Christmas Beau (Christmas Falls: Season 2)

Chapter 5

Chapter

Five

“ H ere you go.” Scott handed Anna a glass of red wine, then plopped onto his couch with a groan and thunked his feet onto the coffee table.

“Thanks,” Anna said, making herself more comfortable in the corner of his couch. She nodded at his and Teddy’s craft corner. “What’s that supposed to be?”

“It’s a gnome. Obviously.”

“Why does she look like Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas ?”

“Teddy wants to give it to Mrs. Gilmore across the street.”

Anna shifted on her knees and turned to lean against the back of the couch. Reaching forward, she brushed the curtain over the window aside and peered out into the dark evening. “Jack Skellington’s all lit up in her front window.”

“Uh-huh.”

“He’s wearing a Santa hat.”

“It was a witch hat up until yesterday.”

“Well, Teddy’s gift is certainly on theme.” She let the curtain fall into place and tucked herself back into her spot.

A thump came from above their heads, and as one, they glanced up.

“Do you think the kids are actually doing their homework up there?” Anna asked. “Or are they goofing around?”

Scott squinted as though he could see Teddy and Yuri through the ceiling. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

There came the sound of a door being wrenched open upstairs before Teddy yelled, “Dad!”

“Uh-huh,” Scott muttered back lazily.

“Fallon’s nibbling on my notebook.”

Scott gave a sharp whistle. “Fallon. Come.”

She might not be all that well-trained, but she came when called, so he figured that was one checkmark in the win column when it came to dog training. Her dog tags jingled as she ran down the stairs and into the living room. She jumped on Anna’s lap, where she lay with her tongue hanging out.

“Hi, beautiful girl.” Anna kissed the top of her head.

“She’s going to shed all over your yoga pants.”

“What’s a little dog hair, huh?” In baby-speak, Anna added, “Especially on such a beautiful girl.”

Fallon lapped it up as though she understood what Anna was saying.

“And speaking of beautiful,” Anna said, pinning Scott with her blue-eyed gaze. “Who was the hottie you were talking to at the pet pics thing yesterday?”

“What hottie?” Scott asked, bringing his wine glass up to his lips.

“Tall, dark, and studly. Had three dogs with him.”

His chest going all warm, Scott paused with the glass halfway to his mouth. “Uh... that’s Hank.”

“He single?”

“I don’t know,” Scott said, even though he did. He wasn’t sure why he lied.

“He into women?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated. Truth this time.

Anna waggled her eyebrows and gestured at him with her wine. “You’re into him.”

Scott’s stomach lurched. “What? Nooooooo.”

“You are. It’s written all over your face. You can’t lie to me. I’ve known you too long.”

“It’s not like that,” Scott insisted, even though it very much was like that. “He’s the hockey director at the community center. Hank Beaufort.”

Now, Anna’s eyebrows flew up to her hairline. “As in the Beaufort brothers?”

“Who?”

She made a sound of disgust. “You’re useless when it comes to hockey.”

Scott gasped in mock affront. “Excuse you, I can name every player on the Vancouver Orcas, in alphabetical order, and their stats?—”

“Name me one player on Chicago’s NHL team.”

“Um...” Scott blinked and tried to recall a single player on his home state’s team. “That guy... with the facial hair.”

Anna dissolved into giggles, burying her laughter in Fallon’s neck. Fallon squirmed away and disappeared into the kitchen.

“I’m so glad I accepted your invitation to dinner,” Anna said, still chuckling. “You’re always so entertaining.”

“I don’t know if I should be flattered or insulted. What are you doing?”

Anna tapped away on her phone. “Googling the Beaufort brothers. And hey—I was right. Hank’s the youngest of the four Beaufort brothers. I knew there was a fourth,” she muttered, seemingly to herself. “His older brothers were NHL stars.”

“Hank played in the AHL,” Scott pointed out.

“Which is why he never got as much airtime as his brothers,” Anna said, her head still bent over her phone.

