“Kids!” Katelin called upstairs. “Uncle Brendan’s here! You ready to go?”

“Coming mom!” She watched as Aaron ran down the stairs with the twins behind them. After strapping them into her Jeep, she and Brendan were on their way to the nearest Christmas tree farm.

“Aaron! Slow down!” Brendan yelled after Aaron took off down the rows of Christmas trees. He turned back to Katelin, who had Kayleigh on her hip and Brian latched onto her other hand. “I’ll go get him.”

“Thanks.” Katelin smiled gratefully as Brendan ran after her oldest son.

“Dada!” Kayleigh yelled.

“No honey,” Katelin explained. “That’s Uncle Brendan, remember?”

“No, dada!” Kayleigh repeated, pointing behind them.

“Hey Kayleigh-baby!” Katelin heard Nick’s voice from behind her. Sucking in a breath, Katelin turned around, noticing Nick with Beth latched on to him.

“Daddy!” Brian cried, running over and clutching his father’s leg.

“Hey,” Katelin greeted him quietly.

“Hi,” Nick replied. “Where’s Aaron?”

“With Brendan.” Katelin pointed to where she could see Brendan and Aaron sizing up a Christmas tree. “Looks like they’ve found one.” She grabbed Brian and Kayleigh’s hands and walked over to where Brendan and Aaron were, Nick and Beth following close behind.

Nick watched the five of them, sadly. They looked like one big happy family. His family. Getting ready for the holidays without him. What was going to happen at Christmas/ He and Katelin hadn’t even talked about it. He wanted to be there to put out Christmas cookies, wait for Santa, and tuck them into bed. Would he be? Would Katelin be? His mom had already invited Katelin and the kids to Christmas Day dinner, not taking no for an answer when Katelin just offered to send the children and not herself. Brian and Leighanne were planning on having their annual Christmas Eve party, inviting all of the guys and their girls and everyone’s families. Brian had mentioned to Nick one day that he wanted to invite Katelin. No matter what had happened between the two of them, Brian had said, Katlein was still a part of the Backstreet family. It wouldn’t be Christmas without she and the children. While Nick had to agree with him on that point, he had also wanted to bring Beth. But having Katelin and Beth in the same room would just be asking for trouble.

“Daddy!” Nick was torn out of his thoughts by his oldes son yelling and then, literally, hurling himself into his father’s arms. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for a Christmas tree,” Nick answered. “Same as you.”

Aaron glanced at the woman next to his father and glared. “What is she doing here?”

Beth wanted to strangle the little twerp. He did nothing but make a scene everytime she was around. He had the tendency to ruin many romantic nights that she and Nick had planned and she knew that he was aware of exactly what he was doing. She hated the fact that she always came in second to Nick’s children. Hell, she was beginning to notice that she often came in second to Katelin too. She couldn’t wait until the divorce was final but they still had a little while ago. Nick had stalled on filing the papers even though he had sworn up and down that this was what he wanted. When Beth finally gave him an ultimatum, he went straight to his lawyers. Hopefully when the divorce was final, he would start paying more attention to her.

“She’s here to help me,” Nick replied, not missing the pained look that crossed his soon-to-be-ex-wife’s face.

“Well, we don’t want to hold you up.” Katelin picked up her daughter and turned to the tree in front of her. “What do you think of this one, Kay?”

“Yes!” Kayleigh giggled. “Aaron? You like tree?”

“Yeah,” Aaron replied, turning to Brendan. “Uncle Brendan? Can we get this one?”

“Whatever your mom says.” Brendan threw Aaron on top of his shoulders. And just like that, Nick was cut out of the process. The kids started chattering away about Santa and presents as Nick began backing away, watching as his family picked out a tree. They would take it home and decorate it. Play Christmas carols. Bake cookies and drink egg nog. All without him.

***** ***** ***** *****

“Hello?” Katlein answered the phone, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was eleven-sixteen at night. She had been studying for hours now. Nick had been nice enough to take the kids for the week while Katelin was able to prepare for her finals in her second-to-last semester at law school. For a minute, she thought something might have been wrong with one of them until she heard Leighanne’s cheerful voice on the other end of the line. “Hey Kate!”

“Oh, hey Leigh.” Katelin let out a deep breath that she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. “Something wrong?”

“Oh no,” Leighanne replied. “I know it’s late but I wanted to talk to you about Christmas Eve. You haven’t answered my invitation yet.”

“Leigh, I don’t know…” Katelin began, setting her glasses down on the desk.

“Please?” Leighanne begged. “It just wouldn’t be the same without you. Please say yes. Everyone wants you there.”

“Well, not everyone, Leigh,” Katelin pointed out.

“Who cares about what Nick wants,” Leighanne snapped. “He doesn’t deserve you anyway. You could even bring Brendan if you’d like.”

Katelin laughed. “Thanks for the offer. But I don’t think that would go over too well, if you know what I mean. And anyway, he’s going back to New York for Christmas.”

“Well, whatever,” Leighanne said. “So are you in?”

Katelin sighed. “Fine. I guess I’ll come. But, if Nick thinks it’s a problem, then I’m out.”

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