“I do have a good friend named Deanna. She is an herbalist and gardener who has three kids. I’m good friends with her husband, and to say that he adores her is an understatement. When they first started dating, I often asked him if she cast some strange spell on him, but she’s so sweet and welcoming. She reminds me of that lady everyone in the community or town goes to for answers and comes out feeling so much better, even though, she hardly did anything.”
The front door slammed and then they heard the stomping of feet. They then heard Devin say “I can’t make it five feet out there and I’d die trying to get to my truck. This is madness.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing we stopped on the way here before the race car driver over there crashed our vehicle. We got a ton of stuff at the grocery store because we didn't want to have to go out for Christmas dinner since it was just going to be the two of us, but we have more than enough to carry through till New Year’s with you two,” Becca said as she smiled at both men.
Adria groaned inside and continued to string the lights up the railing and around it. Later she’d attach the greenery once she found out which of the ten boxes they were in. “Maybe we’ll be able to find my car by spring. It’ll come as a pleasant surprise when we are still here to sell the house, but who cares? I still can’t believe we got this much snow,andwe have no cell service.”
She looked at Devin and he was smiling at Becca. “I like where you put that. In fact, all the decorations are looking good.” She looked in the other direction to distract herself from that misery and Liam was looking at her.
He smiled. “I like your lights, Adria. They swirl nicely around the railing. Are you going to take them all the way to the end over there?”
She felt a little connection with Liam that she didn't feel with anyone else, but sadly missing that deeper more exciting connection, Adria smiled. “Yes.”He seems interested in me, but what if I don’t feel something for him? How awful would that be?
By the time they were all done, she was ready to beat her head against the wall because she couldn’t get that mess out of her head. She wished with all her heart that her mother was here to guide her during this difficult time, but she wasn’t.
Adria always had difficulty with relationships. She was the woman all men wanted to befriend, but none wanted to date, except a few. Those usually turned out to be weird and short-lived. There had been romance, marriage and love, but it never lasted, which hurt her heart the most.
She hated it when everything was quiet. “Devin, can you go upstairs into my bedroom and get that portable record player in the closet? It should have some Christmas music with it.”
He said nothing, stared at her for a few seconds and then smiled. “You know I hate Christmas music, right? I might throw myself out in that snow just so I don’t lose my mind. My mom always played it the entire week before Christmas. Honest to goodness, I think she played it day and night because I would wake up in bed hearing it and fall asleep to the soft whisper of it downstairs.”
“Devin! Please go get it. I want to hear some Christmas music too.” Becca chimed in.
His smile changed from pleasant assistant to happiness. “I guess ifyouwant it, I will have to go get it, but if there is some other music in that box, I’m going to bring that instead.” Off he went to do Becca’s bidding when he should have been doing Adria’s.
Tired of thinking about it, she turned her attention to the man who was arranging the tree and taking a break by painting a small canvas. “So, Liam, how are you liking all these Christmas activities so far?”
He smiled, turned around and waved his blue-covered paintbrush in the air. “I love it. It’s perfect, thanks to everyone here.”
“Wait a minute…” Becca moved in close to stare at him. Adria could feel the energy between them and she didn't like it one bit. Not a competitive person, and less likely to be one if she was with her own twin sister, she watched as the two stared at each other.
The tone of her sister's voice changed and it became lower and more mysterious like she was flirting. “So, you’ve experiencednothingof Christmas in all these years? No candy canes, no hanging ornaments, no mistletoe, no caroling, nothing?”
It was a moment before Liam responded that Adria also heard that subtle change in the tone of his voice too. She watched as she tossed the dogs more treats hoping they didn't turn out to be stuffed so big like a Christmas turkey.
“No, as I said before, I never experienced Christmas the way others do. People tried to get me to experience it over the years. For example, this one girl I dated in my twenties was big on Christmas and she tried to get me in the Christmas spirit, but it was at the point I was breaking up with her because I was moving and not ready to be married.”
Adria didn't miss it when Becca gently touched his arm. She could tell by the look on both their faces something was up, then pitied Devin for the broken heart he was going to have. Then she thought better of it.
“Well, we are going to have to change that Liam. We can’t have you going through your entire life not experiencing all the joys of Christmas.”
“I’d like that.” Liam turned his hand over and moved in the most fluid, gentle way to clasp Becca’s hand and hold it. “Thank you.”
Adria had to look away, or she was going to be sick. “Well, the good news is I have all the cookie dough ready.” Adria said.
“And I have the record player, but only Christmas music. Why? Why do I have to be subjected to Christmas music every holiday? Even my ex-wife loved it.” Devin said.
“It’s a woman thing, I think. We just love the positive, joyful sound of it.” Becca tried to be helpful.
Adria watched as Devin turned his head to acknowledge Becca, saw the way the pair were still holding hands and then looked at her. Adria saw something there but his emotions were unreadable in his eyes. He plugged it in and started it up. Elvis was the first singer to blare out his tunes.
“Alright, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to keep shoveling snow until I pass out.”
Adria watched Devin go, almost pitying him. “Okay, so the cookie dough has to chill and that was always a must according to our mom, Liam. Right, Becca?”
“Yeah, we would never listen, and steal cookie dough from the refrigerator every chance we got.”
“So, I’m going to do some more decorating upstairs and maybe we can all decorate the tree together now that it's really taking shape. Becca, go get Devin, he’s going to try to hide, but he’s helping too.”
