Page 39 of Jingle Bell Flock
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
The sound of tires on gravel pulled our attention to the window. Eli’s boyfriend Gavin’s Jeep was pulling up, Sugarplum’s head sticking out the back window like she was a damn dog.
That goat would do anything for Gavin. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen—like Sugarplum had decided this one human was hers and everyone else could go to hell. If a goat could fall in love with a person, Gavin was definitely Sugarplum’s person.
Harrison tried to act like it didn’t bother him—especially since she was secretly his favorite—but he was definitely put out by it.
“That’s my cue,” Jemma said, wiping quickly at her eyes. “Love you, little brother.” She patted my chest a few times.
“Love you, too,” I called after her as she left me alone in her room.
I heard the sound of the front door opening, then Eli’s voice and Gavin’s deeper rumble. I took one more look in the mirror, straightened my cuffs, and headed down.
Jemma was in the kitchen with the boys, helping Eli with his tie.
“Don’t feel bad,” I told him as I entered the room. “I watched like twelve videos, and I still had to have your mom help me.”
Eli looked dapper and surprisingly grown-up, while Gavin watched on with obvious amusement, his royal blue suit sleek and fashionable.
The kid reminded me so much of Harrison at that age, it was almost eerie. Not the hiding-in-the-closet part—thank God Eli and Gavin got to skip that particular hell—but everything else. Both he and Harrison were pretty-boy star athletes who took their appearance seriously, who understood that how you presented yourself mattered.
I’d noticed over the past few months that Gavin gravitated toward Harrison at family gatherings, the two of them talking about brands and fits and fabrics while the rest of us talked about anythingbutthat. It made sense in a way. Everyone in Gavin’s family was salt-of-the-earth, practical people who wore jeans and flannel and didn’t give a damn about fashion. Harrison got him in a way his own family probably didn’t.
“You look good,” Gavin said, eyeing my outfit with approval. “Nervous?”
“Terrified,” I admitted, bracing my hands on the back of a chair. “But the good kind of terrified.”
Eli grinned. “TheI’m-about-to-marry-the-love-of-my-lifekind?” His eyes flicked briefly to Gavin before coming back to me.
The quick, almost unconscious glance at the person he loved hit me square in the chest. If Gavin was like Harrison, then Eli was more like me. Moon-eyed and so completely gone for his boyfriend. Except, unlike me, he got to be open about it. Got to look at Gavin without fear. Didn’t have to hide his feelings for fear of someone figuring it out.
“Exactly that.” I cleared my throat.
“Where’s Sugarplum?” I asked, glancing toward the door.
“In her pen,” Eli said. “Already brushed and ready to go. She’s been surprisingly well-behaved all morning.”
“Don’t jinx it.”
“Too late,” Gavin said with a grin. “He’s been saying that all morning. She’s definitely going to eat someone’s boutonniere now.”
The four of us headed outside, where the farm had been transformed. String lights were strung between two rows of trees—the same ones we’d put up for the holiday event seven months ago and never bothered taking down. White chairs were arranged in neat rows facing a simple wooden arch wrapped in wildflowers. The July sun was bright and hot, nothing like the cold December day when Harrison and I had chased goats through the snow and fallen into each other’s arms.
“Uncle Jeremy?” Eli’s voice pulled me back.
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted to say …” He paused, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed. “Thanks for showing me what it looks like—two guys loving each other without apologizing for it.”
If only he knew how hard it had been to get here. How we almost hadn’t.
My chest went tight. “Eli.”
“I mean it.” He glanced at Gavin, who was laughing at something Jemma and Charlie were saying to him. “When I first started figuring things out, I was scared. About what it would mean, about whether I’d get to have what everyone else has. But watching you and Harrison, you showed me it’s possible.”
I pulled him into a hug, probably wrinkling both our suits, but not giving a damn. “You’re going to have everything you want, kid. You and Gavin both.”
When we broke apart, his eyes were bright. “We’re excited about Thackeray. And about the cabin.”
