Page 52 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
“Mon Dieu!” a woman behind Helga gasped, appalled by Avery’s language at the foot of a Nativity scene.
“Oh my,” another said. Now, Avery looked terrible because of her husband’s stubbornness.
“I don’t know where we are in the song,” Jim grumbledtoo loud.
“Dad’s going to ruin it,” Addy said, looking at Avery in typical teenage-girl annoyance. “He’s talking and not singing. I don’t think he studied his parts.”
“Me either,” Avery said like Jim had had weeks to rehearse this Christmas family tradition, and he’d let the entire family down.
“Star of Wonder, Star of Night…”
“Is he drunk?” a random person questioned with a laugh.
Addy looked at Jim as if she half-believed the man’s humored question, and I was doing everything I could not to laugh out loud. As much as I enjoyed Jim’s discomfort, the one thing I didn’t want to do wasmockChristmas traditions for anyone, especially when I was unsure how seriously people took their nativity scenes on this side of the world.
Jim’s irritation with me and everything he was exposed to was about to derail the whole thing, so it was time I saved him and saved Christmas and turned this all around.
I stood up and eyed Collin, giving him a look to let him know we had to bail the big guys out. So, that’s when we took it from the top as if it’d all been planned this way. We sangWe Three Kings of Orient Are, and I encouraged everyone who was confused and humored by our live Nativity to join in, and that’s when the Christmas cheer kicked into high gear.
Everything had turned out for the best, and this was just the beginning. We still had planned legit caroling through the picturesque villages and down through this marketplace like characters out of Charles Dickens’sScrooge, followed by baking Christmas cookies with all the kids. Then, once we arrived at Christmas Eve, we’d follow the Swiss tradition of getting our tree at a local farmer’s land—picked out by John, of course—and by the time Christmas morning rolled around, I suspected that our retaliation for the meditation chaos would be complete.
After the way tonight had worked out, we were practically there already. The only problem left to solve was Spencer, who seemed utterly unscathed by all of this. I suppose that meant he’d have to be the one to help John cut down the tree with ahandsaw, which would be no easy task, given the size of the tree we’d need to fill the living room.
We were still a few days from crossing that bridge, so I hoped Spence would break for his benefit; however, at this rate, it seemed unlikely. Time would tell.
CHAPTER 28
Jake
Christmas Eve Morning
Great sex, excellent family time, and inflicting torture on my brother and Spence had lifted my spirits through the roof. The grand finale was drawing nigh, and when all was said and done, I was confident that none of those cocky CEO sons of bitches would dare prank Collin and me again.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Ash’s dad asked in humor.
I smiled at my father-in-law and took great pride in the fact that the man was entertained at Spencer and Jim’s expense. Of course, Collin and I were suffering right alongside those bastards, but seeing Jim and Spence so far out of their comfort zones, going through withdrawals from being on their laptopsand phones all damn day, made all these nonstop Christmas festivities downright enjoyable.
“Ah, yes. Today,” I said, standing from the breakfast table and smiling at Jim and Spencer’s bedheads. We’d worn their asses out yesterday chopping up firewood.
“Spit it out,” Spencer said, his once ambivalent mood finally matching Jim’s annoyance. “What Christmas song are wehonoringby playing a festive Christmas event forthe ladiesand children?”
“Excuse me?” Nat snapped, staring at her husband. “What the hell was that?”
“It’s nothing,” Spencer grumbled, and my lips were pressed into a fine line, trying not to laugh.
“The hell it isn’t,” she said. “You’re lucky our daughter didn’t hear that or the fact that you won’t be getting laid tonightfor daring to refer to the children and women in such an annoyed tone.”
“I thought you were excited to keep up these festivities after seeing the look on your daughter’s face yesterday when you helped her makeLady Winterthe snowwoman?” Collin questioned, provoking Spencer even more.
“Precisely,” Nat said. “This sour mood you’re in is beyond me.”
“Beyondyou?” Spencer said, too exhausted to be wise enough not to talk back to his wife. “Try having your ass jerked out of bed every morning by these two dumbassesin the name of Christmas cheer?—”
“Spence, stop,” Jim tried to warn Spence from continuing down this paved road to hell. “You’ve enjoyed this.”
“Speak for yourself, Jim,” Spencer said. “I think this has gone far enough. I’ve already put my email responses to auto-vacation mode, or whatever you call it. See, I don’t even know what it’s called because I never use it. And because I’ve chosento ghost all our clients and partners, God knows how many deals we’re losing while we prance around in homemade ugly Christmas sweaters, bake Christmas cookies, percolate fucking coffee outside, and?—”
Either Nat punched the man in his balls, or the lights came on, and he’d realized what an asshole he sounded like. This could be bad for Spencer because what the ladies weren’t seeing was the constant poking of these two bears that Collin and I had been doing behind the scenes to make ourselves feel better about the torture we’d suffered.
