Page 71 of Welcome Home for Christmas
Allison lifted her gaze above her mug. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve listened to you. You’re always right. And I’m always wrong.” Even though she would’ve sworn the opposite last night.
“That’s not true, dear.”
“It is when it comes to men.” Allison set her mug down and pulled her knees up to her chest while sitting in a chair. “What was Jerry’s flaw?” she asked, looking up.
“Hmm?”
“Well, no one’s perfect. When you met Jerry, what was his big flaw?”
“Oh, too many to count.” Her mother laughed softly to herself. “He’s a man. There are qualities about a man that make a woman crazy. You have to learn to live with those. He has bad taste in movies, eats too much junk food, and curses too much for my taste.” She ticked his flaws off on her fingers.
“But what was his fatal flaw? You know, the character flaw that you always find in the people I know.”
Her mother’s eyes slanted sympathetically. “Well, he has a competitive spirit, I guess. He’s driven to succeed at everything he does. It’s unhealthy really,” she said. “Like the Christmas decorations. Isn’t it time to let someone else win for a change?”
Allison smiled. “Over his dead body.”
“Exactly. I’ve learned that if I want to be with him, I have to lose most games we play together. I have to let him feel like he’s winning even when he’s not.” She winked.
“That’s not a huge deal,” Allison said.
“I can live with it. You’re right, sweetheart. No one’s perfect. Everyone’s flawed.”
Allison met her mother’s gaze.
Her mother frowned. “I hate seeing you like this, and it’s all my fault. I feel like a terrible mother for making my daughter miserable on Christmas.”
“I made my own decision about Troy. And it’s better now than down the road when he decides I’m not as much fun as he thought.”
Her mother reached across the table for her hand. “Youarefun. And funny. Kind. Smart. You’re everything I could ever want in a daughter. And everything any man could ever want in a partner.”
“Except a man like Troy, right?” Tears welled behind her eyes.
“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you’re exactly the kind of woman that a man like Troy needs….I know you don’t want any more of my advice, and I’m going to stop giving it to you”—her mother held up a finger—“after this last time.”
Allison laughed softly. “Go ahead, Mom,” she said.
“If there’s one thing I’m one hundred percent sure of, it’s that love makes everything possible….You’re in love with Troy. If you weren’t, you would’ve taken my advice at face value. You usually do. This time you didn’t, though. You followed your heart instead because you love him. It was written all over the way you were with him last night. All over the way he was with you. And if there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that love always wins. Always.”
“Wait. You pretty much guaranteed that if I stayed with Troy, he’d grow tired of me and leave. Now it sounds like you’re saying that maybe he won’t.”
“I just realized that I have a fatal flaw, too. I tend to categorize people as soon as I meet them. I like to know what to expect out of people and never expect something they’re incapable of giving. It keeps me from getting disappointed….One of the things I love about you is that you aren’t like that, Allison. You jump into relationships with everybody you meet headfirst. You give everyone the benefit of the doubt.”
“And it usually works to my disadvantage, especially in my love life.”
Her mother held Allison’s hand and squeezed it. “Here’s my advice, as a mother, not a psychologist. And after this I promise, I’ll stop trying to run your life. You are your own woman; you’re smart and you can trust yourself. Always follow your heart, Allison, and you’ll never be led astray….And if you are, there’s always counseling.”
Allison burst into laughter, even as her eyes welled up. “That’s pretty darn good advice.”
She sat and talked with her mother a little longer, then grabbed her car keys and hugged her parents good-bye.
Follow her heart.Well, right now her heart was broken, the pieces veering off in every which way. No matter what her mother had told her last night and today, Troy had given her fuzzy pink handcuffs for Christmas. To remind her of the fun they had together. His message was clear: He was having fun while she was falling hopelessly in love with him.
—
Troy blew out a puff of white air as he stood in front of the large dogwood tree in Allison’s yard. The sun had set thirty minutes ago, but her yard was now lit up with half a dozen boxes of lights that he’d purchased at a twenty-four-hour Walmart. He wrapped the last string of colorful lights around the bottom of the tree trunk. It was plugged into a drop cord that he’d also had the forethought to purchase. Allison’s was the brightest Christmas tree on her street. In fact, it was the prettiest tree he’d ever seen, if he did say so himself. Her stepfather, Jerry, would be proud.
Tired, Troy walked over and sat on her porch steps to wait. For all he knew she wasn’t even coming home tonight. He’d called and texted her a few times throughout the day; she evidently wasn’t talking to him.Damn,he’d really screwed up with his gift. Combined with whatever her mother had said, because he knew she’d said something, and Allison was running scared.
