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Yeah, he had.
We went inside, and the tubs of decorations were already in the living room waiting for us. The only things that had been hung up already were stockings on the mantel. My feet stumbled when I noticed the extra one with Patrick’s name on it. He was looking at it, too, wonderment in his eyes, like it was a Christmas miracle or something.
I dropped the bags, then put an arm around him and kissed his temple.
“Awww. Malik is sweet. Who knew?” Zuri teased, earning the bird from me.
“Not to you, brat.”
Ignoring me, Kayla asked, “Can we decorate now? That’s always our favorite part.”
“Even though I never have much time at home for Christmas, we don’t decorate until we can all do it together. Family rules,” I told Patrick. He nodded, seeming slightly overwhelmed by it all. “Come on, Bougie. Let’s do this,” I teased.
We had an artificial tree covered with white flock that Patrick and I put together while my mom and sisters started to pull out the decorations. We made sure to use multicolored lights this year, which he and I strung on as soon as the tree was up.
“Now it’s a free-for-all.” I pumped my brows playfully as we all searched through the decorations to find some to hang up.
“Are most of these homemade?” he asked, studying the choices laid out.
“Yeah, a lot are from when the kids were little. There were times when we couldn’t really afford to buy decorations, which is why we started making them. Then it just became a tradition,” my mama replied. “You’ll have to make us some, too.”
“I’d like that.” He bent and picked one up. “This was your handprint?” He held it out to me.
“Yeah, I was five, I think.”
He brushed his fingers over it like it was something precious to him, which made my heart go crazy. Goddamn this man and what he did to me.
“Remember when we tried to make popcorn strings, but Malik ate all the popcorn?” Kayla asked.
“Remember that time Kayla ate Santa’s cookies?” I tugged one of her box braids.
“I did not, and you better not touch my hair.”
“Sisters are the worst,” I told Patrick.
“Have you met you? You’re pretty bad,” my boyfriend teased.
At that, everyone dissolved into laughter at my expense, but damn, I couldn’t pretend it wasn’t fucking perfect.
We decorated the house together, Patrick fitting in seamlessly. Afterward, we all went to the kitchen together to make dinner.
I watched him with my mom while she taught him her famous cornbread recipe, Patrick soaking it all in. I wondered if he realized that meant she liked him. My mama could cook, and she didn’t share her secrets with just anyone.
“He’s great,” Kayla said softly from beside me.
“Yeah, he is.”
“Do you know how hard it is for me not to clap back at all the haters online?” Zuri added, and I sighed.
“You and me both, but it’s getting a little better. The fact that both our teams are kicking ass helps.” I couldn’t pretend I didn’t still struggle with letting all of the shit people said fly, but I was dealing with it. I didn’t pay attention to the shit online, but it was mostly when people said something at one of the games where it got to me. I wasn’t lying when I told them it was getting better, though, so we just kept our heads down and did what we were there to do—win football games.
“What are you guys doing to do?” Savanna asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. About everything.”
I shrugged because I didn’t really have an answer for that. We each had a year on our contracts after this one, and then who the fuck knew what would happen? One or both of us might get traded. One or both of us might stop playing. All I knew was… “I love him, so the other shit doesn’t matter. I’ll do what I have to do to make it work.” It would be hard. It already was hard, and I figured the time away from each other wouldn’t get easier.
