| |
His socks had dancing elves on them.
Damon couldn’t help his stare. “What dignified professional wears socks like that?” he demanded.
Jason looked down at his feet and then back up with a smirk. “Don’t be a grinch. It’s almost Christmas. They’re cheery.”
Damon turned to Patti and Josiah, who were working together in the kitchen. “Hey, socks with goofy-looking elves on them are ridiculous, right?”
Patti walked over and looked at said socks. “Those are adorable, Jason.”
Damon should have known she wouldn’t side with him. He looked to Josiah, but his brother was trying to hold back a grin—not very well—and refused to look at him.
“Oh, come on, Josiah. Not you too. They’re goofy.”
“They’re festive,” Josiah called back.
Damon gave Jason a disgusted look. Jason flopped down on a chair near him and tossed a throw pillow like the mature adult he was.
Damon dodged in a manner that had his side aching. He wouldn’t tell anyone, but his side still twinged from the fall.
“That dodge would be worthy of a solid game of dodgeball.” Jason snagged the pillow out of the air when Damon threw it back.
“He always did win that game when we were kids.” Josiah came into the living room.
“You boys better not be making a mess in my living room,” Patti called.
“See? This is what elf socks cause. We’re now being treated like children.”
“Don’t you even try to blame that on Jason; I’ve always treated you like children.” Patti brought a steaming dish of chicken breasts and thighs to the table.
“Dang, that smells good.” Josiah turned his nose toward the table. Damon nodded his agreement.
“What can I do to help you, Patti?” Damon asked.
“Just come to the table and dig in.” She set another piping hot dish—this one of mashed potatoes—on the table.
The men gathered around as she set down two more dishes, these filled with vegetables.
They talked about work until Patti fussed at them about having nothing better to discuss, and the topic changed.
“Went over to Martha’s place today to check on that kid,” Jason said.
“Oh, yeah? How’s everything?” Damon handed the mashed potatoes to Josiah at his questioning gesture. They’d had the table shortened long ago, so it was a good height for him in his wheelchair, but he still had trouble reaching to the middle for the dishes.
“Good. The kid looks super healthy and is eating well and running around like crazy. Between the two of them, the ladies managed to get the pens cleared out of snow and opened up all the barns.”
“That must have been a monumental task,” Patti interjected.
“Yeah.” Jason nodded his agreement.
“Hey, I talked to Martha on the phone this morning. It sounds like Valerie is getting another job and starting after Christmas. Martha is really going to miss her, I wish she’d see how good it is for Martha to have her around.” Patti scooped up some mashed potatoes.
A lightning bolt could have struck Damon’s chest and not caused as much pain. Or damage to his heart. He turned from Jason abruptly, busying his hands with the food in front of him, clenching the fork so hard his knuckles turned white. He wanted to punch something. He’d known better than to let her in. Now that hurt, the feeling of his heart shredding, was happening all over again. He tried to remind himself that she’d never been his. They hadn’t been dating, just being friendly. Yeah, friendly, he thought bitterly.
Jason jerked his shoulders as if shaking off a bad feeling. “Way too big and packed with people if you ask me, but I guess she likes those places.”
“Damon?” Patti’s voice was hesitant, but Damon didn’t look over, cutting his meat carefully instead. “I’m really sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything. Maybe...” she trailed off and the sound of the chair shifting came to Damon.
“It’s okay, Patti. I just don’t like it. That’s all.” His voice came out calmer than he’d expected, and he hoped that nobody at the table noticed the thickness to it. He could get all his emotions out later, when no one was around.
“I had thought she was enjoying being here.” Josiah sounded disappointed. “Martha has been loving having her there. You should have heard her gush to me when we saw each other at the grocery store. It’s been so nice for her to have someone.” He frowned down at her food.
Patti shifted, a sad set to her face. “I shouldn’t have brought it up. It was thoughtless of me.”
“Don’t be silly,” Damon said. “Better to find out now. It’s disappointing, sure. And maybe, Patti, you can go visit Martha more when she leaves, so she’s not so lonely.”
“Yes, that’s an excellent idea.”
An uncomfortable silence descended on them, and Damon swallowed his food, nearly choking on it, as he tried to think of something to put everyone’s mind on something else. Anything else. He would find some hard work to do after the meal and exhaust himself with it, so the words she’s leaving would stop ricocheting through his mind.
