by Bru Baker
“You make it sound like I’m offering him blow jobs in front of his kid,” Grant said, stung.
Mel made a face. “That’s more my MO than yours, hon. I know you wouldn’t do anything inappropriate in front of the tiny human. But I also know you get attached easily, and I can see you’ve already half fallen for this guy. You need to pull back, or you’re going to end up heartbroken.”
Mel was right on the money, with one small miscalculation. Grant wasn’t half-anything with Josh. This whole thing had started out as Grant ogling him, but as he’d spent more time with Josh and Aubrey, he’d fallen for them both. And even though he knew it was going to end badly, he was in too deep to pull back now.
“You hardly know anything about him,” Krista said, her tone almost pleading. His stubbornness must be written all over his face.
Grant didn’t know much about what Josh did when they weren’t together, but he had a pretty good picture of the kind of guy Josh was, and that was good enough. He practically lived for Aubrey, which was a bigger turn-on than Grant wanted to admit. Seeing how great he was with her and how easy and loving their relationship was made him ache for something similar with both of them. Where he lived, what he did in his spare time, whether or not he separated his colors and his whites—that was all window dressing. It wouldn’t change his impression of Josh.
“We only have two sessions left,” he repeated, and both Mel and Krista groaned. Grant picked up his menu, telling himself he wasn’t using it as a shield. “I’ve got a lot of prep to do for today’s projects. Let’s order, okay?”
GRANT HAD just finished setting out the supplies when the sleigh bells on the door tinkled. Grant turned, his breath knocked out of him when Aubrey and Josh came in with a rush of cold air. They were both windswept and apple-cheeked, and Aubrey had snow in her hair. From the way Josh was brushing slush off his gloves, Grant could guess what had happened.
“Looks like you could use some hot cocoa, half-pint,” Grant said as she shrugged out of her coat. He’d brought his electric kettle with him today, figuring he owed Josh for last week’s coffee.
“None for him,” she said with an exaggerated shiver. “He shoved snow down my back.”
“Slander,” Josh said, holding his still-gloved hand over his heart. “You have no proof.”
Aubrey bent forward and flipped her long hair up, exposing the reddened skin of her neck.
Josh clucked his tongue. “Objection. Counselor, that could have easily been from your refusal to wear a hat despite expert testimony that you would, indeed, be cold if you did not.”
Grant raised an eyebrow at the jargon. This was a chance to learn a little more about Josh. He reached out to steady the pot of hot chocolate as Aubrey poured herself a cup, his pulse jumping at the grateful smile Josh shot him. He didn’t dare offer to pour it for her. Her independent streak was a mile wide. It was part of what made her such a quick study.
“Are you a lawyer?” Grant asked after Aubrey had settled into a chair with her cocoa. He poured one for Josh and handed it to him after Josh hung up his coat.
“I could just be a Law and Order junkie,” Josh said. He took the cup and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Actually, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“So you’re a TV-obsessed attorney?”
“Guilty,” Josh said. He had a smear of chocolate at the corner of his mouth, and Grant had to fist his hands to keep himself from wiping it away. “I’m not a trial lawyer, though. Intellectual property.”
“Ah,” Grant said. Of course this ridiculously hot and attentive father would be a lawyer. He was literally perfect. Aside from being straight and possibly still hung up on his ex. “So you live vicariously through Ben Stone and Jack McCoy?”
Josh threw his head back and laughed. “Exactly! There aren’t many thrills in patents and trademarks. Not everyone can have a job that keeps you living on the edge. Not like, say, an art teacher.”
Grant held up his hands in mock offense. “Are you saying being an art teacher isn’t a dangerous occupation?”
“I’m sure it’s a challenge. I sure as hell couldn’t do it,” Josh said, and the honest admiration in his eyes made Grant’s stomach dip.
Grant coughed. “I bet you could. You don’t seem like the kind of guy who lets obstacles get in his way.”
Josh held his gaze for a long moment and shrugged. “You’d be surprised.”
