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“I love you so much, Ryder. Merry Christmas,” I say as I wrap my arms around him and he carries me upstairs.
“I love you too, Bella. Always. Forever. You are the greatest thing that ever happened to me. And it’s because of you that Christmas is now my favorite holiday.”
“Happy anniversary too.”
“Five years and counting, honey.” And with that, he tosses me on our bed and strips me down, preparing to give me averyhappy Christmas indeed.
THE END…ISH
DELANEY
“Mom. Hey, can I call you back?” I say, trying to juggle my phone and packing material. “I’m just in the middle of—”
“This won’t take long,” my mother’s deep and croaky voice insists down the line. She sounds like she spent her entire adult life sucking down a pack a day, but she’s never smoked a cigarette in her life.
“OK, Mom,” I say, as I tuck my cell between my shoulder and my ear so I can continue packing orders of my custom skincare range. My business is finally getting off the ground after five years of refining my formula, not to mention the years of college and learning the business before that. Success has been a long hard road, but I’ve been lucky to have my best friend, Liz, by my side the whole time. She stands across from me now, smiling to herself because she knows how overbearing my family can be. I mean, theymeanwell, but there’s a reason I moved to San Francisco to set up shop.
“As you know, the holidays are coming,” Mom says as I make noises to show her I’m listening.
“Uh-huh, Uh-huh.”
“And as always, we’re doing Thanksgiving at your aunt’s house—you’re coming, I’m sure.”
“About that, Mom. There’s a chance I won’t make it. I’m kinda swamped with—”
“Nonsense. You’ll be here, and you’ll bring that boy you’ve been talking about with you. The entire family isdyingto meet him. We’ve got an extra place setting just for him. Guest of honor!”
“Ahhhh.” My brain returns the ‘station closed’ signal as I try to figure a way around this one.
In their constant efforts to see their only daughter ‘happy and settled before she’s too old to have children,’ my mom and great-aunt tried setting me up with ‘nice boys’ they felt were suitable for a ‘girl like me’—a girl like me being a thirty-six-year-old non-starter with bright red hair and more than my fair share of curves. They’ve set me up with the son of a business associate, a college professor seeking tenure at the state’s smallest college, a bank manager, and a flight attendant Mom met on their trip to Hawaii last year. And do you know what all these men had in common? They wore glasses—thick glasses. If this doesn’t tell me something about my attractiveness level, then I don’t know how to take it.
Now, my family has never put me down about my looks, but they’ve certainly never called me pretty either. And that’s OK. I know I’m nothing special to look at. And I also know that this is their misguided attempt to help me find the happiness they’ve all enjoyed in their lives. Mom and Dad were high school sweethearts who have been devoted to each other since day dot. And my big brothers all found their One before they even finished college. So that just leaves me. The youngest, and the hardest to love. I know I’m affecting their picture-perfect bubble with my constant singleness. So to save myself from further humiliation being set up with someone I have zero chemistry with, this year I told them I was already seeing someone—an imaginary someone, but someone who’ll keep the matchmaking at bay. At least, that was the plan, anyway.
“Heiscoming, isn’t he?” Mom asks, and I wonderwhyI didn’t expect this.Of course they want me to bring him to Thanksgiving.“Because you know your Aunty Joan won’t be with us much longer. Her dying wish is to see you happy. You can’t let her go thinking she has unfinished business.”
I press my fingers to the bridge of my nose and wince.I can’t believe she’s using my great aunt against me.Aunty Joan is the only other single woman in the Gilchrist family. She’s my late grandmother’s older sister and is the most lovely woman you’ve ever met. But she has regrets—lots of them. And one of her biggest worries is that I’ll end up lonely and childless like her. And God help me, I can never say no to her.
“Sure, Mom,” I say, closing my eyes against the lie that’s about to come out of my mouth. “Liam will be there. He’s…uh…reallylooking forward to it.” When I open my eyes, Liz has frozen in place, her brow raised in a silent,how are you going to pull that off?
“Brilliant!” Mom says, glee coating her voice. “Because Aunty Joan also has a surprise for us all. I’m not supposed to tell you, but I know you and Liam will need to clear your schedules, so you have to promise me you’ll both act surprised on the day.”
“Surprised?” Panic grips my chest as I lock eyes with Liz as she silently asks me what’s going on. “By what, Mom?”
“By the tickets. Aunty Joan wants us all to go on one last family vacation together. So she’s surprising everyone with an all-expenses-paid holiday cruise. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“But… But… What about work? What if we can’t get away?”
“Well, that’s why I’ve warned you. So you can organize to have Liz look after things for you for ten days. And Liam needs to come. She bought a ticket for him too. It’s all nonrefundable, and I don’t need to tell you how important it is to keep Aunty Joan happy.” I should probably mention that my aunt is incredibly wealthy. She’s also very generous, and my family back home enjoy a lot of perks due to that generosity. They constantly worry about rocking the boat and falling out of favor—another reason I left Oakwood Falls to strike out on my own—and I don’t think any less of them for it, it just isn’t something I’m comfortable with. I have an intense need to do everything in life on my own terms. Call me crazy, call me hard-way Delaney, but it’s just how I roll. And I’m happy that way.
“Mom—”
“I know. I’m asking a lot. But she’s old, and she doesn’t think she has another Christmas in her. We have to do this for her. As afamily.” In other words, ‘Don’t be difficult, Delaney.’
A small squeak comes out of my mouth that sounds a lot like, “OK.”
“Wonderful,” Mom says, breathing a sigh of relief. “And tell that boy of yours we can’t wait to see him in the flesh. He’s made an old woman very happy.”
“OK, Mom,” I say, but it’s more of a whisper because I can barely breathe anymore. What the hell kind of hole have I dug myself into? This was supposed to be a little white lie, designed to make everyone happy, and keep me from feeling uncomfortable. I could have gone to Thanksgiving alone and said there was a dental emergency—I told them Liam is a dentist—and he couldn’t come. But now there’s a cruise and nonrefundable tickets, and everyone is counting on me to produce a boyfriend that doesn’t exist.Oh, God, what have I done?
