“We’ll start with the age-old holiday tradition,” he said, backing out of the driveway. “We're going to the mall.”
I gave Jonas a horror-stricken look. “The mall? You know I avoid that place from November to January.”
“Exactly,” he replied, “but most people don't, so let's check it out.”
Jonas drove the twenty minutes or so from our home to the closest mall, and just as I expected, the parking lot was completely packed with people. We finally found a spot that felt like it was a mile away. As I got out of the car I said to him, “Good thing these Uggs are comfortable.”
“All part of the Christmas charm,” he replied. “Come on.” He laced his fingers through mine, and I leaned my head on his shoulder for a moment. He had on the sweater his mom had knitted for him a couple of years before.
She had taken up audio books, and knitting was the perfect way to busy her hands while she listened to stories, especially because her house was far too full of paperback novels to ever store any more.
“How does it feel to be in the daylight?” he asked me as we wound through cars in the parking lot.
I hissed. “You know I'm a vampire when I'm on a deadline.”
“Wrong holiday,” he replied.
I chuckled. “Maybe I'm just like those mean reindeer, then. You know they only come out at night.”
“Olive,” he corrected.
I drew my eyebrows together. “Who’s Olive?”
He sang, “Olive the other reindeer.”
I rolled my eyes at him, laughing despite myself. The dad jokes were one part ridiculous and one part endearing, and his nieces and nephews loved them.
We hadn’t had children of our own, but we also had so much fun keeping Tessa's children for a week at a time over summer break and as many weekends as we could. It was so fun to watch them but also get a break when we were done.
We finally made it into the mall and Jonas led me to a long line.
I froze in place. “Oh, hell no.”
Jonas said, “What’s a Christmas romance without sitting on a sexy Santa's lap?”
2
JONAS
I stoodnext to my wife in the insane line that wound through the atrium. Since it was Christmas Eve, the place was completely packed with tourists and families.
So I held Mara's hand as we stepped into place behind a set of parents and their two small children. One of them was crying while the other one watched Bluey on a cell phone. The parents tried–and failed–to soothe the crying child with hot chocolate.
I leaned closer to Mara and whispered, “Any inspiration striking?”
She looked over at me. “The inspiration to go back home.”
I laughed and rubbed her shoulder. “That's the spirit.”
We were quiet for a moment, and I watched her focus slip away. She was daydreaming, like she often did. Her head lost in story worlds, couples falling in love, families coming together, friends supporting each other… Everything that made a Mara Taylor romance something special.
I loved watching her eyes flick around the setting, thoughts piecing together that were wholly her own.
The child ahead of us stopped crying, a big ring of hot chocolate on his lips. I chuckled at the sight. “You’re doing a great job,” I said to the parents.
They gave me a grateful smile, and the dad said, “Trying to.”
When I decided to be with Mara, I thought maybe it would be a big deal that I wouldn't be a father, but I found that my life was full now. I was able to be there for my parents without having to put a child first. I got to spend time with my sister and her husband and their growing family. I could travel with my wife as her career grew and expanded and changed. Not to mention, it had given me time to build the business of my dreams, one that treated its workers with dignity and respect and understood that they had lives outside of work. It was the thing that I was most proud of.
