Page 99 of Infatuated as They Come
She hummed, tapping a finger against her chin. “If you’re sure. Your art skills might come in handy with the decorating if you want to do that.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”
We cut away at the large roll of dough, making small talk about the weather and my job and all the stuff I had painted. We talked about how much she missed Holly and how weird it was not having her daughter inthe house. It was one of the longer conversations me and Holly’s mom had ever had. We usually just shared some small talk when I was picking Holly up or dropping her off back home. It was usually better for everyone if I just got out of there before her dad got all pissy.
“I know my husband makes you feel like you and Holly don’t belong together,” she said with a sigh, “but I really do think you guys are meant to be.”
That made me smile a little. “Yeah, I think so too.”
“I hope you pay him no mind. Holly loves you. I know how important you are to her, and that means you’re important to me. And I can tell she’s important to you too.”
“She is. And it means a lot to me that you guys, you know, trust her with me. I know I’m not the sort of guy you imagined her ending up with, but I just want to do everything I can to make sure she’s happy and looked after,” I said, and I frowned when I remembered how little I had seen of her lately. I had fallen back into my old habits hard and fast. When was the last time we ate dinner together?
“You know, I never even really thought about that,” she said. “I mean, I never really imagined what kind of boy she’d end up with. I knew she’d find someone who was meant for her on her own. I just want Holly to be with someone who loves her, and I know that’s you. I’m very glad you two found one another.”
So was I. And I was so lucky that I had her, that it was me that she had chosen, and I knew things needed to be different when we got back home. For her, for us, for the future that I so badly wanted us to have.
“I was going to make wreaths, trees, and stockings,” she said as she took all the trays out of the oven, placing them on the counter. “Your painting skills might come in handy for this. I usually like to make little reindeers too, but they always come out looking so funny. Do you want to do those?”
“I don’t know if I’ll be any better.” I chuckled. “But yeah, I’ll give it a shot.”
“You must be so bored in here making cookies with me.”
But I wasn’t bored. Not even a little bit. “No, I… I’m having fun,” I said. “I like doing, you know, mom stuff with you. Never really got the chance to dothings like this with mine. So, if you ever wanna do other mom stuff, I’ll be happy to do it.”
Her eyes softened as she reached over, giving my hand a squeeze. “I might be organizing my scrapbooking boxes real soon. I’d love to have an extra pair of hands. I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but I find it very fun.”
“No, it sounds cool. Let’s do that.” I got started on the reindeers, picking up the brown icing and attempting to make something that looked as put together and professional as the Christmas trees she was working on.
“You guys are cute,” I heard Holly’s sleepy voice say from behind me after a little while.
I looked over my shoulder and watched Holly walk over to us. When she got close enough, she rested her head on my arm and let out a soft, little yawn.
“You should have woken me up,” Holly said. “It’s nearly six. I’m not gonna sleep all night now.”
“Your boyfriend insisted that we let you rest,” her mom said.
Holly hummed before taking a seat on one of the stools. “He just wanted first dibs on the cookies. They look so good.”
“Well, he’s much better than you at decorating. We’ll eat them after dinner. Hm, I need more piping bags.” Holly’s mom spun on her heels suddenly. “I’ll be back!”
“You guys did a really good job. They’re so pretty.” Holly dragged one of the cookies filled trays towards her. “Let me make at least one. I’ll contribute to the team.”
Holly took some of the leftover dough and used a knife to cut out… something. I had no idea what the hell she was doing, but it was cute watching her slice away at the dough, her tongue stuck out that tiny bit before she grabbed some icing. All I could think about was how nice it was to have a normal Christmas for once. I was still half expecting my dad to appear out of nowhere and punch me in the stomach for having the audacity to decorate a Christmas cookie.
“There,” Holly said, dragging me out of my thoughts. “Isn’t she cute?”
My eyes landed on the little horse she had made, the eyes all big and agoofy smile on its face. “Hey, nice lookin’ horse.”
She gasped. “No. She’s a cat.”
“Oh.” I tilted my head. “Yeah, no, I can see it. Legs are kinda long, though.”
“She’s a tall cat. Don’t bully her.”
“I would never.”
“So, what should our new tradition be?” she asked. “We could get hot chocolate and drive around and see the lights, or go ice skating, or we could go to Grapevine and see their Christmas decorations, or we could just stay here and watch Christmas movies all day.”
