Chris. A gift. As in one. You’ve put at least six in the box.”
Chris looked at the box, at me, then back to the box and shrugged. “Oh well. I’m not returning them. You will just have to deal with more than one gift.”
“No, Chris. You can’t do that. What if Ford and Hudson then feel bad because they only got you one?”
Chris wrinkled his nose at me before he started rummaging through the packages. How he remembered what was in each of them, I wasn’t sure.
“Fine,” Chris grumbled as he pulled the packages out of the box. I didn’t see why he needed the box for three presents but whatever.
“I’m going to take my bag out to the Jeep and be right back.” I picked my luggage back up and took it out to the garage. It was cold in the garage, and I shivered as I tossed my bag into the back seat. I hurried back in to get the food we were bringing. Chris was nowhere to be found, and a quick glance in the box he had presents in told me he’d added them back to it. I just rolled my eyes. Hudson and Ford could deal with him.
I grabbed the pie and the container of deviled eggs and made a trip back to the Jeep, placing both carefully in the back cargo area. Chris was in the kitchen when I returned.
“Here, this needs to go too,” he said, handing me a container that had more heft to it than I expected.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Homemade cranberry salad.”
I immediately started to drool. “The same one your mom makes?”
“Yes. But you can’t have any until we’re eating.”
“When did you make this?” I asked. I’d not seen him making it, and I hadn’t seen it in the fridge either.
“Yesterday while you were at work. Are you ready? You’re wearing a coat, right?”
“Yeah. Grab it for me?” I left the kitchen, and Chris tossed my coat over my arms as I held on to the container of cranberry goodness. It had a lot of acid in it, so I wouldn’t be able to eat a whole bunch, but I was going to have some. I couldn’t not. It was just too good.
We loaded everything up and left the garage one at a time, and then we were off to the bookstore. I parked in the back, Chris behind me, and sent a text to Hudson, letting him know we were there. Moments later, he came out the back door, and I couldn’t help but smile. He always seemed like he was in such a rush to get outside when I did.
“Hey, babe.”
I smiled as Hudson leaned in and his lips met mine. I could immediately taste the eggnog on his lips and wondered how much he’d had already.
“Hey, yourself. How’s things going?” I asked.
“Good. I missed you last night,” Hudson said as he ran a hand across my waist and unbuckled my seat belt.
“I wasn’t far. And you saw me yesterday morning.”
“True. But I meant last night. I missed you.”
I looked at Hudson and really looked. I got the feeling he wasn’t talking about sex.
“Well, you’re going to get sick of me over the next few days because I packed enough to stay until Monday.” It had pretty much become our thing. I usually stayed Friday and Saturday nights with Hudson, but sometimes I’d stay Sunday as well.
“Yeah? Good. I have plans for us this weekend, then.”
“Hmm, is it a surprise, or are you willing to share?”
“He’ll share after you unlock the doors. Unlock the back, Sawyer,” Chris said as he shoved his way inside the door and hit the Unlock button.
“Oops. Guess I should let you out, huh?”
“Probably.”
I climbed out when Hudson backed up, and while Ford and Chris carried in the food, I reached into the back seat and grabbed my bag. I locked it with a push of a button and followed Hudson inside. We headed up the stairs to his place, and I almost dropped my bag when I entered. It looked like snow had exploded in there.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, so Ford and I might have gone a little overboard with the fake snow.”
“Ya think?” Chris asked, his hands on his hips. “Have you thought about how you’re going to clean it up?”
“Umm, vacuum?” Ford suggested. I looked at him a little closer and then back to Hudson and wondered.
“Just how much eggnog have you two had?” I asked.
“I think they’ve skipped the