Page 495 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
Aunt Lydia barked at her kids to thank me, which they did, before she banished them upstairs to brush their teeth and put their pajamas on. I heard her fall heavily into her sofa and sigh. “It’s raining, but mild. As always. What about you?”
I gazed out my living-room window. Frost clung to the frame, silhouetting the window and glowing from the rainbow Christmas lights on my gutters. The sidewalks on the street were freshly shoveled but lined in plowed snow that had turned an ugly slushy brown color.
“It’s cold here,” I said, turning my gaze up to the sky. A few stars were showing, but clouds were rolling in. “I think it might snow tonight.”
“Lucky,” Aunt Lydia said. “My boys haven’t even seen snow before. I don’t think they’d know what to do with it if they did.”
“Maybe you should come here for a weekend next Christmas. It might be nice to try to get the family together.”
Aunt Lydia was my mother’s sister, and in my opinion, the only normal member of my family. “I don’t think I could come out there without your folks, Tinsely.”
I snuggled a little deeper under the blankets and watched a couple in love walk their dog on the sidewalk. She looped her arm through his and rested her head on his shoulder while he said something that made her smile.
Jealousy hit me like a train, and I looked away. “I could invite them, too.”
“Really?”
“Really,” I said. “It’s been a long time since we were all together. Who knows, maybe it will be better this time?”
She laughed. “Maybe, but expectations can be dangerous, especially where your mom and dad are concerned.”
I picked at a loose thread on the blanket. “I think… I think I miss them.”
Did I only feel this way because I felt lonely? Because I wished Chadwick were here? Because I felt like I needed to be told someone loved me, and even though my relationship with my parents was strained, I knew they loved me unconditionally.
“Honey,” Aunt Lydia said softly, “is something wrong?”
“No,” I said, not wanting to get into it. “I just get sentimental around the holidays. You’re probably right. Distance is what keeps our family close, somehow.”
“You should call your mom. Check in. I know she’d love to hear from you.”
“I will,” I lied.
A snowball burst against my window. I yelped, fell right off the window seat, landed hard on my ass under the blankets, and scrambled to free myself.
“What just happened?” Aunt Lydia asked.
I got to my knees and rested my elbows on the bench seat to peer out the window. There, out on my tiny front lawn, standing in ankle-deep snow, was him.
“Chadwick,” I breathed.
“Who?” Aunt Lydia asked.
“I’m so sorry,” I breathed, “I have to go. Give the kids a hug and a kiss goodnight for me. We’ll talk soon.”
I hung up before she had a chance to answer, wrapped myself up in my blanket, and hurried to the door, where I crammed the wide pant legs of my reindeer-patterned pajama pants into my snow boots. A cold burst of air hit me when I opened my front door, but I stepped out anyway, descended my front steps, and walked the few feet through the snow to Chadwick.
He shook snow from his glove. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“But you liked it.”
He shrugged and chuckled softly. “Maybe.”
He looked good. He always looked good. He wore a long navy peacoat down to his knees. A burgundy scarf was draped behind his neck and hung down the lapel of his jacket, framing a black sweater underneath with a high collar.
I pulled my blanket tighter around my shoulders. “What are you doing here?”
“I needed to see you.”
