Thom greeted me by wrapping his arms around my waist and tugging me back against him—I nearly dropped the basket of laundry I was hauling. I blinked over my shoulder at him, trying to pretend I was annoyed that he’d interrupted my chores, the one tiny bit of normalcy in the otherwise insane day we’d just had.
“Mm. To what do I owe this sudden display of affection?” I asked, giving up the battle. “Something about to go sideways?”
“I hope not,” he said, kissing my jaw. “It’s the season.”
“What’s the season?”
“It’s Yule.”
I stared at him, trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean—why it was suddenly so important—and stood there blinking at him before he sighed.
“…yeah. I had the same reaction. Phelan had to hit me over the head with a clue sledgehammer.” Thom released me and tried to take the basket from me. I shook my head.
“No, I’ve got this balanced pretty well. What clue sledgehammer did he hit you with?”
Thom smiled wryly. “Things have been so rough lately that we need to celebrate the fact that won—and it’s the season for it. If the world hadn’t ended, we’d be four days out from Christmas. No one’s been thinking about that.”
“Of course not,” I said. “We’ve been too busy worrying about not getting killed and making it through the winter.”
“That was the clue. We need to relax, at least for a few hours—all of us.” He fell into step with me as I hauled the basket of laundry over to the wash tubs, where a few of the others were already hard at work on jeans and towels and blankets.
“But I’m guessing he didn’t have any blatant suggestions regarding how?”
“He left that part to you and I.”
Of course he did. I frowned a little. “Is he mobile?”
“Yeah. He showed up at the forge with Jay in tow.”
I shivered, nodding. “Good. J.T. had the weirdest look on his face earlier. I was worried.”
Thom gave me a strange look himself. “What kind of weird look?”
“The I’m seeing a ghost and it’s weirding me out more than usual look he gets every so often. It must not have been anything terrifying, though, since Jacqueline came out by the fire a few minutes later and said everything was fine and that Jay was with Phelan.” I shrugged slightly. “If Phelan’s up and around already and hinting at things, everything must be fine.”
Thom grunted. “Right. Business as usual.”
“Exactly.” Which is a relief—I’m still not sure what we’d do without him at this point. Had it really only been a few months since he’d found us here? It seemed like so much longer. I set down my basket near one of the wash tubs and looked at him, voice dropping quieter. “So what are you thinking we should do?”
“Talk to Tala,” Thom suggested. “See what we can get together for dinner that would be…festive but not too taxing for the next few days. Maybe put up some decorations.”
“Decorations,” I echoed. “Like what?”
He shrugged. “Pine branches, holly. That kind of thing. We’ve got enough—it’s easy to find.”
That’s true. I frowned. “And I’m guessing this isn’t supposed to be a surprise?”
“No. We want people to see us doing it and start thinking.”
And start realizing that maybe we do have something to celebrate, too, huh? I couldn’t stop the smile and nodded slightly. “Sounds like the beginnings of a plan, anyway. Are you going to go get started?”
“Aren’t you going to come with me?”
“I have laundry.”
He kissed me warmly. “Someone else will do it. Come on. We’ve got work to do.”