That was an understatement. Josh had done nothing but surprise Grant since he’d walked through the door at Make and Take looking for art lessons for his daughter.
“You can actually help with today’s lesson,” Grant said, desperate to get things back on track. Mel and Krista’s words were still fresh, and he knew they were right. It didn’t change how he felt, but it did remind him why they were there. Flirting with Josh was fun, but they had a lot of ground to cover if they were going to finish the crafts he’d laid out for Aubrey today.
“My holiday art classes will be doing this next week, but I wanted to try it out with you first to see how it goes,” Grant told Aubrey. “You get to be my guinea pig.”
Aubrey’s brows drew together. “It’s wrong to test things on animals.”
Josh laughed, the sound full and rich. It made Grant shiver. “In this case, Mr. Grant means you’ll be the person who tries it first. No animal experimentation, kiddo.”
Aubrey’s expression eased. “That makes more sense. I know they have fingers, but I don’t think guinea pigs would be any good at art.”
Grant couldn’t hold back his snicker at the mental image that evoked. “I don’t imagine they would. They’d get paint in their fur.”
“Right?” Aubrey said, eyes wide. “And they’d have to have tiny supplies because their paws are so small.”
Josh’s eyes sparkled, and he bit at his bottom lip, trying and failing to hold back his smile. Grant had never wanted to kiss someone more in his life.
He cleared his throat and gave his head a shake, trying to clear the image of Josh’s perfect bottom lip from his mind. “Anyway, yes, Aubrey, you’ll be the first of my students to try these projects. Since we don’t have as much time as we do in my classes, we’re going to outsource some of the work.”
He handed Josh a ratty old paperback book and a pair of scissors. Josh raised an eyebrow but took them without questioning him.
“Our theme for today’s session is snowmen,” Grant continued. He slid a cardboard cutout shaped a bit like a cloud over to Josh. “You’ll be using a box cutter to cut all the pages in the book into that shape while Aubrey and I are working on a light-up snowman garland.”
He handed Josh the bright orange box cutter. “I don’t need to warn you to be careful, right? I can give you one of the safety gloves the kids wear if you want.”
Josh flicked the blade up and inspected it before letting it slide back into the chamber. “I’m good. Where do I do this? Do you have a mat?”
The question eased any lingering worry Grant had about Josh doing the cutting. He was obviously familiar with the process if he knew he needed a cutting mat. “They’re set up on the table at the back of the studio.”
“The whole book?” Josh asked, frowning at the thick, yellowed paperback.
“Including the covers,” Grant said cheerfully. He and Krista had both made several of these when they’d been planning the holiday series crafts a few months ago. The end result was cute but all the cutting was beyond tedious. He’d be doing most of the work for the kids when they tackled this project, since half the class was Aubrey’s age. The older kids could do it themselves under supervision, but he didn’t like putting blades in tiny hands.
Josh placed the template over the front cover and then looked up, grinning. “Oh, I get it! This is going to look so cool, Aubs.”
“I’ve got paint and glitter and some other things to spruce it up once you’re done, but we’ll let you put those muscles to work and do the hard work,” Grant said with a smirk. He turned back to the basket in front of Aubrey,
which contained a few dozen battery-operated tea lights, markers, pipe cleaners, and a variety of other supplies, as well as a skein of thick red yarn. “You and I are going work on a different project. We’re going to make a garland out of snowman faces.”
She looked confused, so he picked up the snowman he’d made as an example. The plastic flame made a perfect carrot nose when it was illuminated, and he’d added black dots for eyes and a mouth.
“Oh!” she said, reaching out to take it.
“We can use the card stock to make hats and scarves,” he told her.
“And earmuffs?”
Josh snorted, and Grant turned around as he rolled his sleeves up, exposing forearms dusted with dark hair and pulling the fabric tight over his biceps. “She’s on an earmuff kick,” he said.
Grant blinked. “Earmuffs,” he echoed.
“Aubrey asked for some for Christmas, and just in case we might forget, she’s been adding earmuffs to everything she’s drawn for weeks.”
