Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 74

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Second Chances in New Port Stephen - Chapter 74

Eli woke up to the annoying vibration of his phone, audible even through the pillow he had over
his head.
He felt like he’d been run over by a truck. He hadn’t even done anything that physically
adventurous the night before, so what the hell was that about? If his therapist were here, she
would probably say something about how emotions tended to manifest in his body. Eli tossed
the pillow off his face and picked up his phone, glancing at the time. Ugh, it was way later than
it felt. The call was from Nick, but Eli couldn’t fathom talking to anyone right now, least of all his
oldest friend/one-night stand.
He sent the call to voicemail, flipped onto his stomach, and fell right back to sleep.
“Wake up, Eli,” his mom whispered right in his ear maybe a minute or an hour later. “You can’t
sleep all day. It’s Christmas.”
He turned over onto his back. “Yippee,” he croaked.
His mom beamed down at him. “And to make the occasion even more festive —” She placed a
neatly folded stack of clothes directly on his stomach. They were dark green flannel, tied with a
red ribbon on top. Eli tipped his chin to his chest to stare at them blearily. “Pajamas!” Cora
pointed to her own torso, which was indeed covered by the same kind of pajamas. “I got us all

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matching sets. They’re from the women’s department—I hope that’s okay with you. I wanted
them to fit us.”
Eli lifted the pajama stack. “Won’t Dad—?”
“It’s a tight squeeze,” Wendall hollered from somewhere down the hall, “but I’m making it
work.”
“Jesus Christ.” Eli rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, praying that his dad wasn’t actually trying to
channel Tim Gunn. He could only deal with one tragedy at a time.
“Hurry. We’re doing gifts.” Cora pressed a kiss to the top of his head and practically floated from
the guest room on a cinnamon cloud of Christmas cheer.