Page 298 of Screwged for Christmas

“Right. They were. Only you got a two-hour jumpstart on the schedule.” His brother clapped him on the shoulder. “Man, had I known this job came with built-in excuses to visit pretty girls, I would have joined the team long before now.”

Aspen tossed the box of decorations he’d been looking for and it landed against his kid brother’s chest a little too hard. “Uphhh. I’m kidding, man, lighten up. How long is Ivy staying in town?”

“If Mrs. Winters has a say, her granddaughter would be here indefinitely.”

“And you? And by the way, does Ivy know that?”

He stopped shuffling through the boxes and pegged his brother with a glare. “Doesn’t matter what I want, Kade, now drop it. I do know that Mrs. Winters has something up her sleeve. I only wish she’d included me in on it.”

“And we’re back at square one.”

“Moving back here was a good choice after Jace, no regrets there. But Mom is still not happy you signed on so don’t push your luck. I could have you on kitchen duty indefinitely. Don’t push the Ivy subject.” He had to draw the line somewhere. “It’s just not going to happen. No matter how much I wish I could change the past.” He couldn’t even get her to have dinner with him. Years of training honed his senses like a razor’s edge. So why couldn’t he slice through his own thoughts and get down to the true grit of why Ivy showing up in his town messed with his head more than he cared to admit?

It wasn’t about the one that got away or ego.

Whether he wanted to admit to it or not, though, the answer stared him in the face more so now that she was back in Dixen, but no way he would outright say it. Not to Kade, and definitely not to himself.

“Seeing how messed up you are over Ivy, do you think what happened with your ex turned out for the better?”

“That’s anotherwhat ifquestion I don’t have the answer to. Ask me in another year and we’ll see.”

Aspen killed the lights and stepped out of the storage room.

“Look, we have things to do and I have a Santa sleigh to set up. Are you going to help or are you going to keep pestering me about things that are better off left buried?”

“A little of both. I’ll help carry the boxes out but no way in the world I’m helping you set up that hideous monstrosity you call a Christmas decoration. Sheriff's been a little on edge lately with his daughter expecting any day now. With your current luck, he’ll pass by and arrest us for even thinking about putting this thing up again this year.”

“It’s tradition.”

“Sure back in the day before the whole big dix name being pinned on our asses. We can’t live that shit down. Now all the high school kids stick their mom's dildos on the reindeer antlers as a joke. I didn’t like being the one sent out to de-dildo the sleigh last year, Aspen, Kade countered.

Aspen had to admit, the slight of a twenty dildos in his brother’s hands and catching a picture to torture him with was priceless.

“Please don’t make me set this up again.”

Aspen paused. “My current luck? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Are you going to deny the kids of Dixen, Alaska their Santa sleigh?”

“Abso-fucking-lutly.”

“Fine. I’ll do you.” Aspen grabbed a stack of boxes. “The men will be back soon,” he called over top the stack.

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” his brother waved him off, “my turn to slave to the apron. Not sure I like this whole older brother’s also my boss angle,” he teased, punching his brother in the arm playfully. “But I’m telling you. Mom would be proud of what I’m whipping up today. This one I think I nailed. Practiced all through college.”

“What? Ramen noodles?”

Before raising a family, their mother had been a master chef at one of the finest restaurants in Vancouver. When she married their father and moved to Dixen, she opened her own restaurant all while raising five rowdy boys and a sassy daughter. The woman saw to it her children knew their way around a spatula and skillet. Except for Kade. The man took to the kitchen like Rocco would take to the desert.

“Please tell me you asked Mom to cook it and bring it by.”

Kade rubbed his hands together with a shake of his head. “Not this time. I’m going full all in. All Kade, all the way.”

“That’s what scares me. Thank God Ivy turned me down.”

“We’ll come back to that in a little while,” his brother promised—or threatened, depending on how you looked at it. “I’ll have you know today’s menu will be so good it’ll knock the suspenders off the entire crew.” His brother pressed the tips of his fingers to his mouth and made an audible kiss. “You’ll want me on kitchen duty for life when you taste what I have in the works. Like I said, I’ve been practicing.” Kade turned away but did a one-eighty. “I forgot. I need a couple of things for the store and Dad phoned while you were out doing heroic deeds at Ivy’s.”

He didn’t have the energy to touch that one. “And?”

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