“What are you reading now?”

“Hank’s Wikipedia page.”

“What?” Scott whisper-shouted, jerking upright. He looked around furtively as though Hank were about to pop out of thin air to catch them spying. “Anna. You can’t do that.”

“Sure can. Oh hey, he’s twice divorced.” She grimaced in sympathy. “That sucks. God, love is stupid.” Without pausing for breath, she continued. “His second marriage was to a woman. So was his first. I guess a better question would’ve been is he into men , huh?”

“Put that away. This is a total invasion of privacy.”

Anna grunted. “Going through his phone would be an invasion of privacy. Reading information that’s freely available online? Not so much.”

Still. Gathering knowledge online about someone that he knew made Scott feel squicky.

He set his wine glass on the side table. Curiosity grabbing him in its reins, he craned his neck, but the text on Anna’s phone screen was too small to read from where he was. “What are you reading now? No, no! Don’t answer that. Ugh.”

“There’s really not that much of interest on here. It’s mostly career stuff. There’s a tiny section about his personal life, but I already gave you the juiciest stuff.”

A slimy thread of guilt wormed its way through Scott’s stomach. They shouldn’t be looking at this, but at the same time... was Hank into men? Hank hadn’t done anything to make Scott think he wasn’t, but he hadn’t done anything to make him think he was either. It was a feeling. A gut instinct that told Scott he wasn’t too far off the mark in thinking Hank was bi or pan.

Plus, he’d named his dogs after queer NHL players. At the very least, Hank was an ally.

Anna clicked out of Wikipedia and tapped on a headline that read Which Beaufort brother would make the perfect Beau? Take our quiz to find out which brother is your soulmate!

“Anna.”

“What? It’s just for fun. His brothers are married anyway.”

“I thought you said love was stupid.”

“It is. But Buzzfeed quizzes are fun.”

The doorbell rang before Scott could tell her that this was inappropriate as hell—but also, could she pretty please send him the link?—and he rose with a groan.

Anna finally looked up from her quiz. “Who are you expecting at nine o’clock at night?”

Scott shrugged. “Carolers?”

“This early in the season?”

“It’s on the festival season calendar for this week,” Scott told her, heading toward the door on socked feet. “I just don’t remember which day.”

It wasn’t carolers.

It was his brother, shivering on the porch in an impractical Hawaiian shirt and equally impractical sandals. The biggest suitcase Scott had ever seen was at his side, and propped on top of it was a ratty backpack with dozens of travel pins shaped like camper vans and country flags and famous landmarks, proclaiming things like Not all who wander are lost and Adventure is out there and Wanderlust .

“Sean,” Scott said inanely, staring at him through the screen door. In his peripheral, Anna stiffened briefly before bolting upright and off the couch. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

Sean’s smile was warm but tired. “Hey. Uh... can I come in?”

“Shit, sorry.” Scott pushed the screen door open, and once Sean had wrestled his ginormous suitcase inside, closed it and the front door behind him to seal out the cold. “It’s forty-five degrees outside. Where are your boots?”

“I’ve been in Sri Lanka for a month.” Sean moved his suitcase aside with a huff of exertion, bending to pet Fallon when she bounded in to say hello. “Before that, I was in Thailand. I left my boots in Ireland when I was there in the spring. Figured I’d buy a new pair here and—oh.” He stared at something behind Scott. Scott turned and found that something was Anna approaching on silent feet. Sean’s fingers clenched on the handle of his suitcase as he swallowed hard. “Anna. Hi.”

“Hey, Sean,” Anna said breezily, no hint of the broken heart Sean had left her with the last time he’d blown through town. Either she was hiding it well or she truly didn’t care. To Scott, she added, “I’ll grab Yuri and get out of your hair.”

She didn’t need to go far though. Two sets of feet pounded down the stairs, making enough noise for ten people.

