Page 34 of Jingl
“Oh shit,” I whisper.
“What?”
“Jack saw.” I drop my head on the headrest and just laugh. It’s all I can do.
“Is it gonna be a problem?”
“No, Jack’s cool. He’ll probably just rib me about it next time he sees me. Or Holli might say something.”
Trace holds out his hand, and I take it. He zips through a drive-thru and takes us home. I’m eager to get to the lying in his lap part of the evening, especially since tomorrow only has classes and the mall.
Chapter 16
Trace
I think Shae fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow on my lap. I grab my phone and put a note in to get a battery for his car. He doesn’t need to worry about it when I can do my work wherever. He can go to school and I can sit and work at the mechanic’s shop while I wait.
The movie’s almost over. We choseFrosty The Snowmanout of winter movie watching tradition, but I guess it hadn’t kept Shae’s interest. That’s fine. I love having him here. I swipe the hair from his eyes and watch him sleep.
I wish I could have saved my money faster. But I wanted to be prepared. My company pays me a good wage, so my car, while not a clunker, is still reliable and paid off. I have a good amount in savings and my apartment is affordable to me.
And while I’m happy with my job, I want something better. Something I can actually grow with and not wonder if they’ll kick the bucket in a few years. I applied to a few places prior to moving to Frostdale, all with remote work as possibilities. From now on, where Shae is, I am. I never want to be too far away from him unless it’s necessary.
My phone rings, making me and Shae jump. It’s entirely too late for anyone to call, but when I see it’s from my sister, I answer. Shae sits up and rubs his eyes before leaning against my shoulder.
“Hey, Wendy, everything alright?”
“Sorry, Porter and Kenzie wanted to talk to you and refused to go to bed until I called. Can you talk?”
“Sure, put them on.”
As soon as she does, I get an eyeful of my niblings’ sad faces. Porter’s eyes swim in tears, and Kenzie’s bottom lip trembles.
“Awe, what’s wrong guys?”
“Miss you,” Porter wipes his nose with the back of his hand. Kenzie nods.
“I’m right here. Shae’s a sleepy head. How about you tell us a story so he can go to sleep?”
Shae gives me a sleepy smile and nods on my shoulder. “That would be great.” His eyes shut again.
Porter bounces on his feet. “I know lots of stories!” He launches into finding a frog on the side of the road when they were walking the dog. Apparently, Kenzie screamed, and Porter tried to catch it, leaving Wendy with a jumpy dog and two crazed twins to deal with.
“Alright, kiddos, how about we let Trace and Shae go to bed? It’s late. Wish them goodnight.”
Shae just nods. I think he’s already fallen back asleep and I hate to move him, but I rather he be comfortable in bed than get all kinked up on the couch.
“Come on, Shae. Time to get you into bed.” Though I’d love to have a bit of fun with him before we turn off the light, he obviously needs the sleep instead. Slowly I get him to his feet and he shuffles along until I push him into bed and pull the covers up to his chin. “I’ll be in shortly.”
“Thank you, Trace,” he whispers.
He looks so peaceful I don’t want to bother him and leave to turn off the TV and settle into a bit of work. There’s just a bit of code I want to get in for the night before I call it done for the day.
Chapter 17
Shae
I walk out of my last final and practically shout at the sky. Done until the new year. It’s been a long semester, but made better by Trace’s arrival to Frostdale. Without him, I’m not sure how I would have survived the end of the semester. He’s been a lifesaver. My car functions again because he took it in for a new battery. I insisted on paying him back, though. He didn’t need to sink his money into my car, and begrudgingly he took my money. I’m beginning to think he has some kind of Daddy kink where he likes taking care of me and I think I kind of love it.
