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He laughed. “Maybe. I reckon we need to hang some in every doorway and a few other places, too.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.
“What is that?” Ava asked.
Grady’s smile faded. “Have you never seen mistletoe before, Pixie?”
Ava shook her head. “What’s it for?”
Grady broke off a sprig and held it up above his head. “Want to show her what it’s for, Hannah?”
She went and kissed him briefly on the lips before smiling at Ava. “It’s a Christmas tradition. People hang up mistletoe and whenever you meet someone underneath it … you’re supposed to kiss them.”
Ava’s eyes grew wide. “Anyone?”
Hannah glanced at Grady. This could get complicated. She knew he was good at teaching Ava about how she could and should be clear about how she allowed people to treat her, especially about whether she minded being touched in any way, let alone kissed. That was why she’d caught herself and said, ‘you’resupposedto kiss them’, when she’d been about to say, ‘youhaveto kiss them.’ That was what she’d been taught. She was glad that Ava was living in a different time than she’d grown up in.
Grady squatted down in front of Ava. “Not just anyone, Pixie. Only people you know and like and trust, and even with them only if you want to. You can always just say,I don’t do the mistletoe thing. Okay?”
Ava nodded. “Okay.” Then she pulled another small sprig off the bunch and held it up over her head and tapped her cheek. “Do you want to do the mistletoe thing with me?”
Grady laughed and pecked her cheek. “I do!”
She looked up at Hannah. “Do you?”
Hannah leaned down and kissed her other cheek. “I do! I think it’s great. And Uncle Grady’s right, you know. If ever you don’t want a kiss, you just say so.”
Ava nodded. “I know. That’s why I love living with Uncle Grady and with you now.”
Hannah’s breath caught in her chest, and she gave Grady a worried look. He was still smiling, but she could see a muscle ticking at his temple.
“Why’s that?” he asked.
Ava shrugged. “Aunt Vanessa always made me kiss everyone goodnight, even the boys.” She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth and made a face. “Boys are mean.”
Hannah breathed a sigh of relief. She felt bad for Ava having to kiss her cousins goodnight, but she’d been dreading that they were about to hear something much worse than that.
“Boys can be mean,” said Grady. “And you know, if ever anyone’s mean to you, I want to know about it. I want you to tell me.”
Ava smiled at him. “I know. And I’ll tell you.” She smiled at Hannah, “And you, too. Can we do the tree now?”
“Yeah, let’s do it.” Grady got back up, looking as relieved as Hannah felt.
Hannah couldn’t remember ever enjoying decorating a tree this much. When they were kids, her mom used to have the interior designer come in to do the Christmas decorations. She and her brothers weren’t allowed to touch them. She’d had a little tree at her place in LA for the last several years, but that had been more about acknowledging the season than enjoying it.
She stepped back and looked at their work, and Grady came and put his arm around her shoulders.
“What do you think?” He sounded nervous.
She had to swallow around the lump in her throat. “I think it’s perfect.” And it was. There were way more decorations on the lower part of the tree – where Ava could reach. There were areas with no decorations at all, and others with five baubles clumped close together. The tinsel looked like shiny snakes fighting in some places and like birds’ nests in others.
Grady leaned closer and spoke right next to her ear so that Ava wouldn’t hear. “It looks like Christmas threw up!”
She brought her hand up to try and stifle her laugh. “It does, and that’s what makes it perfect.”
Ava looked up at her uncertainly. “Is it good enough?”
Hannah went and hugged her. “It’s way better than good enough, it really is perfect.”
Ava relaxed. “I think so. Now we need to decide where we’re going to put mistletoes and then we can have cookies.”
