The Geek Who Saved Christmas

“Hey now! I’m taking lessons.”

“Yes, and we all have lots of faith in you.” Elaine gave him a kiss on the cheek. “But I still want Gideon to come.”

Next to me, Gideon stayed tense. “Uh…”

Did he not want to come? We hadn’t exactly discussed it, but…oh. We hadn’t talked. That was it. “Maybe I didn’t ask yet? Gideon, will you come to the wedding with me? And graduation too if you can swing it.”

He nodded slowly. “I suppose I can help you with the tux.”

“I don’t want you to come for help.” I needed Gideon to get it through his head that I wanted him, not his impressive organizational skills. “I want you to come because Brandon’s right, I don’t want to go without you. You belong there. With me.”

“Aww.” Elaine’s expression went all soft before she prodded the still-silent Gideon. “If you don’t say yes…”

Gideon startled like he was just waking up. “Yes.” He blinked, then smiled. “Yes, I’ll come.”

“Good.” Brandon took a sip of his wine, a warm and fruity number Gideon had pulled from the back of his pantry. “Grumpy Paul was going to be no fun.”

“I don’t know.” Putting an arm around me, Gideon gave a knowing look. “I kind of like him grumpy.”

“You say that now.” The tips of my ears were hot. I liked this version of Gideon a lot, more affectionate and playful since our big talk.

“And you say you like me how I am,” he countered with a kiss on my temple. “I don’t want you changing either.”

He was wrong there. I had changed. And I liked it, liked me more now, liked the easiness in my step and the hopefulness in my heart. “I’m sure I can still manage enough crankiness to keep you happy.”

“You guys are one more long look away from me telling you to get a room,” Brandon complained with a fake indignant expression.

I shrugged. “It’s my house.”

“So it is.” Brandon mimicked my shrug and tone both.

“You do a good impression of Paul.” Gideon laughed and shook his head.

“I should.” Brandon chuckled as well, then turned surprisingly serious. “I had enough practice. I’m always saying everything important, I learned from my big brother.”

“Hey, who’s getting sappy now?” I had to glance away at Jim in her dog bed before he could see how much the compliment moved me.

“But it’s true.” Brandon’s chair squeaked as he scooted closer to the table. “You taught me everything I needed to know.”

Warmth started at my toes, snaked up my back and neck, and made my scalp itch. “I think you have a stack of physics textbooks saying otherwise.”

“That’s not the important stuff,” Brandon scoffed, not letting me deflect like usual. “You taught me what mattered.”

“Thanks. I tried,” I admitted, then added softly, “You taught me too.”

“But it wasn’t easy.” He held my gaze when I would have looked away again. And the denial was right there on the tip of my tongue, but I remembered my kitchen chat with Elaine and all my talks with Gideon.

“No. It wasn’t.” Maybe shielding him from that fact hadn’t been as much of a kindness as I’d always thought. Maybe he deserved to know some of the truth.

“And it wasn’t easy when I moved away, was it?” He frowned like he was puzzling something out for the first time.

“It was f—” I started to lie, then Gideon tapped me with his foot under the table. Oh. Right. I was trying to be truthful here. “It wasn’t…pleasant. I miss you. But you’ve got a life to be proud of now. And I’m proud of you. And jealous of the sunshine.”

I added the last bit to make him laugh, but he stayed strangely somber. “Maybe I like snow…”

He glanced over at Elaine, who nodded sharply. “Oh, go ahead and tell him.”

“We were waiting until we had definitive news, but Elaine’s a finalist for a professorship at Stanton Anthony.” Brandon beamed, pride lacing every word. “Tenure track. Great research opportunity.”