He tossed me an annoyed glance through his choking. “Needed it.”
I smirked. “How sweet.”
He gave me the bird and buried his face in his arms as the coughing spell eased.
“Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll get our dinner ready?”
He dragged his feet into the living room, and I organized the containers into the oven that was heating up. I opened the cabinet to find all my dishes meticulously organized and shook my head. I sent him a text.
ME: U make a great maid. I’ll buy U a French maid’s outfit for Christmas, how about that?
I heard him laugh in the other room that ended in a wheezing cough.
It didn’t take long for our dinner to heat up. I made two plates of ham, potatoes, green beans, and buttered two rolls. I sat down on the couch next to him and set the plates on the coffee table. Besides occasionally having dinner with Danny or Gabriel, I usually ate alone. I powered the television on,It’s A Wonderful Lifeplaying softly.
He rasped, “And you’re good at serving me food. I’ll buy you a housewife’s kit for Christmas.”
“Shut your pie-hole, brat and eat before it gets cold.”
“You see. You are total housewife material.”
“You think I’d get one day off from your lip,” I countered, hiding my smile as I sipped at my glass of water. “It’s all I want for Christmas, you know.”
He smiled smugly and stabbed his fork into the ham. As we ate, his attention was pulled all around him, from the television to the window. He took his time eating, no doubt his throat was still a little sore but he was doing remarkably well for nearly dying in an alley a little over a week ago.
“I didn’t think you celebrated Christmas,” he said, motioning to the statue of my Buddha by the window.
“Not in the traditional sense. It’s more about the season for me, the reminder to be thankful for the things I have and the people in my life. All the lights and presents and cheesy movies bring me back to happier times when things were simpler.”
He nodded and bit into his bread roll as Zuzu told her family about how angels got their wings. I couldn’t help thinking about the years of my childhood and the Christmas mornings. I’d grown up in a relatively happy and loving household, but that had all been destroyed because my parents couldn’t accept their son was not what they thought he should be. It seemed like such a shame to destroy everything because I didn’t fit perfectly into that mold.
“So, you’re a Buddhist?” he inquired, pulling me from my somber thoughts.
“Yeah, but not a particularly good one. I’m trying to be better.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m very materialistic and still a bit vain. I’m working on that,” I said. “Losing my abs doesn’t bother me as much as it used to.”
“Well, if you ask me, you fit right in with Buddha.”
“Oh, come on,” I huffed and gripped my little pouch of fluff through my t-shirt. “How can you compare this little dough ball tothat? Besides, I’m not fat, I’mhusky. There is a difference. At least we will know which one of us will survive if we suddenly find ourselves in the wild. Fat reserves and all that. Ugh, you’re getting coal for Christmas, brat.”
He actually smiled, the lights catching his warm brown eyes and making them twinkle.
“Oh, almost forgot,” I said and wrestled a bag from out behind the couch. I set it in his hands. “Happy holidays.”
“You got me a present?” There was no tease in his tone, just genuine surprise. And a hint of excitement.
“Kinda, sorta. You needed it, so…don’t think of it as a gift. Besides, I thought I’d spare my eyes from having to watch you run around in your underwear every time we do laundry.”
He smiled on a breath, silently calling my bluff. He looked way too smug about it.
I said as he opened the bag and pulled out some clothes, “They’re nothing fancy, but will work for the time being.”
“Thank you,” he muttered and held the bag close to him as if it were precious. He gave me the side eyes. “Don’t be expecting a Christmas blow-job.”
I chuckled. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
