Page 217 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
Right on time, I texted back. He responded with a smiley face emoji. I was determined to have a good time with him tonight. Brad could not ruin this.
I arrived at Cayden’s parents’ house feeling nervous. I hadn’t met someone’s parents in such a long time. I hoped they would like me. I was also nervous about meeting Austin. Although I was okay with dating someone who had a child, I was still nervous. What if Austin didn’t like me? If Austin didn’t like me, I knew it would make dating Cayden even more challenging.
I knocked at the front door and Cayden answered.
“Merry Christmas Eve,” he said, opening the door wide. I walked in and smiled. His parents’ house smelled like Christmas – fresh pine mixed with spices. Their house was decorated beautifully, too. It was everything that a stereotypical Christmas was supposed to be like. I felt like I had stepped into the set of a Hallmark Christmas movie.
“You look gorgeous,” Cayden said. I turned to him and smiled. He had no idea how badly I needed to hear that after the past couple of days. Cayden never spoke down to me like Brad did. He always gave me compliments and made me feel like a supermodel. Cayden was an angel and Brad was a devil, but why could I not let Brad go?
“Thank you,” I told Cayden. “Speaking of gorgeous, your parents’ house is amazing.”
He nodded.
“It really is,” he said. “My mom loves the holidays.”
As soon as he finished the sentence, his mother entered the room.
“Hi, Tiffany,” she said, greeting me with a hug. “My name is Alice.” She stepped back, and I could see where Cayden had gotten his good looks from. She was beautiful.
“Hi, Alice,” I said. “Thank you for inviting me to your house and including me in your tradition.”
She smiled.
“You’re more than welcome, honey,” she said. “I am so glad that you are here. We’ve heard a lot about you.”
I turned to Cayden and he was blushing. It was a look that I hadn’t seen on him before. It was cute.
Suddenly, Austin burst into the room. He turned the corner so fast that he nearly slid off his feet and hit the floor. He had quick reflexes, though, and was able to regain his balance.
“Hi!” he greeted me. Cayden was right. He wasn’t shy at all.
“Hi, Austin,” I said to him. He smiled.
“She knows my name,” he whispered to his grandma. She smiled at him.
“She does. This is your daddy’s friend, Tiffany. They work together.”
Austin looked me up and down.
“You’re pretty,” he said.
“Thank you,” I responded. I felt my heart burst with happiness. It was one thing for Cayden to say that I was pretty, but it was another for his son to say that. Little kids didn’t lie about things like appearances. They had no reason to. If you wanted someone to tell you the truth, you had to seek out a little child. Their opinions were completely unbiased and true.
Soon, Cayden’s dad met us in the foyer.
“I’m Mike,” he said, extending his hand. Cayden looked like his dad, too. His whole family was gorgeous. They looked like they could have stepped out of a catalog.
“Are we all ready to go?” Cayden’s mom asked. We all nodded.
“I am so excited!” Austin ran out the door. “Santa is coming tonight!”
Watching Austin become so excited about Christmas ignited the Christmas spirit inside of me. It had been a long time since I had been excited about anything related to Christmas. My mom had stolen that away from me a long time ago.
The four of us walked down the stairs, with Austin a bit ahead of us.
“It’s just a nice night,” Alice commented. She was right. Despite a little chill in the air, it was a perfect, cloudless night. The stars had already begun to come out. It was like they were eagerly awaiting the Christmas tree ceremony as well. We walked down the street and I noticed a small group of people forming by the tree. Cayden was right. It was simple and low-key. It was something that I needed. Nothing crazy, just a bit of Christmas spirit to prevent me from turning into a complete Scrooge.
We reached the group of other people and I watched as Cayden interacted with his family. His parents were obviously still in love with each other, judging from the way they held hands and exchanged gentle looks that held years’ worth of tenderness. His mother was polite and quietly spoken. His dad was similar to Cayden, very talkative and nice.