Josh finished rolling up his sleeves, and Grant had to force himself to turn away.
“I’ve got some little pompoms somewhere,” Grant said, clearing his throat when he realized his voice was raspy. Josh’s unintentional show had pushed all the right buttons. Or wrong ones, considering the situation. Grant hadn’t realized he had a thing for exposed forearms, but apparently he did. “We can use those and some yarn to make earmuffs.”
Aubrey nodded, her expression solemn. “Perfect. Earmuffs will keep their ears from getting cold, but they won’t mess up their hair.”
Grant suddenly understood what they’d been arguing about when they’d come in. Clearly Aubrey didn’t like hats.
“Indeed they will.” He cut a few lengths of yarn to hang the snowmen from and put them aside for later. “Who are you going to give this project to?”
“My babysitter, Tabitha,” she said. “She loves snowmen.”
“I do too,” Grant said. “I probably have two or three dozen snowmen in my apartment between ornaments and all the snow globes I have.”
“Nana does too. She leaves them up all year-round, though.”
“Nana would love the other project you’re making today.” Josh had brought the X-Acto mat and the box cutter to the table behind them. Grant could see his forearms flexing as he used the template to carefully cut out the snowman shape. It was mouthwatering. “You’re going to have most of your list crossed off with the projects you’re doing here with Mr. Grant, Aubs.”
“Uh, we’d better get started, then,” Grant said, swallowing to wet his suddenly dry throat. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
One week until Christmas
GRANT FELT like he’d been hit by a truck. Christmas was in eight days, and he’d been putting in twelve- and thirteen-hour days at the studio all week. He didn’t begrudge Krista the time off to see her family, but he wished he’d had the foresight to hire an assistant manager earlier. In theory, the schedule was manageable. In practice, it was grueling, and that was before he spent hours every night working on the presents he’d made for Josh and Aubrey.
It was ridiculous, but he was going to miss them. Sending them off with something he’d handmade for them made him happy, and thinking about them as he’d worked on the pieces had eased some of the loneliness he always felt this time of year.
Mel was in New York until after New Year’s, and Krista was gone until the middle of next week. It wasn’t like he didn’t have other friends, but just the thought of going out after closing the studio was exhausting.
Grant’s parents were on a three-week European cruise for the holidays—not that he’d have gone home even if they’d been there. Too busy with work, he’d tell them. And they’d make a noncommittal noise and change the subject. They both hated he was throwing his life away pursuing “that art thing,” as they liked to call it. He’d spent years in school getting a degree in business and a few years slogging through corporate America, and he’d hated it. When his grandmother had died and left him a small inheritance, he’d quit his boring finance job and opened Make and Take. His visits with his parents had been strained and uncomfortable ever since, to the point that he limited himself to one visit home every few months. He’d made the drive down to Indiana for Thanksgiving and left right after the meal. Even if he hadn’t had the legitimate excuse of needing to open the studio for Black Friday, he doubted he’d have made it much longer than that.
Grant wondered how Josh’s parents had taken the divorce. He’d never talked about his family, aside from his sister Jo. Most of the chatter in the studio during Aubrey’s lessons had focused on his ex’s family.
They’d be working on a set of holiday cards today. When Grant did the project with the class, he’d focused on Christmas and Hanukkah cards, but since Aubrey wanted to give her projects as gifts, he had a different idea to run past her.
There wasn’t much setup for this one: cardstock, some templates, and paints. Grant had come in two hours early today, mostly because he’d gotten tired of puttering around his too-quiet apartment.
There was always something to do at the studio. He’d worked on the books for a bit and then indulged in a little painting time himself. He loved working with all kinds of mediums, but he rarely had the chance to immerse himself in a project. It didn’t hold his interest, though, so he’d given up in favor of pacing around with the dust mop as he waited for Josh and Aubrey to arrive for their last lesson.
