A Fairytale Christmas by Susan Meier Read Free Book Online

because he had corresponding calluses on his own hands, but that moment of camaraderie there in the foyer, looking at the Christmas decorations, made it all worth it. Two days ago Brody would have stormed by the decorations. He wouldn’t have spoken to his dad. Today they’d talked like normal guys. A father and son.
    Gwen had been right. Working together was changing Brody. Relaxing him. Bringing back the son Drew remembered.
    They returned to the kitchen and Brody complimented Gwen profusely on the decorations. “My mom doesn’t do anything like this,” he said, then dug into his chicken with gusto. “She has these weird blue and pink decorations that don’t look like Christmas at all. But these,” he said, pointing at the hallway, “look like the things we had in elementary school. That was when Christmas really felt like Christmas.”
    Drew glanced up at Gwen, who nodded her head slightly in acknowledgement of the silent thanks he’d sent. He’d never thought of his son as deprived, and he certainly wasn’t. But it was sad that his favorite Christmas memories were from so long ago. Maybe that was his fault? Maybe it was Brody’s mom’s? Maybe it was life changing as Brody grew older? But whatever the reason it troubled Drew that Brody believed his best Christmases were a decade behind him.
    Fierce fatherly instinct rose up in him. He had three weeksuntil Christmas, and somehow, some way, he wanted to make this a Christmas Brody would never forget.
    The only problem was…he wasn’t sure how.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T HE next week, Drew and Brody worked feverishly with Max, removing the last of the debris and cutting trees for customers. But on the Friday before opening day Max called to let them know he couldn’t come over until the afternoon because his wife Sunny had a doctor’s appointment. After a hearty breakfast, Drew and Brody headed for the door.
    “Max told us we’d need to replace the missing boards on the old shed,” Drew explained to Gwen as they slid into their outdoor gear. “I think we can handle that on our own.”
    “Sure, and why not set up the stand, too?” Brody groused. “It’s not like a morning off after nearly two weeks of slave labor would have been a good idea.”
    Seeing the look of confusion that came to Drew’s handsome face, Gwen felt her chest swell with fear. He and his son had been getting along so well that it surprised her that Brody picked this morning to return to being a brat. She suspected Max probably acted like a buffer or referee for them, and worried that after two wonderful weeks of comradeship they’d get into a deal-breaker fight without someone to run interference.
    Still, Drew headed to the door and Brody followed him outside. Then they were gone. Out of her sight. There was nothing she could do now about what happened between them.Fear scuttled through her again, and she knew she had to keep herself busy or she’d fret all morning.
    She carted Claire and her baby swing into the living room. Though she’d vacuumed the furniture, walls and carpet of every room to get up the dust, this room had fallen to a place close to the bottom on the “real” cleaning list. Only the formal dining room and guest bedrooms were below it. But today was the day she had to dig in.
    She vacuumed everything again, getting any stubborn dust that might have resisted during her initial vacuum, and then washed the windows, walls and woodwork. When the room was clean she glanced around. She’d brought the tinsel and ribbons and ornaments from home to decorate the hallway and make sure Jimmy Lane walked into a pretty entrance in case he made a surprise visit. But now that the room was clean, the fireplace screamed for some tinsel. Maybe stockings, too?
    She’d only brought enough decorations for the hallway, and didn’t have anything else at home she could spare. So she headed for the attic. People who didn’t take their furniture usually also left behind the contents of attics