“Is it carolers, Dad?” Teddy landed on the top landing with a jump. When he spotted Sean, his face lit up like it was Christmas morning. “Uncle Sean!” He flew down the rest of the stairs so fast that Scott didn’t have time to tell him not to run on the stairs. “You’re here! Dad didn’t tell me you were coming.”

Because Dad hadn’t known.

“Are you staying for Christmas? Where did you come from? You can stay in my room!”

“Okay,” Scott said with a laugh, pulling on Teddy’s shoulder to draw him away. “Give your uncle space to breathe. He hasn’t even taken off his shoes yet.”

Teddy looked down at Sean’s feet and frowned. “Where are your boots? It’s winter.”

“Not where I was.” Sean ruffled Teddy’s hair. “And technically, it’s still fall for another few weeks.”

Yuri hovered on the stairs behind Teddy and Sean, blocked in. Scott grabbed his son and his brother by the elbows and physically moved them aside.

“Shoot. Sorry, Yuri,” Teddy said. “Uncle Sean, this is my best friend Yuri. And that’s his mom, Anna.”

“Right.” Sean’s smile was strained. “We met last time I was here.”

Anna lifted one eyebrow and one of Scott’s quickly followed suit. Met? They’d done a hell of a lot more than meet.

“You had dinner with us once, right?” Yuri asked innocently.

To Scott’s knowledge, Yuri had no idea of his mom’s brief affair with Sean.

“It’s time to go, kiddo.” Anna handed Yuri his coat. “Get your shoes on.”

“You don’t have to leave on my account,” Sean said.

Anna gave him a bland smile. “It’s a school night.” With a final wave, she and Yuri were out the door.

“So?” Bouncing on his toes, Teddy sent Sean a big grin. “What’d you bring me?”

“Teddy!”

“So much stuff,” Sean said, ignoring Scott’s protest. He wheeled his suitcase into the living room, laid it flat, and began to unzip it. “So much that your dad’s going to be jealous he only gets a jar of Sri Lankan spices.”

Teddy pumped a fist and skipped into the living room after his uncle. “Woo-hoo!”

Sighing, Scott went upstairs to get sheets out of the linen closet, knowing that in a week, two at most, he’d be consoling his son after Sean left again without a word of goodbye.

“Where am I sleeping?” Sean asked an hour later, after Scott had sent Teddy to bed with his souvenirs.

“Aren’t you staying with Mom and Dad?” Scott said, knowing full well he wasn’t. If Sean were staying with their parents, he would’ve gone straight there.

Wandering around the kitchen, Sean picked up an apple from the fruit bowl. “I said I was staying with you in my email.”

Scott leaned against the counter next to the sink, nursing a glass of water while Sean checked his place out. His new house was nice, but what would Sean—who’d slept in castles and palaces—think of it?

The open-concept kitchen that adjoined the family room was one of the house’s best features. Polished wood flooring, stainless-steel appliances, black walnut countertops, and shaker-style cabinets. There was a Wolf oven, a high-end appliance his realtor had monologued about for several minutes while he’d been touring the place—honestly, Scott didn’t care about the brand. If it worked, he was happy—and an equally fancy dishwasher. A separate dining room with wainscotting and crown molding led out onto an enclosed patio, and the family room had the coziest couch he’d ever parked his ass on.

It was no castle or palace, but it was home, and Scott had worked hard to make it homey for Teddy.

“Wait,” Scott said, finally registering what Sean had said. “What email?”

Sean tossed the apple back and forth then placed it back in the bowl. “The one I sent a couple of days ago.”

“I didn’t get an email.”

“Sure you did.” Scott pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I sent it Saturday morning. Or, I guess that would’ve been your Friday evening. At about...” He trailed off, a frown pulling his brows low. “Well, shit. It’s still in my drafts. Why the fuck is it still in my drafts?” Grunting, he dropped his phone onto the bar. “That explains why you looked surprised to see me on your doorstep. So, guest room? Mom gushed for ten minutes about your four bedrooms back when you bought the place. Got an extra one for me?”

