Charlotte could very much understand wanting to stay with Sutton, and she could understand Lucy’s reluctance entirely. Sutton was her primary parent. She spent over three-quarters of her life with Sutton, here in this home. She’d spent every Christmas she could remember here. At the root of it all, she agreed with Lucy that there was an injustice to this move in the name of “fairness.”
Still, that wouldn’t change anything for the little girl with the sad eyes on Christmas Eve.
So Charlotte did what she had to do at work in order to get something accomplished: pivot.
“When I was your age”—she tapped lightly, playfully, at Lucy’s thigh, donned in cheery, Christmas-themed leggings—“neither of my parents spent Christmas with me.”
They were words she hadn’t spoken in a long time, something she hadn’t eventhoughtabout in a handful of years. But it got Lucy’s attention, got her to stop looking so distraught, as she whipped her head up to look at Charlotte.
“What?! Why? What did they do?” All right, so she looked distraught in an entirely different way. Her mouth fell open in distress. “Are theydead?”
Charlotte gave her a little smile because Lucy’s heart was truly all Sutton. She flattened her hand to give Lucy a comforting pat on her leg. “No, they aren’t dead. They were just… busy.” There was the potential to sting, but she refused to let herself delve too far into it. This wasn’t about her; it was for Lucy. “They liked to have their time off to spend on themselves,” she explained.
Lucy’s face was scrunched up in disbelief as she stared up at Charlotte.
“So, while I understand you wanting to be with your mama on Christmas morning, I think it’s really cool that both of your moms want to spend the holiday with you and that you are able to celebrate ittwice,” she stressed, giving Lucy an encouraging smile. “And I think you’ll have a lot of fun if you let yourself. Some kids, like me when I was young, would have loved something like this.”
But Lucy didn’t smile back. Instead, she veritably threw herself at Charlotte, who just managed to keep them both from falling over.
She was surprised, but she really shouldn’t have been. Not by Lucy’s care or her hug or the way it made everything inside of Charlotte justsettle.
“You didn’t bake cookies for Santa? Or watch Christmas movies with your mom? Or read ‘T’was the Night Before Christmas’?”
Charlotte wrapped her arms loosely around Lucy’s waist to reciprocate the hug. “No. I didn’t.” She’d never done any of those things. “But I think it’s lovely that you’ll get to do them with both of your parents.”
“All right, it’s time—” Sutton cut herself off as she walked into the foyer and locked eyes with Charlotte. She lifted her eyebrows as she took in Charlotte sitting on the floor with Lucy draped over her in a hug, a smile made of clear confusion and endearment sliding over her features. “Is everything all right in here?”
Charlotte gave Lucy a final squeeze before Lucy released her and turned to address her mom. Make thatmoms, as Layla followed Sutton in, arms crossed and face looking decidedly less endeared by their situation.
“Everything’s fine, Mama.” Lucy pushed herself up to her feet. “Charlotte didn’t celebrate Christmas when she was little, so I’m gonna do it twice, for her.”
Charlotte found herself blushing at the look both Layla and Sutton gave her as she pushed herself back up. Mostly, admittedly, she was embarrassed at Layla having heard it.
Luckily, she didn’t have to find anything else to say just yet as Lucy continued, “Mama, you can do Christmas with Charlotte. It’s okay. That way you won’t be alone,andCharlotte can do all the fun Christmas stuff with you.”
Layla pushed past Sutton with a sigh as she walked to grab Lucy’s jacket, where it was draped over her overnight bag in the corner. “Come on, honey. We have to go.”
Lucy allowed Layla to put the jacket on her, seemingly far less combative or unhappy than she’d seemed just a little while ago. “You gotta do the Christmas stuff with Mama,” she told Charlotte as Layla zipped up her jacket. “You’ll have fun, I promise.”
Charlotte couldn’t help but smile back at her, her heart feeling unduly full from the sheer sweetness. “All right.”
Layla’s expression was far more subdued as she hefted Lucy’s bag and looked at Charlotte. It was astonishing to see the difference between what she’d looked like when she’d first greeted Charlotte and what she looked like now, now that she’d realized Charlotte was involved romantically with Sutton.
“It was nice to meet you, Senator Thompson.”
“Her name is Charlotte,” Lucy insisted, making Charlotte crack a grin.
Still, she evenly held Layla’s gaze. “You as well.”
“I’ll see you on the twenty-seventh?” Layla addressed Sutton.
“That’s when you’re picking me up,” Lucy interjected again, smiling at the prospect. “And then we’re going to Grandma and Grandpa’s!”
Sutton’s smile—forcibly polite at Layla—became very real as she looked back at Lucy. “You’re absolutely right. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Lucy popped back as she shouldered her backpack.
Within the minute, Lucy and Layla had left, the front door closing sharply behind them, and Sutton and Charlotte were alone. Charlotte turned to face Sutton again, feeling several anxieties now.
