She flicks her hair. “God, I’ve missed you. I haven’t seen you around the bar.”

“I’ve been busy,” he explains.

She pouts and crosses her arms. “Don’t be a stranger. I miss our...chats.”

Jesus.

Muff smiles at her again, and then turns to me. “This is my girlfriend, Janine. She...hurt her nose.”

Girlfriend.

He called me his girlfriend.

My heart flutters.

Gloria’s eyebrows shoot up, and she turns to me. “Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Can I take a look?”

“If you have to,” I whisper.

Muff shakes his head, grinning at me. “She does. Come on, Jaybird, sit down.”

Gloria leads us into a room and sits me on the bed. Then she’s in front of me, poking her big breasts in my face. I hate when that happens. I close my eyes and try to concentrate on something else as Gloria removes Muff’s shirt and inspects my nose. She moves it. I cry out, and she declares it’s fractured and hands me a fresh ice pack.

“There’s not much we can do for a nasal fracture, except give you some good painkillers and wait for it to heal. I’ll strap it as best I can, just to try and relieve some pain for you.”

I groan, and open my eyes to see her step back and wink at Muff. Isn’t that like...not allowed? She announces she’s going to get something to strap it, and leaves the room. I turn to Muff.

“Have you boned everyone in this town?”

He chuckles, and stands, walking over and sitting beside me. “Baby, jealously suits you.”

“I thought it was meant to be that it doesn’t suit me...”

He grins, kissing my lips softly. “But it does suit you. Makes you darn cute.”

“You broke my nose fucking me, and the nurse fixing me has fucked you before...that’s just mean.”

He laughs, and grips my hair, tugging it softly. “I haven’t fucked her, and I didn’t mean to break your nose.”

“You haven’t?” I squeak.

“No, baby, I haven’t. I won’t say there wasn’t some...fondling one night, but we mostly talked.”

“Ew,” I say.

He laughs again, and pulls me into his arms, gently pressing my face to his chest. I sigh and close my eyes. They feel like they’re swollen. “You won’t want to fuck me again when you see me tomorrow.”

“You’re gorgeous, Jaybird. Even if you have a busted up nose.”

I giggle.

“Here we are,” Gloria says, coming back into the room. I sit up, and see her expression is far less cheerful now she’s seen Muff and I cuddling. Get over it, lady. Go find someone else to ‘fondle.’

She patches up my nose, gives me some painkillers, looks longingly at Muff and then we’re on our way. While we’re here, I want to check up on Addi. We head down the hall to where everyone is waiting, and see Cade is standing with them. My heart speeds up. Maybe he has news. We join the group, and Ciara’s eyes widen when she sees me.

“What the fuck happened to you?” She gasps.

Everyone turns to look at me. Can anyone say awkward?

“It’s a long story,” I say. “Cade, is Addi okay?”

Cade smiles down at me. “We just did a scan. The baby’s heartbeat is strong and everything seems okay. They’re not sure why she was bleeding, but they’re looking into it. For now, though, the baby is ok.”

“That’s wonderful,” I breathe.

“The doctor said it’s a miracle that baby is hanging on,” Cade says, his voice tired. “But that baby is part of me. That, and maybe there is a little bit of Christmas in the air. It must make for some luck.”

I smile. “A Christmas miracle.”

“Yeah,” he says. “I fuckin’ hope so.”

~*~*~*~

Janine

“So, you were having sex and you fell on your face?” Addison says later that night when we’re visiting her in her room. She looks tired, her eyes have dark rings under them and her face is a little puffy, but she has some hope in her eyes and she’s smiling, so that’s something.

“Never mind me, how are you?” I say, waving a hand.

“Uh, no, I want this story.” She pouts.

“Me too,” Ciara says, shifting her chair closer with an enthusiastic look on her face.

“Oh, me three,” Serenity adds from the end of Addi’s bed.

“Okay,” I sigh. “We were in an odd position.”

“Elaborate,” Addison encourages.

“He was holding me like a wheelbarrow.”

The girls are silent a moment, all of them deep in concentration like they’re picturing it in their heads.

“Oh, damn,” Ciara says, grinning.

“I can’t picture it,” Serenity pouts.

“Google it,” Addison suggests.

Serenity pulls out her phone while I slowly die in shame. She types something in and then her eyes widen. “Oh...wow!”

“Yeah,” I groan.

“So...he dropped you?” Ciara says, her expression concerned.

“No, when we were...um...enjoying the last moment...my hands gave way, and I couldn’t catch myself. I face planted the floor.”

Serenity bursts out laughing. “Oh my God, that’s hilarious!”

“It wasn’t at the time.” I sigh, feeling my head begin to pound.

“You look like crap, honey,” Addison says, fighting back a smile.