Page 14 of Jingl
“Wait. Why are we on the phone? Can I come over?”
I swallow. “The place is a mess. Mom and Wendy and the kids are still here.”
“I can help put things away. I’ll grab some pizza and head over, unless you’ve already eaten dinner?”
“We haven’t.”
“Trace, who’re you talking to?” Mom calls out.
“One sec,” I tell Shae. “It’s Shae. He wants to come over with pizza. Is that okay?”
Mom laughs. “It’s your place, sweetie. It’ll be nice to see Shae before we head out in the morning.”
“Okay, yes to pizza. See you soon.”
“See ya!”
I don’t know why I’m so nervous about Shae coming over. Maybe I should have said meet you at the diner. That way, we could have some alone time. As it is, he’ll be bombarded with questions from my family all night.
“Relax, sweetie, he’s your best friend. He’s not going to care that you’re not all put together.” Mom squeezes my shoulder as she walks by.
“Oh, that’s not why he’s so nervous,” Wendy says as she wrangles Kenzie into a fresh shirt.
“Shush, please,” I say through gritted teeth. If she says I’m in love with Shae out loud, then the kids will pick it up and start chanting it when he’s around and we can’t have that.
Wendy shrugs. “Just saying,” she mumbles.
Too soon there’s a knock at my door and a smiling Shae, still in his elf costume, with two boxes of pizza in his arms and a bag full of two-liter sodas in his hand.
“Let me take that.” I grab everything and lead him to the kitchen table.
“Shae!” The kids cheer and he drops to his knees to hug them.
“You’re so big!” he says.
Porter looks up at him. “And you’re a lot taller than I thought you’d be.”
“Why is that?”
“Dunno.” Porter shrugs and does a little dance before getting distracted by something else. Shae snorts and looks up to me.
Kenzie’s already wandering away, so Shae pops back to his feet.
“Wendy! Diana!” He throws out his arms and they laugh as they each give him a hug. Shae fits in perfectly.
“It’s so good seeing you, kiddo,” Mom says as she squeezes him tight. “And thanks for the food. This one was gonna starve us all night.” She thumbs at me.
My mouth drops open. “I was not!”
“Let’s dig in,” Shae says.
Wendy waves a stack of paper plates, and we all take a seat. I don’t have enough chairs, so the kids sit on the floor with upturned boxes as their tables. We all grab our fill of pizza and munch for a bit. Shae’s eyes wander the place and my heart beats louder. There’s a little bit of pizza sauce on his bottom lip and his tongue darts out to lick it up. Of course, my sister notices me watching and I have to tear myself away.
“So, what are you up to, Shae?” my sister asks.
Shae talks about his elf gig and being the lead pianist in the Christmas concert. I’m so damn proud of him.
“Oh, I wish we could make it back for the concert, but this one wanted to be here before Christmas.” Mom thumbs towards me.
