“Babe, they’ll get it if you can’t do apps this year. We’ll do it at mine, you help me sort something out, you get off work, go home, do your thing, come to mine when you’re ready. I’ll have it handled and you don’t have to worry about it.”

“It’s not that, it’s . . .”

She trailed off and didn’t finish.

“It’s what?” he asked, glancing from the road to her.

When he looked back at the road, he felt her eyes come to him, “Do Margot and Dave’s kids come for Christmas every year?”

Margot and Dave’s sons were scattered. Mark, who was in Atlanta, lived relatively close, Lance and Dave Junior, respectively in Oregon and Minnesota, not as close. They were all married. They all had kids. They all came to visit their mom and dad on occasion.

But mostly it was Margot and Dave taking trips to go see them.

“Usually at least one of them are around, but no, it’s rare it’s all three. Why?”

She didn’t answer his question.

“Why, Addie?” he pushed.

“They were biting at each other when I dropped Brooks.”

“Margot and Dave bicker, Addie, you’ve seen them do that . . . a lot.”

“Thinking on it, it was different when they were over to help decorate,” she murmured like she was talking to herself. “They can bicker, but it’s cute. It seemed sharper and went on longer.”

“You think they’re having problems?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she replied. “I just . . . nothing. I shouldn’t be saying anything. I don’t know them well enough.”

She knew them well enough. Margot and Dave had adopted Eliza and Adeline as sure as they’d done the same with Toby and Johnny. Addie spent time with Margot often. And with Margot, Dave usually wasn’t far away.

It hit him then that Margot and Dave hadn’t shown at the Christmas Fair. They hadn’t even mentioned they were coming.

Toby couldn’t remember the last Matlock Christmas Fair he’d been to. But thinking on it, it had been before his father died and he and Dad and Johnny had gone together.

With Shandra.

And Margot and Dave.

They never missed shit like that.

And he was so wrapped up in being with Addie and Brooks, he didn’t even notice it.

Toby felt something in his stomach he hadn’t felt in years and it didn’t feel great.

And it was like Adeline knew he was feeling it because she said, “Ignore me, honey. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Running my mouth, I’m ruining your official first date.”

“It’s them,” Toby told her, referring to the bickering.

“Yeah,” she agreed quickly. “And it’s Christmas and they’re gonna have a full house, and I know she’s all over that and can’t wait for her boys to come home but it’s still a lot of stress. And you should see it, Toby, it’s insane, but kind of awesomely insane. She showed me today and she’s actually done storyboards for Iz and Johnny’s wedding.”

“Say what?”

“She has these three huge white boards she’s filled with all these pictures of dresses and hairstyles and flowers and limos and food and decorations and cakes. They have lines drawn from one to the other from prep to church to reception. Iz hasn’t seen them yet, and I begged Margot to make sure I was there when she unveils them. It’s good you boys are millionaires because Johnny’s gonna be paying through the nose to realize Margot’s dream for his wedding. It’s hysterical.”

That made Toby chuckle.

She reached out to him and squeezed his thigh. “She just has a lot on her mind.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, taking a hand from the wheel to wrap it around the back of hers.

He left it there.

“And by the by, since Izzy’s doing Christmas Eve dinner for three thousand, and we’ve got Brooks, they’re coming to mine on Christmas day. So we have Christmas day duty. Iz already talked to Johnny and he’s good with that. Are you down?”

He was so down.

To share that, he said, “Sounds good to me.”

Her fingers tensed in his.

“You’re around a lot and you give us a lot of you, Tobe,” she said carefully. “You probably like your time, your space, and you haven’t had much of that since we got together. And back home again with your brother, if you guys have traditions that you . . .”

“Babe, quiet,” he said gently.

She fell silent.

“I want to spend Christmas with the woman that’s eventually gonna give me nieces and nephews, and I want to spend Christmas with Brooklyn and you. If the time comes I need space, I’ll share. That same thing happens for you, I want you sharing too. But the time for space is not Christmas. In other words, I’m not just down with that plan, if you’d asked, that would have been what I told you I wanted.”

“Okay, honey,” she said softly.

“We good on that?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she answered. Then muttered, “You’re so totally a holiday person.”

“Wait ’til Halloween. Since I have a kid and a reason to do it up, I’m gonna blow your mind.”

She let out a quiet laugh and gave his hand another squeeze.

Toby returned it.

“You look good in a suit, Talon. The black on black so works for you,” she whispered.

If she liked it, he’d wear something like that for their wedding.

“You can can the flattery, babe. I’m a sure thing.”

She burst out laughing.

He tucked her hand in the crook of his hip and thigh as that sour feeling in his gut slid away.

They were going to The Star and he was filling his woman with good, hearty, expensive food and sitting across from her in that dress, hoping she wasn’t wearing panties, and then picking up her dog and taking her to his home.

He’d fuck her in his bed and sleep beside her there too.

And she was in the Christmas zone, hosting appetizers and planning safari parties (or whatever the fuck) and not in it with him, arguing about money.

She was putting on weight.

It was all good.

All good in a way that nothing could mar it.

At least not tonight.

So he drove his girl the rest of the way to The Star, drawing her out about the job she’d applied for to make sure it was something she actually might want. Because he knew Marlon Martin, one of the partners, and he could have a word to see if he could make that happen for her if she was into it.

And then they had his official first date, nearly two weeks into them being together.

In other words . . .

The Toby and Addie way.

“It’s snowing,” Addie whispered.

She was tucked up to his side, and he was trying to ignore the fact she wasn’t in a seatbelt, as he drove carefully home with Dapper Dan sitting where Addie should be, his nose snuffling the cold wind coming through the crack she’d put in the window.

“Yeah,” he whispered back, not knowing why he was whispering, it was just something about her mood that was blanketing the car that made it seem like that was the thing to do.

She said nothing more as he navigated the winding roads with the detached condos in his development to his place at the very end, glad to be home for a number of reasons, but relieved to be there so he wasn’t driving with her restrained.