“Sure. But it doesn’t have a bed.” Scott nodded at the sheets and blanket he’d left on a barstool. “You can have the couch.”

Another frown, this time at Scott’s sheets. “Why doesn’t it have a bed? Didn’t you move in, like, six months ago?”

“It wasn’t a priority.”

Plus, how many guests did he have over? None. When Yuri slept over, he and Teddy bunked on Teddy’s floor.

Scott patted the pile of sheets. “No worries. I’ve slept in worse places.”

“Do Mom and Dad know you’re here?”

“They were cc’d on the email stuck in my drafts, so... no.”

“How come you’re not staying with them this time?”

Shrugging, Sean picked up the apple again. “I wanted to hang out with you and Teddy. It’s been a while since we caught up.”

Scott opened his mouth to tell Sean that they could’ve hung out even if he’d stayed with their parents, but a closer look at his brother had Scott biting the words back. Sean seemed... unsure. His smiles came as easily as always, and he’d already made a mess of Scott’s living room, clothes strewn everywhere as he’d halfway unpacked in his search for Teddy’s souvenirs.

Yet there was something... off. He looked tired, no doubt owing to what had to be a twenty-plus-hour flight from South Asia, but on top of the fatigue was a layer of exhaustion and melancholy Scott hadn’t seen on Sean in... ever.

They’d never been close, not like Josh Gilmore was close with his younger brother. There were fewer than two years between Scott and Sean, and while they’d always gotten along, they’d never been best friends. Scott had thought they might become closer when Sean started at the University of Chicago. Thought they could room together as undergrads. But Sean had ended up attending college out of state, then Scott had been in law school with a newborn on his hands. He’d returned to Christmas Falls after law school, but Sean never had. At least not permanently.

So here they were, years later, almost strangers, and Scott had no idea what to say. He wanted to ask Sean if anything was wrong, if something had happened in Sri Lanka, but when Sean was bone-weary probably wasn’t the right time.

“I can make you something to eat if you’re hungry,” he said instead.

Sean pursed his lips and stared at the apple for a second before smiling at Scott. “I could eat.”

Scott made him a grilled cheese and sliced a couple of carrots for him. Made himself a grilled cheese too since it’d been hours since dinner. Sean, meanwhile, gave himself a tour of the ground floor.

They sat side by side at the island when the food was ready, which was when Sean said, “Where’s my dog? Doesn’t she usually come when she smells food?”

“ My dog,” Scott corrected. “And yes, but at this time of the night, she’s snoring on Teddy’s bedroom floor.”

Sean poked Scott’s ankle with his toes. “My dog.”

“You left her with me three days after adopting her,” Scott said around a mouth full of sandwich. “Whose name do you think is on her license?”

Pausing with a carrot stick halfway to his mouth, Sean said, “You need a license to have a dog?”

“Did you know anything about dog ownership before adopting her?”

“I thought I did,” Sean muttered.

Scott was tempted to belabor the point because surely someone at the shelter would’ve sent Sean home with Fallon and a list of pet ownership requirements, but if there was anything Scott had learned in the twelve years he’d been a parent, it was to pick your battles. And arguing at ten o’clock at night about something that didn’t matter anymore with someone who was sleep-deprived wasn’t a battle he wanted to start.

“So tell me,” Scott said, picking up a carrot stick. “What brings you home? We haven’t seen you since last summer.”

Sean shrugged one shoulder and didn’t glance up from his meal. “I had a hankering to be home for the holidays this year.”

“You’re staying until Christmas then?” Despite the messes Sean always left behind, Scott’s heart leaped at the chance of spending an entire month with him.

“Maybe even until New Year’s,” Sean said. “I can stay with Mom and Dad if?—”

“Nah,” Scott interrupted. “You’re welcome here. I’ll even get you a bed since you’re staying for so long.”

“One of those fancy adjustable ones?”

“Don’t push your luck.”

Chuckling, Sean dove into the rest of his meal.