THE SLEIGH bells jingled about ten minutes before three. Grant had been in the back room organizing supplies, and he dropped two boxes of charcoal pencils in his rush out into the main studio.
Josh and Aubrey were standing by the front counter, both holding brightly wrapped packages. Aubrey’s was fairly small, but Josh’s was tall enough to obscure his face.
“Sorry we’re early,” Josh said, putting his burden on the counter. “We drove over today, and I was afraid parking might be a nightmare, so we left early.”
Foot traffic outside had been heavy with all the shoppers hurrying to buy last-minute gifts, so Grant was surprised they’d apparently found a spot without problem. “No worries. I’m always happy to see you.”
Truer words had never been spoken, but Josh didn’t need to know that. Just like he didn’t need to know the warm smile he gave Grant as he pushed the large box across the countertop made Grant’s heart speed up.
“We love seeing you too. Aubrey wanted to get you a gift. I hope that was okay.”
Aubrey huffed. “You wanted to give him something too.”
Josh bit back a grin. “True. We wanted to thank you for fitting Aubrey in. I know you must be busy, and we’ve loved coming here.”
Grant flushed. He grabbed the two gift bags he’d stashed under the desk and handed them to Aubrey and Josh. “I got you a little something too. Just something small,” he said in a rush when it looked like Josh was going to protest. “I just wanted to do a little something for you. I’ve really enjoyed working with both of you too.”
He could tell Aubrey was desperate to rip into her bag, but she held it carefully and looked to Josh for permission. The moment he nodded, she dug in, sending tissue paper flying. Her shriek when she pulled out the earmuffs he’d knitted for her practically rattled the windows. He’d used the softest yarn he could find and lined them with fake fur.
“I love them!” She put them on immediately and nearly tackled him with a hug when he stepped around the counter. “How did you know I wanted earmuffs?”
He shared a smile with Josh and then shrugged. “It came up a couple times.”
“Did you make those?” Josh asked, reaching out to run a finger over the band.
Grant nodded. Aubrey danced away, turning circles and squealing with her hands clutching the earmuffs tight against her head.
“That’s not something small,” Josh said quietly. He watched her for a moment, his expression still soft when he turned back to Grant. “Thank you. Really. The pair she’d asked Santa for were sold out. I
think Jill picked up a different pair, but they’re nowhere near as nice as these. You probably saved Christmas.”
Grant had to look away. He couldn’t handle the affection in Josh’s voice, not when they were practically standing nose to nose.
“You should open yours,” he said, nudging the remaining bag toward Josh.
“If it’s a matching pair, we’re going to have words,” Josh said as he reached into it.
It was hard to read his face as he drew out the black scarf Josh had knitted for him. It was thick and soft, with two pockets at the ends sporting large yellow Batman logos.
“You always wear a scarf, but you usually don’t have gloves on,” Grant said as the silence stretched on a beat too long for comfort. “So this serves double duty. It’s long enough to wrap around your neck and also warm your hands.”
Josh immediately tucked it around his neck, and Grant had to refrain from drawing a comparison to Aubrey, who’d put her present on immediately, too. They were so alike in so many ways.
“Grant, I love it. This had to take some serious time to make. Seriously, thank you. It’s amazing.”
Grant ducked his head, embarrassed. He didn’t want Josh to think he’d put too much thought or effort into the gifts. That would be telling in its own way.
“I like to knit,” he said. “It was nice to have a project.”
Josh didn’t look like he bought that explanation, but he didn’t press Grant on it. Instead, he looked over his shoulder and called Aubrey back to the counter.
“You can give Mr. Grant the present you made him,” he prompted.
Aubrey reached up, grabbed the smaller package, and thrust it at him. Grant took it and peeled the wrapping paper back carefully.
“Don’t tell me you’re one of those people,” Josh teased. “My sister does the same thing. Do you reuse the wrapping paper? Jill irons it. It makes the rest of us crazy.”
How weird was it that his sister and his ex-wife were both named Jill? Conversations at the holiday dinner table must have been quite confusing while they’d been married.