Page 62 of Single Dad's Christmas Cookie

“Ouch, you do look rough. Party too hard?” Veronica asked.

If by party too hard, did she mean I spent half the night crying and throwing up because I was crying so hard, then yeah, I partied too hard.

“Something like that,” I answered.

“Did yesterday not go well?” She sounded like she cared, and I started to sniffle again.

“My Christmas Eve reality clashed greatly with my hopes and dreams. I had to work. Let’s just leave it at having a service industry job over Christmas is way harder than I remembered.” I took a moment to refocus myself. I did not want to cry. My eyesstill felt scratchy, and the last thing a happy Veronica needed was a morose Nova ruining her Merry Christmas.

“The reality is, I’m stuck up here alone,” I finally said, “without anything really to look forward to. I was hoping to sleep in today, but?—”

“Did I wake you up? I am so sorry. I’m just so excited.”

“No, no, you didn’t wake me up. I was already up because I’m so used to getting up for teaching. I’m not able to stay asleep much in the morning anymore. So, what’s your good news? Are you standing outside? You’re outside. That’s snow.”

There was bright blue sky behind her, and she wore a wooly hat. My body might be awake, but my mind was having a hard time catching up and being fully functional. I hadn’t had my coffee yet.

“The boyfriend took me on a surprise getaway so that I could have snow for Christmas.”

“That’s so sweet,” I lied. I had snow for Christmas, and it didn’t make me nearly as happy as I thought it should. Then again, the snow this year set me up for a heartbreak and an added financial burden. I grew up thinking it would be magical to have snow at Christmas. I realized now I only thought that because I had grown up never having snow at Christmas.

Snow was cold and wet. All those warm and cozy depictions of people drinking hot cocoa and sitting by a fire were fake. The coziness didn’t last. The illusion melted away with the snow. Hopefully, this boyfriend of Veronica’s wouldn’t ruin it all for her.

“What does your family think of your missing Christmas?”

“At first, Mom was disappointed, but after I called her this morning?—”

“My God, Veronica, how early did you get up? You’ve already talked to your mom this morning?”

“Of course I already called Mom. Why haven’t you called yours?”

“I talked to her last night. I told you, I was trying to sleep in. Sorry, I interrupted. You were saying…?”

“Mom was disappointed, but after I talked to her this morning, she’s really happy.” She let the end of her sentence hang in the air.

“Why would your mom be happy that your boyfriend took you away for Christmas?” I prompted.

“Because, silly, the fiancé took me away to propose!” She held up her hand and wiggled it so that sunlight flashed off the diamond ring on her finger with a squeal.

I immediately sat up. “Holy crap. Veronica, That’s awesome. Congratulations.”

I stared at the ring for a long moment.

“Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“It’s amazing. Is that thing heavy? Your finger is going to get jacked having to constantly lift that rock,” I said in awe. I didn’t know diamond sizes. It looked really big to me, and it threw light like a disco globe.

“I was thinking it was a little on the small side,” she said. “It’s not quite a full carat.”

“It doesn’t matter how big the diamond is if you love him. It’s on your finger, so I’m assuming you said yes.”

“Of course, I said yes. And I do love him.” She was all smiles. She posed like a hand model showing off the ring, framing her face before shifting and striking another pose.

“Does this mean I finally get to meet him?”

28

BRYAN

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