What We've Become (My Kind Of Country Book 2) Read Free Page A

liquid burned her lips, and setting it back down again to cool. Jay had bought things—multiple things—and he wasn’t exactly an avid shopper, which usually meant he had some big idea he was going to try to convince her to go along with, or he had done something that required an apology. Either way, she raised her eyebrows dubiously at him.
    “What’s with all the retail therapy?” she asked, trying to keep her tone lighthearted. The last thing they needed was another argument or conversation that resulted in her asking him to stop pushing his plans on her.
    Jay stopped rustling through the bags. He squared his shoulders as he turned his attention to her, his hands splayed before him on the countertop as though to steady his balance. “I have an idea, Katie.”
    What a shocker , Katie thought, and fought the urge to roll her eyes. Give the guy a chance. “Why does that worry me?” she retorted instead.
    “Christmas holidays. Mason gets two weeks off from school for the Christmas holidays already, so let’s pull him out for an additional week, and then the three of us can spend three solid weeks together. No sprinting back and forth across the border, just a real family Christmas. Let’s do it, Katie.” He was practically vibrating with enthusiasm as he spoke, and Katie chuckled absently at him. She opened her mouth to speak, but realized she couldn’t think of a good reason right off hand why it was a bad idea. She quickly closed her mouth again.
    It was his turn to laugh at her. She was rarely speechless. “See? Even you, queen of all things logical and overanalyzed, can’t come up with a way to turn me down! Katie, it will be great. We’ll get a tree, and we can go shopping for Mason’s gifts together, and—”
    “The farm can’t be left alone in the dead of a Canadian winter like that. I’m sorry.” She said it softly, not wanting to crush the excitement radiating from him. He deflated almost immediately, exhaling sadly.
    “It always comes back to that place. Is there—”
    Katie held up her hands. “Don’t tell me to sell it, Jay. I’m not listening to that again.”
    Jay cocked his head to the side, motioning for her to bring her defensiveness down a notch. “That’s not what I was going to say. What I was trying to say was, is there any way that we can hire someone to keep an eye on the house or something? Just for a few weeks?”
    They both grew silent. Time seemed to stand still with the lack of movement and sound between them. Faintly, Katie could hear Mason talking to himself as he played in his bedroom down the hall. He must be completely enthralled within his imagination not to have heard Jay come home. That was probably a good thing, because she was sure she wouldn’t be able to fend them both off if her son got wind of this idea. “Even if I could, the house isn’t prepared to withstand winter for any length of time. I would need to go back to get it ready. I can’t put that on someone else.”
    “So, you’re saying that if you were able to make a quick trip back to the farm you could get it all prepared to be left unattended for three weeks, and arrange for someone else to step in and check on things for you while you and Mason are here for the Christmas holidays?”
    Katie held his gaze. Was that what she was saying? Did she really want to stay here for that length of time with him? Did she want to give Mason that kind of opportunity, to really see his dad, and to spend the entire holiday season with him? When it came down to it, she did. Katie couldn’t deny the appeal of not having to keep up with the constant travelling schedule she had been maintaining. She welcomed the notion of not having to keep her bags packed, and not having to tear Mason away from Jay each time they left again for another five days.
    “You would be willing to take time off from work?” Katie asked.
    “I can book days off sporadically throughout those weeks so we can all spend time together,”