Page 37 of Home For Christmas

I started falling back asleep when a clank in the kitchen drew my attention. I still wasn’t used to having my brothers in my house, even after they’d been there four days. Now that I knew someone was awake, I wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep, so I wiggled my way out from between Harrison and Greg—easier thought than executed.

Greg had his arm draped across my body with his hand resting against Harrison’s chest. Harrison was plastered against my side, and I was a Jasper sandwich. I loved being sandwiched between them except when I had to get up. If I jostled Greg, he’d wake up in a heartbeat. If I rolled over Harrison, he’d be awake, and he definitely wasn’t a morning person.

I took the only logical exit and wiggled my way down and straight out the foot of the bed. Two years ago, I wouldn’t have ever made the bed without tucking the bottom of the sheet in, but I’d given up on that practice as soon as the three of us were consistently sharing a bed. Being stuck with no way out was miserable.

Harrison snuffled and wriggled closer to Greg. He was our freeze baby and cuddle bug wrapped up in one man. That meant I wasn’t normally in the middle, but sometimes we changed it up, and last night had been one of those nights.

I pulled a pair of pajama pants on and headed toward the kitchen to see who was clanking around so early in the morning. I began giggling to myself as I made my way down the steps.

“What’s so funny?” Colt asked. He was standing at the stove stirring something that smelled absolutely amazing.

“Just thinking about how two years ago, six would have been sleeping in. I was walking down here wondering who was clanking around in the kitchen so fucking early,” I mentioned as I headed over to the coffeepot. “However, if whatever you’re making tastes half as good as it smells, it’s totally worth getting up early for.”

Colt grinned. “It’s just oatmeal with some fresh apples I found in your fridge and some apple pie spice.”

My stomach rumbled. I wasn’t normally a big fan of oatmeal. My mom made enough food to feed an army, so most mornings we went over to her place before all heading in our separate directions, but I couldn’t deny Colt’s oatmeal was incredibly tempting. “Wait, does my brother eat that?”

Colt threw his head back and laughed. “I may physically have to force-feed it to him if I want him to eat it.”

That sounded about right.

“It’s a texture issue for him more than anything, I think. Now, he admits that the taste isn’t bad, and he loves the smell, but he nearly gags every time he tries to eat it. But I know Ty and Dec both love it, and I figured you guys aren’t normally all that picky.”

I shook my head. “If it’s food, we’ll eat it. If we don’t have to cook it, even better. Hell, we will happily do the dishes if it means we don’t have to cook it.”

“Well, you’re the first one up, so we can eat and make someone else do the dishes. The last person to eat should need to clean the pot.”

I hummed around my coffee mug. “I like that plan. Can I make anything for Dare?”

Colt shook his head. “Marla sent over leftover waffles yesterday. I’ll just toss them in the toaster when he wakes up.”

Why had I never thought of that? It was brilliant. “You’re a fucking genius.”

Colt chuckled at my musings. “Want a bowl of oatmeal?”

“Yes, please.” I’d just sat down when Derek came into the kitchen shuffling slowly toward his husband.

“Hey, buddy,” Colt greeted him with a hug. “Wasn’t expecting you up so early.”

Derek mumbled something about the smell of food waking him up, but it was hard to make out around his thumb and blanket. His blanket had to be a biohazard by this point in his life, but he didn’t seem to care. The two parted and Derek came over to where I was sitting at the island. “Morning.” He yawned, finally pulling his thumb from his mouth.

“Morning. You guys sleeping okay in that room?” We didn’t often use our guest rooms. People normally stayed at my parents’ or sometimes the cabin.

Derek nodded. “That bed is pretty much like sleeping on a cloud.”

I chuckled. “That’s what Harrison said when we bought it over the summer.”

The sippy cup that Colt slid across the counter didn’t even faze me by that point, and Derek and I were able to keep an easy conversation going. “What are on the plans today?” he asked before pushing the spout of the lid into his mouth.

“Heading to the barn at some point. This snow is crazy.”

Derek nodded his head in agreement. “I never remember anything like this before. We’re going to have a white Christmas! It’s totally magical. I was going to take the kids to build snowmen after breakfast.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his excitement, which made my lack of enthusiasm wane just a bit. When I saw all the snow, I thought of cold mornings, extra work for the ranch hands, and extra stress. When Derek saw the snow, he thought of snowmen and magic.

Derek continued to talk as Colt moved about the kitchen getting his breakfast ready. “Mom already sent a text saying the kids were up. After snowmen, do you mind if I come to the barn with you? I can probably be of some use. I haven’t forgotten everything, yet.” He paused with a bite of waffle halfway to his mouth. “Wait, you are building snowmen with us, right?”

“Huh?”

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