Patti spoke first. “Josiah has a new project he has yet to share with us and, frankly, I’m dying to see it. But he wanted to wait to show us all.”
A flush crept up under Josiah’s blond beard as Damon and Jason turned their attention on him. Damon punched his shoulder gently. “You didn’t tell me you have a new project. Are you really finished with that other one? It looked intense.”
Josiah nodded and raised his brows. “It was intense, but very satisfying. This one is even better. I’ll show you.” He rolled back from the table and down the hall.
Damon and Jason exchanged intrigued looks.
“I love seeing what he comes up with. That man is way too smart,” Jason commented.
Damon grunted his agreement.
Wearing a big grin, Josiah came back down the hallway and went into the living room, where he rolled out a set of plans on the big mahogany coffee table. Everyone left the dinner table and crowded around to see. As he stepped over to his brother’s side, Damon’s heart screamed at him that he was in agony, that he should go curl up somewhere away from people, but he brutally thrust the emotion down. His brother had always been there for him; the least he could do was appreciate the great work Josiah did.
“Oh my gosh.” Jason leaned down toward the table. “That’s a massive building. Look at those pillars.”
“Those are essential support columns?” Damon asked.
Josiah nodded and pointed. “This building is five stories high, and I wanted to reinforce it while making it look elegant.” He went on to talk about angles and weight ranges and things that Damon had little understanding of—he could look at some basic plans and put up a garage or barn, but something like this? Amazing. And far out of his scope of understanding. He was proud of his brother, though, and clapped him on the shoulder, meeting his gaze and giving him a firm nod of approval. Josiah smiled.
They discussed more about the company that had found Josiah on some business social media site and the jobs they were supplying to him as a contractor. His face lit up, and he gestured broadly as he talked about the complex engineering aspects of some of these buildings that they’d assigned him over a team to design.
“The school I went to, of course, had a good veterinarian program, but they really specialized in engineering, and I gotta say, you guys are in a totally different headspace than the rest of the world.” Jason looked over the plans again, admiration in his eyes as he brought his gaze back to Josiah.
Josiah laughed. “Yeah, we are weirdos. But then, what’s Damon’s excuse? He’s just as much of an oddball.”
“Hey now, I don’t talk about angles and types of construction material, like it’s as easy as planning the Christmas party.”
“You’re odd in other ways,” Jason said.
Damon shook his head. He got no respect from those two. He had to hide the twitch of his lips at their joking. It wasn’t as hard as it would have been if there wasn’t an empty ache in his chest.
“Who wants dessert while it’s still warm?” Patti asked from the kitchen.
Jason stood to his full height and looked over into the kitchen. “Holy goodness, is that rhubarb pie?”
“With rhubarb I grew in my garden last summer.” Patti proudly displayed the pie.
“You are the queen,” Josiah said, rubbing his hands together. He glanced over at Damon, a knowing look in his eyes. Damon hated that. He didn’t want anyone to know how he felt. He didn’t want to be that vulnerable and hated that seeing Valerie again a few times had torn open his emotions like that. He should have known better.
They gathered back at the table. Jason talked about some of his patients and how the bear was doing now that he was in captivity. He’d started to put on both muscle and fat, which was good for him. They’d never let him out into the wild again, but he was in a sanctuary with plenty of space and lots of food. That was good, and Damon was happy the animal had had a good outcome, even if it had nearly scared him to death by going after Valerie.
Valerie. Damon closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think of or hear her name again. It hurt too dang much.
“What do you think, Damon?” Patti’s voice registered, and Damon opened his eyes.
“I’m sorry...ask again.”
“You’re distracted,” she observed bluntly. “Anything you want to talk about?”
“Not at all. Just tired.”
They knew. Of course they did. And now he was feeling awkward. He was about to excuse himself to go outside for one more round of the calf pen when Josiah spoke.
“Patti asked if we were up for some games.” He arched his eyebrows with a hopeful expression. “Given that it’s coming up to Christmas and we haven’t done anything like that in a long time, I thought it would be fun.”
“Sure, just be prepared to lose.” Damon winked. It would be a good distraction and, tomorrow, he could go pound his pain out on a hay bale. As if that would do anything but distract for a moment from the pain of loss and his own idiotic hopes.