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Lawson
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IT HAD BECOME TRADITION for me to meet Holly out on the front porch at the end of the day, but that night, I decided to switch things up. After all the guests went off to get ready for bed, Holly went to work cleaning up the aftermath of the decorating party, and I tidied up the living room. When she went to her wing to change out of her outfit for the party, I went outside to where I’d seen a woodpile tucked under an awning to keep it protected from the elements.
Filling my arms with as much wood as I could carry, I brought it back inside and set up a few logs in the living room fireplace. During the event, while everyone was singing to the music and enjoying cocoa, the fireplace caught my attention, and I couldn’t believe I’d missed such an obvious detail. The only thing that would have made that evening’s festivities more enjoyable would have been a roaring fire for everyone to enjoy.
But the evening wasn’t totally over yet, and now Holly and I could have a fire all to ourselves. As I positioned the logs and went in search of matches, I decided that was even better. There were no matches in the kitchen, and I was hoping this wasn’t going to be a complete bust when I remembered Holly had lit a candle in the front parlor earlier in the day. Going there, I found the package of matches.
Before I left, I paused, looking around the room. We’d gotten so wrapped up in decorating the tree the day before that we’d completely neglected the rest of the house. Our indoor decorating attempt was concentrated only on the living room so far, and that needed to change. This room was beautiful, and I thought back to the conversation Holly and I had about the lights. Choosing the brightly colored lights for the living room tree was definitely the right choice, and now I was sure the parlor was on the other side of the debate. We’d need another tree.
Maybe this time I’d go ahead and relent to an artificial one. Probably not the one she and her grandmother had always used, though. I hadn’t seen it yet, but I had a feeling the decades of use had left it a little worse for wear. We’d just have to head back to Mary and Brighton’s for another tree. Or I’d give Frank a call and see if he had any in stock. Of course, knowing Frank, I’d have to be very specific about what I wanted, or I was liable to end up with a large potted ficus or an inflatable palm tree.
Ideas for decorating the front parlor twirling around in my mind, I went back into the living room and got the fire going. Once the flames took hold, I closed the grate and went to the kitchen. I’d bought some cheese and crackers while we were at the grocery store for the cookie ingredients, thinking the sugar rush of a day full of cookies might be a bit much. I arranged a plate full of them and then grabbed another plate of cookies just for good measure.
There really was no such thing as too many Christmas cookies.
There was still some cocoa left, and I grabbed some Irish cream to add to it.
By the time Holly came back into the living room, calling my name softly like she was looking for me but didn’t want to disturb the guests, I had the lights dimmed and blankets I found in a large basket on the floor draped over the couch, ready to be used.
A smile spread across her lips when she saw it all.
“I went out on the porch to find you,” she said.
“I thought this would be nice tonight. It’s cold out there.”
She nodded. “We should stay warm in here.”
My stomach tightened at the words, and I swallowed hard. We paused there for a moment before she broke the tension by going over to the cocoa station and filling a mug. She glanced over at me as if asking if I’d like a mug, and I nodded. She filled a second and poured a good hand of Irish cream into each before topping them with marshmallows and shaved chocolate.
I sat on the couch and accepted the mug she held out to me when she came over to join me. We each covered our laps with separate blankets but were sitting close enough for me to feel the warmth of her beside me. For a few seconds, we just sat there sipping our cocoa, staring at the dancing flames. Finally, she looked over at me.
“Thank you,” she said. “I know you don’t want me to say that, but you keep doing these amazing things, and I just have to thank you for them.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“Hey,” she said as if the thought just popped into her mind. “Do you remember that year in high school where they had to cancel the Homecoming dance and replace it with the Winter Ball?”
I nodded. “The gym flooded and ruined all the decorations that had already been put up for Homecoming.”
Holly narrowed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “The committee put a lot of hours into those balloon arches and crepe paper cactuses.”
I laughed. “That’s right. There was a whole Wild West theme. Who decided that was a good idea for a Homecoming dance? It wasn’t you, was it?”
“Hell no,” she said. “I would not voluntarily research cattle skulls and then spend days sculpting one out of air-dry clay.”
I took a sip of my cocoa. She had definitely been liberal with the Irish cream. It was warming me right up.
“To be fair, I don’t think that part was actually compulsory,” I said.
She looked at me for a second, then laughed. “Alright, maybe I did get a little carried away. But I really wanted it to be good. When the faculty sponsor for the dance told us that was the theme they approved, I was obviously not too enthused about it. I wanted something pretty and romantic, or at least fun. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what about dust, sand, shootouts, and bandits screamed Homecoming. But I decided to make it the very best I possibly could.”
“And then the flood washed away your ghost town,” I said.
She nodded. “And then the flood washed away my ghost town. I was so disappointed. But then we came up with the idea for the Winter Ball, and that was so much better. It wasn’t Christmas. Just winter. That made me really happy. Even if I did decide the dance committee had to create a paper blizzard for ambiance.” She shook her head slowly, staring ahead as if looking back in time to those afternoons poring over the decorations. “So many snowflakes. I found glitter on me for weeks.”
“You know, I wasn’t planning on going to Homecoming that year, I hadn’t gone to the last two, either, but I did go to the Winter Ball,” I said.
“You did?” she asked.
I nodded. “A few of us from the computer club decided to go together.”
She let out a breath that sounded somewhere close to a laugh. “I do remember you, you know.”
“From the dance?”
“In general. I keep coming up with these memories of moments when you were around. I don’t remember ever really interacting with you, but it seems like you were kind of on the periphery a lot,” she said.
I nodded. “That’s a good way to describe it.”
“I wish I’d gotten to know you better then,” she said, her voice a little softer.
“Me too,” I said. “That night I actually tried to talk to you at the refreshment table. I don’t even know if you saw me. A couple of us from the group I went with went up to get drinks, and you were standing there with a couple of your friends. You’d just won a cheerleading competition, and I wanted to say something to you about it.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked.
“Your boyfriend came up and swept you away,” I said. “You never even looked in my direction. Gina had some pretty choice words for him right about then, which made me feel better.”
Holly laughed. “I wish I could have heard them. Maybe it would have woken me up.” She sipped her cocoa, then looked over at me. “Earlier you said that the two of you shared a crush. Did either of you ever end up with her?”
I shook my head. “No. Neither of us ever got up the courage to say anything. And Gina figured she probably didn’t have that great of a shot, anyway. So she just kept it to herself.”
“That’s too bad,” Holly said. “Who was it?”
Nerves started to twist in my stomach, but I wasn’t going to stop myself this time. I’d come to this moment too many times before and hadn’t done anything about it. This time, I wasn’t going to stop myself.
“You.”
Her lips parted in surprise, and a splash of color came to her cheeks. She looked down at her lap, then back at me.
“I wish you’d said something,” she whispered.
“I’m saying it now.”
Cupping her face with one hand, I leaned forward and finally pressed my lips to hers. It was a soft, gentle kiss, exactly what I’d envisioned all those years ago but so much more. It left both of us breathless, and though I wanted more, I decided to leave the moment just at that. If there was never anything else, that kiss was perfect.
I was starry-eyed when we realized how late it was, and I headed to bed.
