“G oddamn it, Ford! Where is that extension cord?” Stoney was buried under the second biggest motherfucking Christmas tree in the history of the earth. He assumed the one in Rockefeller Center was bigger.
He could be wrong.
“This is what you get for waiting until Christmas Eve to put the tree up, you know,” Geoff said.
“I was waiting for Ford to bring up more lights since he used every single one of them for his party. Extension cord? Now?”
“You got it.” Geoff handed Stoney a cord, business end first, thank God.
“Thank you. If this tree falls on me, tell my son I love him and Ford that I’m going to haunt him until the end of time.”
“I got your back.”
“Metaphorically,” Ford said, joining them with a tote full of shit. “I hit jackpot in the attic, and Angie brought us lights.”
“Good deal. Remind me why we’re decorating this monstrosity instead of something less than eighty feet tall?” He was discovering he loved this—seeing Christmas through Ford’s eyes.
“Because the last, oh, twelve years I’ve had a three-foot-tall fake tree in Santa Fe, which is one of the most Christmassy cities on earth. It was depressing. Is there eggnog?” Ford asked, poking Geoff.
“There is. Have you noticed that he completely disappears under there?”
“He’s just wee. Baby, are you coming out before Ty gets here?”
Stoney was going to kill them both.
“No, I’m going to turn into one of Santa’s elves and build a fort in here. Expect nuclear warfare before the New Year.”
“Daddy! Grampa’s here!”
“Oops. Time to put out the sugar-free cookies.” Geoff pelted off, and Stoney thought he might just die in the tree.
Ford extracted him gently, turning him to kiss his mouth. “Breathe a minute.”
“Yeah, yeah. Merry Christmas Eve, you giant butthead.”
“You too.”
“Well, now, it’s cold out there.” Ty walked in, Quartz clinging to him. “Feels good in here.”
“Hey, stranger! You’re looking good! Sophia must be taking care of your skanky ass.” Stoney headed over to give Ty a hug, then kiss Miss Sophia on the cheek. “Quartz, can you take their bags on over to the big bedroom?”
They’d settled on living in what everyone still called Stoney’s side of the house, and keeping a nice office and guest room on the far side. One day they’d give Quartz the big bedroom and move, but not yet.
“Yessir.” Quartz beamed and ran.
Ford hugged Ty hard, then gave Sophia a gentler embrace. “Glad you made it.”
“We are too. We’re looking forward to seeing all your plans.” Ty gave Ford a sharp glance. “Rumor is you hired junior partners for Santa Fe and you’re not taking a lot of new clients up here.”
“Word does get around.”
Stoney looked closely at Ford, but saw not even a hint of panic in that much-loved face.
“I have to be here,” Ford said. “This thing is going to take both of us.”
“No shit on that.” They were booked solid from New Year’s Eve until June, and even if they managed to get the cabins remodeled faster than planned, they would have a yearlong waiting list by Easter. Ford’s concept had taken off, and Stoney had been worried about their hunters, but two groups had already rebooked for November. They’d even brought on a specialized hunting guide and a permanent waitstaff. It was insane.
Utterly insane.
Stoney loved it. Every ridiculous moment.
“Have a seat, Ty. Sophia, what can I get you?”
Sophia waved a hand, her many rings shining, totally at odds with her flannel shirt. “I am going to bug Geoff. Need to stretch my legs a minute.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Ty sat with a thud, gaze traveling up the huge tree. “Decorating late, I see.”
“We’ve been swamped with a party, you know.”
“Mmm. Well, glad it went so good for you.” Ty nodded happily, a grin breaking out. “I was worried Ford would never get his head out of his ass.”
“Look, old man. You just watch it.” Ford flipped his uncle off. “You’re still on my naughty list.”
Ty sobered for a moment. “I did my share of screwing up, boys. Promise me you’ll talk instead of hiding.”
Stoney rolled his eyes. “All he’s done is babble at me for a week. Lord.”
Ford pinched his ass. “Bitch, bitch.”
“What? It’s true. The man never shuts up.” And he loved it. Who would have thought that all that lawyering jabber shit would have a real use?
“Stoney tore me a new one too,” Ford said. “You should hear him wax poetic about how he’d decided we weren’t gonna have a business relationship, thank you.”
Wax poetic, right. It was hard to do that when both y’all had your mouths full, but whatever. He’d got his point across clear enough.
“Good deal.” Ty stretched. “Lord, I could use a beer.”
“Which is why you’ll have this coffee Geoff made you,” Sophia said, walking back into the room, Quartz tripping along behind with a plate of cookies and spiced nuts.
“Oh, yum.” He snagged a cashew and got back to work stringing lights on Gigantor the Demon Tree.
Ford chatted with Sophia while Ty napped, and Geoff’s assistant, Tiny, came through with eggnog and such.
He scrambled up the ladder, then realized he probably should have snagged the topper on the way up. “Son, hand me the star, huh? I reckon I’ll get that up, and then you can hand me up ornaments for the top.”
“I made a potato gun, if you want to shoot it up there.”
“Mmm. Little fragile for that.” He winked, which made Quartz hoot. God, his boy was happy, which tickled Stoney to death.
“Here. I’ll do it.” Ford grabbed the light-up rainbow star, lifting it almost all the way up. Stoney reached, and when he did, he felt something cold and round pressed into his hand instead.
“Ford?”
The grinning asshole just nodded, and Stoney opened his hand to find a gold nugget ring with a chunk of turquoise embedded in the center. Solid, classy—it was a man’s ring, something noticeable. A statement, Geoff would say.
A commitment.
“Wanna, cowboy?”
He looked down, and he nodded once, then slipped the ring on. Yeah. Yeah, he wanted. No question. “Hand me up that star, now. It’s fixin’ to be Christmas.”
Ford laughed, the sound happier than any Stoney had ever heard the man make. “I know what I want under my tree.”
“A pizza oven?” Geoff guessed.
“A new computer that matches the one I asked for?” God save him from almost-ten-year-olds.
“Nope. You’ll just have to wait and see,” Ford said.
He knew what Ford wanted, though. Stoney’d been under the darned tree all day.
What was a few more hours?