A Piece of Ourselves by Tray Ellis

Author:Tray Ellis [Tray, Ellis,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay Contemporary Romance, Romance, Gay Romance, MM Romance, Christmas
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books
Published: 2017-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Tynan gave more ground the next weekend when he agreed to accompany the family on their tree gathering campaign. The trip out to retrieve the tree wasn't unpleasant, with the city streets turning into suburbs and finally into rural terrain. The naked trees stretched their empty branches across the sky and the hard ground, muted in color, bore a stark beauty that seemed right for the season. It hadn't snowed yet, which kept the weather forecasters and tourism centers unhappy, as they relied on the white stuff for their livelihoods, but Tynan could feel the press of winter outside the car windows as he and Carson drove together. The world was dressed in brown and gray. Everything rested in a deep slumber of stillness. Only humans crawled about, trying to kick up some warmth. Tynan supposed the best way to fight the bleakness of the season involved spending time with someone he loved.

"How did the attic foraging go?" Tynan asked. For this trip they'd taken his car and he'd turned on the heated seats. It lent a cozy feeling to the inside of the car.

Carson made a face. "Not a complete disaster. I found the boxes. They were buried under the ski equipment. A ski had fallen on one of the boxes and smashed all the contents. Some of the antique glass bulbs from my grandmother. My mom was pissed. The box with all the Christmas cards she's been saving for thirty years had mice living in it at some point."

"They chewed up everything?"

"Yes. And they left mouse crap all over. My mom nearly blew a blood vessel." Carson grinned. "You know how everyone sends those family photos as Christmas cards instead of actually writing anything anymore?"

"Yeah?"

"Mice chewed off everyone's heads. All the photo-cards had bodies but at the necks, the heads were gone. Eaten away. It was seriously creepy."

"What did your mom do?"

"Trashed it. She was beyond livid." Carson sighed. "It made it really hard to talk to her about Christmas Eve or Day. I tried a couple times and she kept dodging the conversation. I won't give up. I just need to find the right time to corner her. She's so sensitive about the whole damn thing."

Tynan stared at the bumper of the car ahead of them. It held the rest of Carson's family, heading up the two-car brigade out to the tree farm. "This shouldn't be this hard. Missing a dinner isn't the end of the world." His words held a sharper, bitterer edge than he'd expected and Tynan swallowed down more things he'd wanted to say. Carson wasn't the enemy.

"I think she's having a hard time adjusting to us getting older. I'm out of the house. My sisters are only a year away from going to college. She's been a stay-at-home mom. Dad worked, she didn't. This tradition stuff is all she knows."

The lump of resentment in Tynan's chest softened. He didn't want to feel sorry for her, but he did a little. Dodie wasn't the enemy, either.

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