Page 81 of The Holiday Heartbreaker

“That is your and Ashley’s problem. And not mine.” And thank God. She might do it all alone, but she didn’t expect someone else to share that sort of thing, so she couldn’t be disappointed by it.

“I’ll be there to pick him up December twenty-second, then. I’ll keep you updated on the timeframe.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

She hung up, her chest a tangle of complicated feelings. Because she had come here and it had felt a little bit like a bubble. Separate from that other life that she had left behind, and now that life she’d left behind was coming here.

She went back inside, and Brody was looking at her. She chose to just focus on Benny. “Dad is going to be here December twenty-second to pick you up. And you’ll be back after New Year’s.”

Saying it made it more real. Made it burn a little bit.

“Awesome,” Benny said.

Yeah. Brody was right. Benny not getting everything he wanted definitely wasn’t a struggle, but it was certainly difficult when your ex-husband had a much nicer house, and way more extravagant Christmases than you had.

Maybe the real issue was that it wasn’t a struggle for him.

It was a struggle for her.

It hurt her.

The thought made her chest feel bruised, but she did her best to breathe past it.

“Now,” she said. “Let’s decorate the tree.”

“I’m going to take off. You and Benny have fun with your tree.”

“Thank you for your help,” she said.

“No problem.”

And she knew that he was leaving to give her some space. To give her time with Benny since she had just committed to not having any around Christmas. But honestly, after all the heavy lifting he had done, she wished he had stayed to do a little bit more. Because she needed somebody to lean on right now. But it was just her and Benny. So she had to be the strong one. Even though she didn’t feel like it.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

DECEMBER TWENTY-SECOND. The date stuck in Brody’s head. He couldn’t really do much about it. It just kept rattling around in there. And he had a bad feeling that he knew why. Because Benny was going to be gone, and one of the barriers between him and Elizabeth being together...

No. It wasn’t a good idea. Even if they were going to have the supervision of a child to worry about.

But that day was today, and he didn’t know what time Carter was coming to pick Benny up, only that it was happening.

At the staff meeting that morning, Gus gave Elizabeth a list of assignments, and in spite of his brain telling him not to, Brody ended up interjecting. “She can have the day off, right? I mean, surely we can cover some things if we need to.”

“I don’t need the day off,” she said.

She looked glassy-eyed though. And like she might need the day, so she could spend the time with Benny.

“It’s the last day before this crop of people goes home,” Gus said. “Then it’s Christmas break for everybody.”

“Yes, and on Christmas break Benny isn’t going to be here,” he said.

“Brody,” Elizabeth said, looking stern. “It’s fine. I can do my job. And I don’t need you to interject.”

Shit. He’d overstepped on this one. But he wanted to do something. He wanted to take that tired, worn look off her face and he wanted to smooth out all her concerns. He wanted to carry some of her burdens, dammit.

Except now he’d clearly made her angrier, and that wasn’t his intent at all.

“I didn’t realize,” Gus said.

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