Page 9 of A Cuddly Christmas
"He's being nice because I'm helping him out."
"He called you pretty."
"Grandpa!"
"Uh-oh, Paprika,” Gramps tells the kitten, who is watching us go back and forth. “I'm in trouble now. She used the full grandpa name." He gives her a gentle scratch on the head, and I stick my tongue out at him.
"I don't have time for this. I have things to do."
"You do. You’ve got an order." He slides a piece of paper across the counter, and I pick it up and see that it's Paxton again. I expect it to be a bunch of materials, but it's not. “I think he wants to decorate for Christmas."
"Something is wrong with the order. Part of it's missing." He’s paid for the order but not specified which items to bring.
"He said that he would pay for the decorations and we could pick the items ourselves. Whatever stock we have left."
"We have stock year-round." It feels really personal to pick things out for Paxton’s home.
"I can pick it if you don't want to,” Gramps offers, and I roll my eyes.
"You have the worst decoration skills." I wave him off, making him chuckle. If someone has to do it, it should be me.
"Then I'll leave you to it," he says and kisses me on the cheek. "There’s a snowstorm coming."
I shrug it off because there’s always a storm coming, and my truck can normally get through most anything. I need to have the chains put on, but I keep forgetting.
For the next hour, I pick out decorations for Paxton. I’m sure I put way too much thought into it, but I can't help myself. I never decorate my place, so I’ve got a million ideas about what he could do. I’m not home enough to enjoy the decorations, and I’ll end up spending the holiday elsewhere.
"Any matches?"
"Ahh!" I scream, spinning around to see Molly standing there with her normal bright-ass smile. "You scared the crap out of me." I pick up a roll of wrapping paper and smack her hip with it.
"Oh, you want to fight?" She grabs a roll herself, and a sword fight ensues. That is until a meow distracts Molly, and I go in for the final blow. “Hey,” she huffs. “That’s not fair. You distracted me with a kitten.”
“I would never do that,” I say, and Paprika meows again.
“She’s adorable.” Molly rushes over to pick her up. “Why do you have her?” Her eyes widen. “Did the cat distribution system bless you?”
“Nah, it’s Paxton's.”
“Oh.” She smirks.
“Don’t smile.”
“I can smile if I want to smile.” Molly smiles bigger, making her dimples show.
"Whatever." I roll my eyes.
"Your hair is down and your lips are shiny."
"What is it with everyone and my hair?"
I pull the hair tie off my wrist to put it back up, but Molly snatches it from me. I go to grab it back, but Paprika beats me to it and starts swatting it around the counter. Now I’ve lost it forever because there’s no way I’m taking it from her.
“Come on. Fill me in,” Molly says, so I give her the details of everything that went down because I have no choice. She’ll bug me until I do, and I can’t be mad about it because I’d do the same.
“He’s so smitten with you!” Molly is practically dancing with excitement. Where did I lay down that roll of wrapping paper? “You should give him a chance.”
"I can't complicate our co-parenting situation. We have Paprika to think about now."
