It was Monday, and I had three appointments this week since I’d had none the week before. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The last appointment here had just been kind of brutal. I supposed that was the point, right?
“I think so,” I told her, leaning back on the love seat and sitting cross-legged. I’d slipped out of my boots. She’d told me on my very first visit that I could make myself comfortable. The weather had turned a little balmy after the cold storms of the weekend. But it wouldn’t last.
“Do you want to talk about the distractions? What made them good?”
“The guys,” I admitted. “Thanksgiving was amazing.” A smile pulled at my mouth. Thanksgiving had been more than amazing. The only place it might have been better was if all five of us had been together all day. “But…for starters, I got a new job because my old one wants me to take more time to heal and to get through the holidays.”
That still stung, no matter how well-meaning Marsha was.
“I’m delivering food. Coop and Jake both do it, and I’ve gone with them while they work. It’s not bad, and I get to drive and I kind of like it. The guys took turns going with me, in case I needed help to carry stuff. They’re also really great about just hanging out.”
“That sounds nice,” she said.
“It was, it is. I’m going to work tonight, probably after we do our weekly ‘where are we all at on homework.’ Semester finals are coming up, and I will hopefully be out of this cast before then.” More and more, I just wanted it off. It itched. At least I didn’t need pain meds hardly at all. I barely noticed it, except for the stupid cast.
So that was something, right?
“The school is making accommodations for you, though, right?”
“They are,” I said with a nod. “But it’s… I like being able to do things for myself.”
“Understandable. How was your Thanksgiving?”
A flush warmed my face. “It was fantastic. Probably the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had.” No probably about it. “Usually, it’s just me and my—me and Maddy. We’d get some fried chicken and the sides, and maybe watch a movie. This was different. This was a really big breakfast with some of my favorites, then dinners at the guys’ houses with their families, and it’s kind of cool to see how they get along with their moms and in Ian’s case, his dad, too.”
There was all the making out and all the sex, but I wasn’t quite ready to tell her about that. If anything, my body spent the weekend humming. The guys stayed, splitting time and rotating who slept with me. Coop and I were beginning to really enjoy the weekend mornings after the others took off to run.
Ian jumped in to help me with showering. If how late we were getting back from his place on Thanksgiving hadn’t tipped them off to the change between us, that had.
A shiver traced up my spine. The demanding side of him that popped up when we were alone and naked was…wow. Not that I was complaining. They all had their possessive tendencies, but I’d never have imagined this side of Ian.
I couldn’t wait to get to know it better.
“I’m glad to hear that. Did you do anything special?”
I grinned. Did I?
“You could say that. When we got to the weekend, Archie insisted we get up early to go hit the Black Friday sales.” I laughed.
“Have you done that before?”
“No, but he wanted to people watch, and it was…funny. We got breakfast and picked up a tree for my apartment. It’s an artificial one, but Maddy never really wanted to do a tree, except maybe the week before. Always a real one, which I kind of like, too. But the lights on the tree are gorgeous, and the guys went a little crazy with decorations.”
“How so?”
“Um, everyone went home and grabbed a random box of their own and brought it back. Then we all put our kid ornaments on it, the kind of stuff you make when you’re in elementary school or got when you were younger. I had a small box in my room of some of my favorites.” Things I’d set aside over the years or snuck out the other box.
I was glad I had.
Maddy had taken that box with her.
Yeah. I shoved that thought away.
“It’s neat, Coop and I have had Christmas stuff together