Christmas was CJ's favorite holiday, though, and turned him into a little kid every year. It was all Jace could do to stop him from breaking out the tinsel and Santa ornaments the second they'd finished washing the dishes from Thanksgiving dinner. CJ was the only man he knew who had a selection of ugly festive sweaters, not just one, and owned an astonishing number of Christmas movies on DVD. He hummed Christmas tunes under his breath, for God's sake. In July. And given the look of pure joy on his face as he dragged the six-foot pine into the room, being with his family wasn't going to get him to dial his holiday fever back any, either.
“This is so great.” CJ beamed as he propped the tree in the corner and started to untie the cord that bound the branches in place to make it more manageable. “I wish we could have picked out our own, but looks like Uncle Levi got us a good one.”
Jace shook his head and muttered under his breath, “How many uncles can one guy have?”
“Far too many,” CJ said absently before he looked up, blushing as if he knew the question was rhetorical and he shouldn't have said anything.
“You think we might have something more important to do before we get to the tree?” Jace asked, but only getting a blank stare in reply, added, “Our stuff? Unpacking? Also maybe a hot drink for those of us who actually feel the cold? Food?”
CJ paused, looking for a second as if he didn't quite get it, before standing to give Jace an apologetic smile. He took one last longing glance at the tree, then swung his backpack onto his shoulder. “Come on, then.”
The stairs creaked, but Jace hardly noticed, too absorbed by taking in all the photographs that covered the wall of the stairwell. They were hung so thickly you could barely get a finger between the mismatched frames. There were recent ones—CJ and his siblings on horseback, his parents looking youthful fishing in a pond. Among the older snaps there were ancient sepia portraits of serious men with epic mustaches and pocket watches in stiff poses, as well as about a thousand candid pictures of horses and wolves that looked like they were having a much better time than the old cowboys.
The landing split both ways at the top and had four doors leading off. They were all open, revealing an almost modern looking bathroom on the far left, and three bedrooms. CJ headed straight in to the one at the top of the stairs.
“Hope you don't mind. I picked this one,” he said, throwing his bag on the one and only bed. “It's the furthest from the bathroom, but it stays the warmest. Plus, if the twins have to share a bed, no one will get any sleep, trust me.” He must have seen the way Jace was eyeing the solitary mattress, as he added, “You don't mind sharing, right? I know you said it was okay, but I can always take the couch—”
“No, it's fine,” Jace lied. “Not like we haven't done it before.” And hadn't that been a nightmare? Luckily, both of them had been exhausted after a long day's trek and, despite Jace's fears that he would lie awake half the night trying to not think so hard about CJ's bare legs only being inches away so that either his brain or his dick exploded, they had fallen asleep pretty quickly.
Unluckily, when they'd woken in the morning, they were wrapped around each other closer than he'd ever been with a lover, and a hell of a lot more contented. Their morning wood hadn't helped the situation, and both of them had tried their best to laugh it off. CJ didn't seem that bothered by the fact that Jace had drooled on his chest, and if he'd noticed Jace had been sleepily dry humping his thigh before Jace had realized exactly where he was and with whom, he'd never said anything. Looking at the bed now, Jace wished he'd brought his cup or maybe a chastity belt. He'd have to make do with sleeping in two pairs of underwear under his pajamas and maybe taping a picture of Mike Pence to the nightstand on his side of the bed, instead.
“So, who else is coming? I know you told me but—”
“It's a lot to remember,” CJ finished his thought, unzipping the suitcase and then starting to pull stuff out and pack it away. “With us, it'll only be the twins, and Isaac and his girlfriend. She's cool. Likes MMORPGs, so you'll have lots to geek about with her.”
Jace shot him a disparaging look. “Right, 'cause you don't play on my account when I'm at work?” CJ only grinned and winked. Jace had to shake his head. He didn't want to get CJ too riled up in the teasing stakes. Once Jace's sisters and his cousin got there, he'd have to pace himself as the bunch of them in the same room was always exhausting. The four were close and seemed to never tire of teasing or arguing, all with love in their eyes and a wicked smile on their faces. Jace could only imagine what it must have been like growing up with a big family and that going on all day long. It had just been him and his parents, and now, well, he wasn't even sure he had them any more.
“All the adults,” CJ said, making air quotes. “Which'll be about eight or nine, depending on whether Uncle John can get away or not, will be down at the homeplace, where they keep the good booze, and they'll stick the tweens in the cottage and take turns supervising. If I tell you their names now, you'll have forgotten by the time they all get here. You're going to have to use a mnemonic or something, though no one'll mind if you call them the wrong thing. And you know mom and dad, so they'll help you out.”
“Just how big is this place?”
“That's it.” CJ straightened up. “If you exclude the barn and the stables and all the smaller buildings.” He frowned. “And the houses in town, I guess.”
Jace laughed and threw a pair of jeans at him. “You're ridiculous.” He laughed again when CJ threw them right back and hit him square in the face. “All that, and they don't even have electricity or central heating.”
“Oh, they do at the homeplace. They decided to leave this the way it was. Just added the indoor plumbing and another room up here, and extended the downstairs living space a little. The renters like it a little rustic.”
“Rustic. Right.” Jace didn't bother to hide his sarcasm. “More like basic.”
CJ rolled his eyes. “It's not basic, it's romantic.”
Jace chuckled, even though the word stung. “Oh, yeah? Is that what this is? A romantic getaway?”
There was something about the look that passed over CJ's face that had Jace wondering for a second before he scoffed, “Yeah, right. Not with the way you snore.”
“For the last time, I do not snore.”
“Sure you don't, sweet thing.”
With the bickering and laughing themselves to tears over nothing, it took longer than it should have to get their stuff squared away, and by the time they made it downstairs, it was pitch dark outside and Jace's stomach was rumbling. “Who do I gotta kill to get a coffee and a sandwich around here?”
“Check the cupboard in the corner.” CJ motioned toward the kitchen, although his eyes were on his phone.
Jace couldn't help the pleased noise that sprang out of him on seeing the coffeemaker, and when he checked the cupboards, he made another one at the sight of enough supplies to last the six visiting twentysomethings for a month or more, as long as they didn't kill each other over the solitary box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. He got the coffeemaker out, plugged in, and brewing away in no time, and then he found a pack of Lay’s and was halfway done with them before he noticed CJ hadn't come to bug him. When he wandered back into the living room, he found it warm enough to lose his coat finally, and CJ was sitting at the desk with his hands fisting his hair as he looked down at the cell phone caged beneath his arms.