Page 60 of Remade

Snow was coming down heavier the higher we climbed, though I doubted it would stay on the ground for long. It wasn’t that cold.

Alex woke up with impeccable timing, when the paved road ended and dirt roads took over.

“Oh my gosh, it’s snowing, Uncle Bo! Nugget, wake up.”

I smiled and caught Leighton yawning and scrubbing at his face in the rearview. Then he blinked and peered out the window, and he frowned. Our gazes met in the rearview before he leaned forward and glanced at the GPS.

“We were gonna take turns.”

I’d just said that to get him to agree to rest. You didn’t need to take turns on a two-hour drive.

“I lost track of time, I guess,” I replied.

He huffed.

I didn’t care. For as much as he loved getting to know his family, it exhausted him too. It didn’t have to be a bad thing whatsoever; I just noticed it was an overwhelming experience, especially leading up to this holiday. He’d poured countless hours into finding gifts for everyone, including practicing his profiling skills and studying their social media accounts for clues on hobbies.

Add the emotional stress of managing expectations, hopes, and online interactions, and it was no wonder he was fucking tired.

He’d visited Jake’s grave at Arlington for the first time this fall, claiming he hadn’t had the guts earlier. He’d felt he was encroaching on someone else’s territory by being there, which hadn’t been true before, and it wasn’t true now. In short, it’d been a fall with a fuck-ton of firsts for him.

Hell, I’d had a lot of firsts lately too. The thought of me noticing something going on with my partner without them telling me was unheard of in the past. Now, there was something almost every day.

Being with Leighton had given me a conscience too, it seemed. Because it wasn’t like I was bad a reading people; for fuck’s sake, I was professionally trained to do it. I just hadn’t cared enough with previous partners, so now I felt like a bigger dick than before.

I’d get over it, though.

The last minutes of our ride up the mountains, Leighton and Alex discussed gift-wrapping strategy. She was going to help him, and they had a lot to do. We wouldn’t have been able to fit everything into our luggage if we’d wrapped the gifts beforehand, unless we wanted shit to break on the way, so that was the plan for today. Get settled and get prepared.

I’d been promised the best coffee I’d ever have, so things were looking bright for me too.

“Uncle Bo, do we have snacks? We’re gonna need snacks when we wrap gifts.”

“We have some left from last night,” I said. A few chocolate Santas and a bag of chips oughta do it.

“What about the jerky?” she pressed. “I want the jerky.”

What kind of kid preferred jerky over chocolate?

I cleared my throat and slowed down as we approached the gate Darius’s and Ryan’s families shared. Their two properties were fenced in “for the most part,” according to Leighton.

“I think Uncle Bo’s silence is letting you know he ate all the jerky,” Leighton said helpfully.

“That issolike him,” Alex answered. “He’s a jerky thief.”

“Mouse, it’s Christmas,” I told her.

Alex gave me a look in the rearview. “So?”

So, I was just…saying. To change the topic.

Thankfully, I was saved by the gate opening, so someone must be keeping an eye on us.

I drove through and followed the dirt road until the trees cleared and revealed what had to be Darius’s favorite place on earth. Their homestead sat at the foot of a cliffside, and they definitely had everything they could ask for if you hated people. A creek or a stream split the property between the buildings and the field where they grew stuff, I guessed. There was a greenhouse too. Main cabin, guest cabin, a chicken coop, and…I wasn’t sure. Something for pigs and rabbits, I’d been told.

Apparently, Leighton had connected well with Gray on Instagram.

“I know I’m not supposed to have favorites, but I really like Gray, Lias, Elise, and Willow.”

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