Page 99 of Stay this Christmas
“What do you do for the holiday?”
“We open presents and have a big breakfast, but then I usually escape to my part of the house to watch Christmas movies. Granny and her friends reminisce a lot, and since I didn’t live through the seventies, I’m kind of the odd duck out.While You Were Sleepingusually gets me through, though.”
I sighed. “Great movie.”
Her plans sounded lonely. During my DPT program, at the height of my fear of getting kicked out, I’d stayed in my little apartment in Fort Worth for Thanksgiving instead of driving home to take a break. It’d seemed like the smartest option, but I’d missed my family something fierce, and wallowed in my loneliness the whole holiday break. Imagining that for her over Christmas—even with loved ones in the next room—made my heart hurt.
“Would you like to come have dinner with us?”
Callie froze as if I’d suddenly started speaking Mandarin. “Are you inviting me to your family’s Christmas dinner?”
“That’s weird, I know, but I thought maybe—”
“I’d love to! Thank you, yes. I mean, as long as you’re sure it would be okay with your family.”
“My mom will be thrilled, she loves playing hostess.” I’d probably get bonus points for bringing her another young woman to fuss and fawn over.
Callie leaned closer to me over the table. “Are you sure, though? I could be a weirdo or a serial killer or an identity thief or something.”
“I met your granny. I highly doubt anyone related to her would be any of those things.” But now, it was my turn to lean closer, worry probably furrowing my brow. “Will it hurt your grandma’s feelings? I can invite her, too.”
“Me going to a Christmas party without her would be like Granny’s dream come true.” She paused a second. “Will any single guys be there?”
“Just one that I know of, but he’s, uh, not exactly the most available.” Or, to put it another way, Jed wasperpetuallythe most available.
“Good. I’ll tell her they’re all married so she won’t get her hopes up.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
THIRTY
sam
Crowds stuffedCenter Street’s sidewalks, everybody shuffling their way toward the last night of the Christmas market. I wove through couples and families, eager to get to Harper and maximize the little bit of time I’d have with her tonight. After our stay in the tiny house, I was greedy for her.
Closing in on the big tree in town square, I pulled my beanie lower on my head. Memories of the last time I’d been to this Christmas market tried to barge into my thoughts, but I threw them right back out. Still hated the way my parents had manipulated us back then, but holding onto that hadn’t done me any favors. I’d resented those memories too long—time to learn from Georgia and find a way to move on.
Anyway, tonight had nothing to do with them—only Harper and me.
The sight of her beneath the tree put all the other lights around her to shame. When her eyes found me, she glowed even brighter, that smile tugging at my heart, urging me to reach her as quickly as possible. I rushed to her, performing a little maneuver I could only hope looked like a jog and not a skip. We stood toe to toe, her delight shifting to confusion to recognition, then the worst—tears sparkled in the corners of her eyes.
She reached up to run delicate fingers over the edges of my hat, looking at it like some long-lost magical thing. Kind of was. “You kept it all this time.”
“It’s a good hat.”
She sniffed but shook her head a touch. “I missed a stitch here.”
Her fingernail lightly scratched my scalp through a hole near the brim. I’d always liked the little mistake because it reminded me Harper had made the hat for me herself.
“Gives it character.”
“You are adorable.” She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me right in front of the Christmas tree. “I love that you kept it.”
I held her close, my heart a jet turbine roaring up to top speed.I love you.I wanted to climb the tree like King Kong and shout it to everyone in town square. Probably better if I let her know first, one-on-one. Soon.
I took her hand in mine with no intention of letting it go the rest of the night.
The market booths sat beneath awnings strung with round white lights to show off the goods. We wandered past stalls selling every kind of handmade thing from wooden chess pieces to custom paint sets, candles to knitwear. Harper stopped to inspect each booth, admiring everything on offer.
