Page 60 of Mr. Frosty Pants
“I was excited when I left this morning. I thought I’d burst if I didn’t tell someone how I was feeling.”
Joel’s sweet mouth crooked up. “I guess that’s a compliment.”
“It’s more than a compliment, it’s—” Casey took a deep breath. “My feelings for you are—”
“Not now. None of that.” Joel’s eyes twinkled as he sat back in his chair, pointing at Casey with his beer. “Make my dinner, slave.”
Casey let all talk of feelings drop. Joel was still too skittish to go there. “Oh, you do role-play? Jumping right from virgin to advanced sexual kink. I’m impressed.”
Joel snarled adorably. “You should be.”
Casey laughed, grabbing the salt and pepper from the spices Joel had pulled down. He spiced the veggies and popped them into the warm oven before grabbing the package of steaks from the fridge.
After spicing the meat, he melted butter in the pan until it was sizzling. Then he placed the steaks side by side, filling Joel’s entire cook pan with all four slices of meat.
Joel watched with a craving in his eyes that Casey wasn’t entirely sure was lust so much as actual physical hunger. The idea of Joel not having enough money for food made him ache. Couldn’t he take a salary from Vreeland’s? Could the store really not afford it? Casey knew better than to ask that now, though. Not if he actually wanted to get laid tonight. That conversation would just lead to a fight.
But seriously, Joel’s stupid pride!
Casey wondered what it was about the emotion that got under men’s skin. His father was driven by pride, and so was Joel’s dad. He’d be lying if he didn’t indulge in excesses of it himself. Exploring his pride, and the way it limited him, was something he was doing with Ann to a degree—plus figuring out how to be a person to be proud of, and how to stop conflating his father’s pride in him—or lack thereof—with his pride in himself.
“A penny for your thoughts.”
“Ah, you wouldn’t want them,” Casey said, smiling. “They’re totally fifth- or sixth-date material.”
Joel rolled his eyes but didn’t insist.
Dinner went quickly, with Joel stuffing himself on the steak and veggies. Bruno got some meat too, but the third steak went into the fridge as leftovers, and Casey could see that Joel was already eagerly looking forward to eating it tomorrow.
With both their bellies full, they turned to trimming the tree. Joel popped a copy ofNational Lampoon’s Christmas Vacationin his old DVD player, and both of them were laughing before the opening scenes had even played out. As they watched, popcorn was popped and strung together with needles and thread. Four sore, bloody thumbs later, they strung the popcorn garland around the upper boughs and branches, leaving the lower ones free of temptation for Bruno.
“I should have brought Christmas cookies instead of Oreos,” Casey lamented as they cracked open the boxes of ornaments. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
On the small screen, Chevy Chase and his family continued to mess up Christmas for everyone, but Casey was having the most perfect Christmas experience of his life in Joel’s cozy trailer. Aside from the lack of cookies.
“I have some frozen cookie dough,” Joel offered. “I bought it from Brandon’s son for his school’s band fundraiser today. Expensive as hell, but I couldn’t tell him no. Not as his dad’s boss.”
“Get them out!” Casey hung up a bright orange ball with the words “Tennessee Volunteers” scrolled in white. It was from the box of older ornaments from Joel’s pop’s house. “Make some!”
Once the scent of baking cookies filled the air, they finished up the tree and eventually collapsed on the sofa with a plate of delicious chocolate chip cookies and grins of satisfaction.
“It looks great.” Casey put his arm around Joel’s shoulder, dragging him in close before grabbing another cookie from the plate. “Beautiful.”
“It’s festive,” Joel agreed. “I wonder what happened to the star, though.” He frowned up at the bare top branch. “I thought I packed it with all the rest.”
Casey shrugged. “It still looks good.”
The Griswolds finished up their Christmas adventure, and the screen went blank. Joel aimed the remote and turned it off. “And that’s all I’ve got for entertainment. My streaming services are all turned off for now.” He scooted away from Casey and grabbed his phone from the coffee table. “I have Internet still and a free Pandora subscription. If you don’t mind ads?”
“I don’t mind them.”
“Christmas music or…?”
“Let’s keep with the theme for the evening.”
Joel got up and turned on a small Bluetooth speaker placed on a shelf of books by the only overstuffed chair in the room. Casey made a mental note to look for any Joel Grimsbane titles there the next time he was alone in the room.
“Pandora is always a mixed bag. No promises.”
