“Logan wanted me to help him put the train together.” He was behind her, one hand pressing into the small of her back as he reached around her with the other for a cookie. A tingling of awareness shot up her spine.

“He’s in the living room. He’s been working on it all day.” She tried to sound casual as she stood with her back to him, her pulse racing.

“It’s harder than it looks.” He bit into the cookie, moaned his approval and then was taking another before leaving the room.

Lina gripped the counter and took a deep breath. Her physical reaction to him shook her. It was the drought of physical contact, she rationalized. As much as her mind knew he had betrayed her and the separation was the right decision, her body clearly operated under a different set of principles.

Despite her shaky start, the day went surprisingly well—almost too well, considering at some points Lina had to remind herself that Phil no longer lived with them. Even Knight behaved like Phil was the rightful alpha of the house, obeying his commands more quickly than he ever responded to Lina or Logan.

After their traditional Christmas Eve dinner of tenderloin, mashed potatoes and asparagus, they attended a 10:00 p.m. church service. As Lina sat between Phil and Logan, her hand drifted to Phil’s thigh as it had a hundred other times over the years. It wasn’t until she felt the clenching of his thigh muscle that she realized what she had done, and she snatched her hand back.

“I’m starting a new tradition,” Logan announced as soon as they arrived home. “Every Christmas Eve, we’ll watch Elf!”

“It’s too late, Logan,” Lina said.

“No it’s not. I’ll find the disc,” he said as he jogged towards the family room.

Lina curled her feet up under her as her eyes traveled over the scene in her family room. Katie was stretched out under a blanket on the oversized chair she usually shared with Matt, Megan and Phil sat on the loveseat, and she was beside Logan on the couch. It seemed so normal. This was her family and yet it wasn’t, not anymore. Phil no longer lived with them. She took a sip of wine and brought her attention to the television, pushing away her negative thoughts. She wasn’t going to go down that road tonight, not on Christmas.

“Refill?” Phil asked thirty minutes later, before taking her almost-empty wine glass. When he returned, instead of resuming his place beside Megan, who was now asleep, he crossed to Katie.

“Dad, no!” Katie whined when he began to lower himself down beside her. “There’s no room.”

“Sure there is.”

“You’re so annoying.”

He lifted the blanket and resituated it over them before curving his arm around her shoulders. “When you were little, you told me you’d never leave me.”