showed up.”
“Nah, youthoughtyou were fine,” Parker informed me. “You just didn’t know what you were missing.”
And as Liam resumed his spot at my side, I thought maybe Parker was right about that, too.
“Nice sweater, by the by,” Parker said, picking up his sack again. “Are those reindeerdabbing?”
I had no idea what he was talking about, so I glared at him until he smacked me on the shoulder, winked at Hazel, and walked off.
“We need to hurry,” Hazel said, tugging on the hem of my jacket. “The contest will start soon.”
“Go on, then,” I told her, waving her in front of us. “We’ll follow you.”
When we passed Jamie and Parker’s bar, right near the fairgrounds, Silas in his Santa suit was holding the door open for his boyfriend to step out. Once he did, Everett threw an arm around Liam and hugged him.
“You drank the Kool-Aid too,” he said happily.
I had no idea what the heck he was talking about, but clearly Liam did because he darted a glance up at me, and his cheeks turned red.
“The Kool-Aid was surprisingly tasty, after the first sip,” he confirmed.
Everett grinned. “I’m glad. So you’re here for good?”
I nodded, and Liam added, “We’re moving our stuff next week, and we’ll have Hazel enrolled at the school after the New Year.”
“Awesome!” Everett held up a hand for Hazel to high-five. “I’ll be your art teacher, then. Welcome to O’Leary.”
“Art is myfavorite. Well, after science,” Hazel amended. “But let me ask you, what do you think about textiles for serpents as an art medium?”
Everett blinked. “Uh. I… can honestly say I’ve never considered it. But I’m ready to hear more.”
I shook my head as Hazel slid her mittened hand into the hand Everett offered and followed him toward the fairgrounds.
I was thinking Hazel would be good for O’Leary. But more importantly, O’Leary would be good for Hazel.
Liam, Julian, and Daniel started chatting as they walked—something about Daniel’s upcoming novel, which was a sequel to the book he’d put out the year before. I hadn’t read it, though given the excitement on Liam’s face, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to say that for long.
But I put a hand on Silas’s arm, holding him back a pace so the others could walk ahead.
“Look..” I blew out a breath as we stepped off the sidewalk and onto the thin layer of snow that covered most of the fairgrounds. “I’m shit at this stuff, but… thank you. A lot.”
Silas frowned. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand. “I know you didn’treally. But all those ludicrous tree metaphors actually kinda hit home for me. Of course, in the end Liam didn’t want anything to do with Scott”— and yeah, that memory made me grin—“but he still needed me to, you know,shareand stuff. To stop being a jealous idiot who cared too much about my pride, or however you said it. I appreciate you being honest with me.”
“Gideon.” He shook his head. “I haven’t said anything meaningful to you.”
“Of course you have.” I scowled. “Yesterday. At the tree lot. Maybe it didn’t mean shit toyouandyou’veforgotten all about it, but it meant something tome,okay? And frankly, it was really nice of you to get the tree home for me too. Where’d you get the stand? They don’t sell that kind at the Imperial.”
“Bud, lemme stop you right there because Iliterallyhave no idea what you’re talking about.” Silas stopped walking. “I wasn’t helping out with the trees yesterday. I wassupposedto, but I got called into work for a couple hours, and then Ev and I helped Hen hang some more lights outside the shop for the Parade.”
“Wait. Wait, wait, wait. It wasn’t you?”
