thought she could watch her Hallmark movies going to sleep, or if she were sick.”
“How big is it?” I asked, and the girls smiled.
“Just a forty-two inch. I know she’d hate us forever if we went too big with that. She might as it is.” Mari laughed, and we all joined in.
“I was thinking of one of those frames that pictures just flash across. Maybe a DNA kit since the family is a hot mess. She might like to know more about herself.” I shrugged.
“I hope there are no criminals. They might get caught,” Becca joked as I reconsidered.
“There just might be, but Gram would like it if they got caught.” My eyes twinkled as Hayden looked at me curiously.
“Don’t mess with Gram?” Mari asked, and I shook my head.
“No. When she loves you, you’re golden. When you’ve done her wrong, don’t ever try to get back in her good graces.” I remembered some of the times that people had.
“I’ll remember that,” Becca said, smiling softly.
“You have Ava. You get a bit of an advantage unless you do something to her. Gram would cut a bi-girl in that case.” Hayden covered his mouth in laughter as the girls shared a long glance. “You’re good. You’re doing good by Ava. She’s a happy baby.”
“I can’t imagine not doing good by her. How can a child not melt your heart? She’s not even my blood child, and I’d die for her,” Becca murmured as she looked at us.
“It’s probably good Gram never heard anything about Ryan and the things that he did.” Becca gave us wide eyes, and we nodded, feeling uncomfortable.
“Totally. Was it crowded out there?” I asked to change the subject.
“God, yes. Amy would’ve hated it. We made quick work of each store to get home to our baby.” Ava walked over to Becca, climbing into her lap for a hug. “Were you good, Ava?”
“She always is. We just played and stuff.” Hayden smiled at his best friend. “Are you going for the full tree this year?”
“Yeah. I think she’ll be okay and again, tradition. We’ll avoid the fancy ornaments down at the bottom.” Becca laughed as Mari looked thoughtful.
“Maybe entirely?” She pressed as Becca looked at her.
“We’ll see.” They smiled, and we chatted for a while until they excused themselves for the evening.
“I’m fucking full. I just want to stay in bed for a day until I need more food,” Hayden said as I chuckled.
“I second that. Let’s do it.” We locked up the house, heading to the bedroom to turn on a movie and nap.
“That was close when they brought up Ryan. Good save,” Hayden said a little while later when we were awake. His voice was hushed as if they’d hear him.
“I didn’t want that train of thought going anywhere.” I stroked his hair, feeling my heart pick up at the memory. “They can never know the truth.”
We talked about when to get the Christmas trees, assuming that Jackson was all in. He did anything Amy wanted that was legal, and she seemed to be big into the holidays. “He has that big truck. That will help.”
We fell back to sleep, getting up in a couple of hours to eat some more food. “We need to run.”
“Not right now. I need more sleep,” Hayden moaned, dropping into bed.
We slept through Saturday and went for a long run in the evening. It looked as though holiday decorating was alive and well, making us laugh as we stopped for iced tea at our favorite coffee shop. “That will get the girls started,” I muttered as we started to walk back to the apartments.
When we walked into the building, we heard voices from Gram’s apartment. I tapped on the door, asking if everything was okay.
Becca opened it with a grin. “We’re just planning a baby shower for Amy. It turns out that her family will come here for it as a surprise.” She wrinkled her nose. “Girls only. You boys are gross.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” We went upstairs and showered before going for Thai food for dinner. We needed a break from turkey and Thanksgiving food. The place was half-empty, and we chatted over the meal, enjoying the peace.
The next week went back to normal with work, but there was a good feeling in the air. Hayden loved decorating the theater, spending long days shopping, and planning what the theme would be this year. They were open for events every Sunday apart from Christmas Eve, which happened to fall on a