Page 6 of Merry Little Christmas
“Stomach flu, by the looks of it.”
“That means you’re going to get it.”
Cole only shrugged, perching against the counter next to me. “I think I can handle it. Do you want me to take you home, or would you rather stay here?”
Stay here. When Cole had asked me where I wanted to sleep, the answer was instant. Unfortunately, Big Peyton had too much of a filter, which meant my Little side was about to be highly disappointed. “I think I need to rot in my own bed for a while. Youmust have better things to do than to have a whining, crying Little clinging to you all day.”
Laughing, Cole pushed off the counter. “Let me get dressed, but for the record, I didn’t mind.” He ruffled my hair as he walked past and unlike if Jesse would have done it, I didn’t argue or fight back. “I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”
Chapter Four
Cole
Two weeks after my birthday,I sat in my office, enduring grueling phone call after phone call. “Of course, I understand.” I tossed my pen to the side and pinched the bridge of my nose. A headache loomed on the horizon, one that had been slowly building over the last few hours. Yes, I understood the poor woman’s struggle, but that didn’t make the day any less stressful. “Yes ma’am, I promise I’ll get a crew out as soon as I can.”
“Oh, God bless you. Merry Christmas, Mr. Davis.”
“Same to you.”
Thankfully, the conversation ended there. For the first time since dawn, I powered down my work phone. Normally, I wouldn’t have, but I needed a break. It was six p.m., and I’d hardly moved from my desk all day.
I rotated in my chair and gazed out the window of my home office. A fresh layer of snow blanketed the ground, glittering in the moonlight. Christmas lights reflected off the plush white surface, making my front yard look like a Hallmark-worthy Winter Wonderland.
But to the owner of a construction company in central Georgia, it was less than mystical.
It didn’t snow in the south. At least, not like this. Four inches had fallen overnight, the most that the state had seen in years. Seeing as I was from the Midwest, that wasn’t a lot for me but in Georgia? It might as well be the end of the world. This level of snow had the potential to shut the whole state down. People took it more seriously after Snowpocalypse 2014, but it was still an issue.
The snow wasn’t the problem, after all. It was the layer of ice inevitably hiding beneath.
Outside of the obvious dangers of black ice on the roads, ice was heavy. It weighed down tree limbs and prevented pipes from expanding properly, which meant roof damage and flooding. I’d spent my entire day organizing crews to tarp houses and dry out floors until proper repairs could be made. A whopping two weeks before Christmas, the storm couldn’t have come at a worst time. I really owed some of my crew a pay rise.
The first thing I’d done that morning was check my own house for damage. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom, ranch-style had been my home for a few years. It was just that: a home. It kept me cool in the summer and warm in the winter, but I couldn’t shake the fact that something was missing from it.
One of the bedrooms had been converted to a guest space, and the other into my home office, where I spent most of my time. The master, though quite extravagant, was for nothing more than sleeping between shifts. Well, it was intended that way. I fell asleep at my desk more often than not.
After building my own company up in Lexington, I’d moved to Georgia and brought it with me. A branch of Davis Construction still operated there, but I managed it remotely. When Jesse moved, I was happy to follow. Though the three of us were headed home for the holidays soon, and I couldn’t wait. It would be the first time in a while that Peyton would get to go.
I spun away from the window, but the view out of my office door wasn’t much more relaxing. My door sat open,giving me a view of the closed one across the hallway—the one that stayed closed unless I had a reason to go inside. Up until that morning, I hadn’t opened it in months. The sight of it seemed to taunt me.
Beyond that locked bedroom was a custom-built nursery. I’d done it all myself, from laying the fluffy white carpet that padded the floors to painting the tiny pastel stars on the icy blue walls. I’d spent weeks building the bed and changing table, even searching far and wide for a rocking chair that would fit my massive form and accommodate someone in my lap.
But I hadn’t had a Little to fill that space in a long time. Outside of my hectic work schedule getting in the way, my needs were very… specific. Not a lot of them liked the rules I put in place.
I stared at the door longingly. Maybe another look wouldn’t hurt…
But then my phone rang.
My first instinct was to groan, until I saw that it was Jesse. I swiped to answer and brought the phone to my ear. “H?—”
“Please tell me your house is intact and you don’t have anything important to do right now.”
Technically I did have things to do, but I couldn’t stress enough how much I didn’twantto do any of them. Besides, Jesse’s voice was enough for me to drop the King himself if he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you get to Peyton’s?”
“What happened?” I was already out of my seat and lacing up my old work boots.
“I couldn’t get much out of them,” he sighed. “They were pretty upset, but something about a tree?”
