Page 52 of The Christmas Letters
“A heart? You don’t think that’s too forward?”
“The stakes are high, Drew,” she argues. “Throw caution to the wind!”
I’m all for throwing caution to the wind, but I’m not about to send a red heart to someone who straight-up told me she was talking to someone else, even if I think thatsomeone elsemight be me.
Tessdoesn’t know Max is me, and I don’t want to look like a jerk. But I do want to include something that hints at possible feelings. I finally channel Taylor Swift and herFearlessera and include a heart-hands emoji.
Tess’s response comes through almost immediately.
Tess:So glad your grandmother is okay. And thanks for the encouragement!
Well. It’s not nothing. But it didn’t really create an opportunity for me to text back. This wholewin Tess overplan might be harder than I thought.
Moments later, a nurse appears in the waiting room of urgent care and calls Gran’s name, so I slip my phone into my pocket and focus my full attention on her.
It’s almost two o’clock by the time we make it back to the house and I have Gran fully settled. She’s got a clean bill of health, though the doctor did recommend she follow up with her cardiologist next week about the low blood pressure. In the meantime, she’s supposed to stay hydrated and fed and get plenty of rest.
I leave her with a counter full of snacks, a filled water bottle next to her living room chair, and a full pot of tea on the back of the stove. And strict instructions to call me the moment she feels even the slightest bit faint.
I’ll check on her tonight anyway, but there’s still an hour of the toy drive left, and I’d love to drop by and see Tess.
When I pull into the fire station parking lot and climb out of my truck, my eyes are immediately drawn to her. I stand there for a few minutes, at the edge of all the activity, and just watch. She’s obviously in her element. Coordinating, talking to kids, making everyone feel comfortable. She’ll be amazing when she opens her own business. Everyone she talks to walks away smiling.
On the other side of the parking lot, Ben and Chelsea, another paramedic from our station, are leading a group of kids around the ambulance. I make eye contact with Ben, and he lifts his head in acknowledgment.
“Drew!” a voice calls from behind me, and I turn to see Chloe hurrying toward me, Deacon right behind her. “Hi. So glad you’re here,” she says. Her voice drops as she levels me with a look. “We need to talk.”
I lift my eyebrows. “We do?”
“Yep. Right now.” She hooks a hand around my arm and tugs me toward a fire truck parked at the edge of the parking lot. I glance at Deacon over my shoulder, who is following behind us, but he only shrugs, his expression saying he’s not about to stop his wife.
She finally lets me go once we’ve rounded the fire truck and we’re completely hidden from the rest of the toy drive. Completely hidden fromTess.
“What is this?” I say, looking from Chloe to Deacon.
“We have something to tell you,” Chloe says. “Well, something to ask you, really.” Her eyes dart to Deacon, who nods, his expression encouraging. “Drew, do you know who your Christmas pen pal is?”
I frown. They know I have a pen pal? “How do you…” I run a hand across my face. “You know that I’m…”
“Andrew Maxwell McKay,” Deacon says. “Max.”
I narrow my eyes. How could they possibly have figured it out?
Deacon holds out his phone, and I take it, my eyes quickly scanning what he’s showing me. It’s my parents’ will, naming me as his sole beneficiary. “Probate records are public, man,” he says. “It only took a little bit of digging.”
My heart ticks up as I hand his phone back. Iftheyknow, does that mean…
“Does Tess know?” I ask.
“So youdoknow you’ve been writing Tess,” Chloe says, her voice relieved.
“I didn’t at first,” I say. “I figured it out last night. I didn’t think she’d figured it out though.”
“She hasn’t,” Chloe says. “Only we did. And we haven’t told her yet because we wanted to talk to you first.”
Deacon moves forward, leveling me with what I can only describe as a big-brother stare. “It feels like a stupid question based on how obviously into her you seemed last night, but you are glad it’s Tess, right?”
I breathe out a chuckle. “Yes. Definitely glad.”
