Page 11 of Christmas Crisis
I blew air into my cupped hands before answering. “It’s not that I mind it, since Barbie is sort of a feminist icon. It’s just that people have been calling me ‘Outdoor Barbie’ at school for a few years now, because I travel and hike and climb and raft and stuff. But I’m also getting my MBA and graduated summa cum laude with my bachelor’s. They mean it as a compliment, but it feels a little reductive, being narrowed down to my hair color and the fact that I can get a decent campfire going.” I shrugged affably. “I dunno. Maybe it’s the plight of every blond to be taken seriously. That's the stereotype, anyway.”
“Believe me, I understand, working in construction. The God of Thunder is cool and all, but it gets old being asked where my magic hammer is at every jobsite.”
His eyes danced, but I knew he’d grasped my point. Commiserated with it.
People assumed I was always a warm, bubbly ray of sunshine. Perpetually cheerful. I’d perfected the art of keeping my cloudy days to myself. And while I considered myself an overall happy and contented person, it was nice to have a more nuanced thought and not feel like I was busting apart someone’s image of me. I could be optimistic and playful and exuberant and still not be Barbie. Leo seemed to understand that.
“How about I think up a more generalized nickname for you?” he offered. “And you could do the same for me. Nothing narrow. Just boring and simple. Like how James’s friend William is Will.”
“You know you can just call me Miranda?”
“I like a challenge.”
A laugh escaped me. “You sound like you might already have some ideas?”
“How about Mir?”
I smiled. “My sisters call me that sometimes. You can call me ‘Mir’ if you want to.”
Leo shook his head. “Nope. I want one just for me.” He waggled his eyebrows.
That definitely seemed like flirting. But looking at his face, I could just tell that it…wasn’t. Strange.
“Do you need a nickname for your brother’s girlfriend’s little sister?” I asked, amused.
“No. But since they’re dating, I’d like to get to know you better. If that’s okay. When James gave us the rundown of Marley’s family, he told us Maureen was the ‘intimidating’ sister, and you were the ‘sweet’ one. I get the shorthand, but there’s obviously more there. With both of you.”
“I am sweet,” I said wryly.
“You’re other things too.”
“How are you so sure?”
“I have a sixth sense about these things. You’re someone worth knowing.”
I caught the subtext. It was like recognizing like. Not as in,I’m also worth knowing, but rather,I also want to be known.
My heart thumped a few extra beats.
Marley had mentioned that James’s brother was nice, but she hadn’t gone far enough. Between his moving heavy furniture, asking thoughtful questions, and giving genuine compliments while expecting nothing in return, Leo was impossible not to like.
I felt compelled to know him too.
Over the next two days, Christmas Eve and Christmas, we spent a lot of time together. He interacted with Marley and Maureen, and was very solicitous of his parents, but we keptwinding up in each other’s vicinity. Sitting next to one another at dinner. Opening presents side by side in the living room. Playing with Marley and James’s dogs outside.
I learned that Leo was a contractor in the Seattle area, working for a company specializing in renovations and remodels for luxury homes. He was thirty-four, nine years older than me. He rented an apartment in Tacoma because he was saving up to buy a house and drove an older model truck for the same reason. Although he never said so directly, I gleaned from context clues that he wasn’t currently dating anyone. He loved plain pasta with red sauce and listening to memoirs on audiobook. The most embarrassing moment of his life was farting during the one and only yoga class he ever tried. He lifted weights at the gym, but other than that, his job kept him fit.
Leo and his parents had driven separately to Coleman Creek because Chris and Deanna were staying until after New Year’s, while Leo needed to return to the city for work. I decided to save my sisters the long drive and hitched a ride to Seattle with him. He offered me his second bedroom for a few days until my flight to Los Angeles.
Even though we’d just met, I felt comfortable enough to agree. The plan didn’t faze our families either. They’d all noticed how well we got along.
“It’s like you and Leo are two peas in the same nauseatingly chipper pod,” Maureen declared.
I’d happily take that descriptor. I’d never felt such an instant connection to someone the way I had with Leo, and the prospect of spending the next few days with him had my senses buzzing.
Chapter four
Leo
