The guys all spoke in unison. “Hers.”
Colton came to stand by her chair then, and everyone made an obvious display of not watching their interaction. He dropped his voice low enough that only she could hear him. “Ready for the surprise?”
“I thought Roman was my surprise.”
His eyes flashed deliciously. “If you’re trying to make me jealous, it’s working.”
“The Great Colton Wheeler, jealous?”
He lowered his mouth close to hers, and for a moment, she forgot she was supposed to be uncomfortable with such open displays of affection. “I’m jealous of every man who has ever looked at you,” he said. And then he sealed the words with a quick kiss before returning to his full height.
He looked at his friends then. “Boys, we ready?”
“Ready for what?” Thea asked.
Gavin kissed her. “You’ll see.”
Confused, they all watched the men file back out toward the living room.
A moment later, the sound of a guitar from the living room stopped all conversation. And then Colton’s unmistakable voice rang out with the opening lyrics to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”
The kids began to laugh and clap and sing along, and Colton responded like a true performer—by bellowing the song louder and with comical gusto.
“I guess this must be the surprise?” Thea asked, picking up her wine.
Laughing, the other women peeled away from the counter one by one to head toward the living room to see what was going on, but a strange panic rendered Gretchen paralyzed in her seat. She could convince herself to remain detached from the charming Colton, the tender Colton, the flirty Colton. But she didn’t know if she could handle this Colton. The musician. The performer. The one who was so passionate about writing a song that he’d sent her home in his car.
“You coming?”
She blinked out of her thoughts to find Alexis watching her with a concerned tilt to her head. Alexis always saw too much. “Yes,” Gretchen said quickly. She grabbed her wine and slipped from her chair.
The living room was a short walk from the kitchen. She lagged behind Alexis and hung back as each woman found her man and stood in cute little couplets as they watched their children circle Colton, laughing and squealing and wiggling to the goofy song. He put his all into it too. He might as well have been performing at the Opry instead of for an audience of toddlers and tikes.
Gretchen couldn’t tear her gaze from his fingers. They stroked each string with sensual competency, like the familiarity of a lover’s hands on a body he’d caressed a thousand times. Melody soared from his expert touch, coaxed and fluttered with experience and tenderness. Every story she’d ever read about him said he was a self-taught musician, but how was it possible for someone to master a skill like that without training? And he was, truly, a master. The song became something new under his tutelage. Something better. Something uniquely his.
And despite her effort to hide in the back, to remain invisible, he found her with his eyes, and she became the audience. An audience of one. Without breaking his stride or missing a single beat, he winked at her.
“Where’s Vlad?” Alexis suddenly asked, looking around the room.
A loud “Ho ho ho” from the hallway was the answer.
The children whipped around, and every adult in the room tried to hide smiles behind their drinks as Vlad sauntered in from the hallway wearing a Santa suit. His face was obscured by a fluffy fake beard, and over his shoulder was a huge red bag with the corners of several gifts poking out the top.
He stopped in the middle of the room with his hands on his squishy pillow belly and let out another boisterous “Ho ho ho.”
Colton ended the song with dramatic flair. Vlad took a seat by the Christmas tree and opened his bag. As the children sat in front of him, some on their knees, some wiggling on their butts, another observation made the room tilt in her vision. The reason she felt uncomfortable, the reason she’d always hugged the periphery of this group of friends despite the many ways they’d always welcomed her, the reason she’d raced out of Colton’s hotel room the night after the wedding, was because this wasn’t just a group of friends.
This was a family.
It didn’t matter that they weren’t related. They were a family in every other way. The kind of family that teased one another and hugged one another and gave one another gifts and snuggled one another’s children. The kind of family that celebrated Christmas together.
The kind of family she’d never been part of and had no idea how to be part of now.