“Nothing,” they all chorused.
Her face said she wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t press.
Jace bent to give Ginny a hug and Austin a fist bump. “See y’all in the morning.”
“Night, Jace,” sang Ginny.
“Night,” Austin said.
Jace and Tara exchanged a silent see-you-later look, and he headed back to the house. She’d be coming to join him on wrapping detail once the kids were good and down, but he needed to get a head start on her gift. The whole thing could potentially blow up in his face if he’d read her wrong. But he didn’t think he had.
Jace checked his watch. 10:45. Leo would be out to pick up the package in fifteen minutes. Time to get a move on. The bag was in his closet. He checked the contents over, praying Ginny was right when she’d said this was everything Tara would need. Settling all of it into a gift box, he covered the contents in tissue paper and put on the top. The ice skating penguin paper didn’t exactly echo the poignancy of the gift, but he’d executed enough low-level spycraft to get this far. He wasn’t about to fuss about the wrapping.
Leo pulled up to the front porch steps right as Jace came out, the box in his hands.
“How’d the final show go?”
“Off without a hitch. White Christmas is officially wrapped. Since it’s Christmas Eve, the post show cast party was possibly the shortest in history. Which is fine. I’m definitely ready to crash.”
“Thanks for delaying that for me. Everything set?” Jace asked.
“Yep. It’ll be waiting for you tomorrow. Just text me when you’re headed into town, and I’ll be sure I’m in position. But do me a favor and try to stall and make it after nine so I’m not running out in the middle of Christmas breakfast.”
“I’ll do my best. We’ve got kids around this year, so it’ll probably be an early morning for us.” And Jace found himself a lot more excited by that than he’d expected.
Leo tucked the box into the front seat. “This is either the best Christmas present ever or the worst. I hope it goes the way you want it to, man.”
“Me too. Now get on out of here before she sees you.”
By the time Tara joined him, Jace was safely back in the living room, surrounded by wrapping supplies. His parents had crashed after the movies, and he’d banished Livia and all her suggestive eyebrow waggles so they’d have some privacy.
“Got them down?”
“Finally. Ginny was in Energizer Bunny mode.” She looked around at the assorted gifts from Santa that everyone in his family had felt compelled to pick up. “What is all this?”
“So I wasn’t the only one who went a little overboard shopping for the kids. Santa will be well represented.”
“Good lord. This is so generous.”
“We had a blast.” He patted the sofa beside him. “C’mon. Grab some scissors and tape and dive in.”
Tara picked her way through the stuff and sank onto the sofa in one of those mindlessly graceful motions that always made h
im want to stare. “Before we get started, there’s something I wanted to give you.”
Jace put down his scissors, the better to free up his hands for the expected kiss.
But Tara wasn’t leaning in to kiss him. Instead, she pulled something out of her back pocket. “I did some poking around the other night.”
“About what?”
“Your friend Jordan.”
It was the last thing he’d expected her to say. “Why?”
“Because you aren’t the only one susceptible to sad eyes, and it seemed like you’ve been blaming yourself for not being able to help her all those years ago.”
That was true enough.