I’m still a bit lost in thought when Jordan sends a GIF of the Grinch in our group chat, and I chuckle. I shoot back a funny little Christmas GIF, to which my sister replies with one of her own. Being the three youngest, we have a slightly tighter bond than with our older brothers, who are already dads…
While I’m distracted by our Christmas GIF war, Nicolas finally returns with two full plates.
“Here,” he says, sitting with a determined nod toward our plates. “We should eat.”
“Thank you,” I smile. “This looks scrumptious!”
“Lounge food is usually acceptable,” he nods. “It looks like they made a bit of an effort to have some holiday-themed food. Of course, it would have been better if we could have eaten in Quebec City… You’re not too sad? About missing it?”
I’m sure my smile falters a little, but I give him a little shrug.
“I’d be lying if I said I’m not a bit disappointed,” I admit. “I was looking forward to eating a poutine and strolling through the Christmas Market with you, but… It’s not something we can do anything about, right? Plus, it will be a fun story to tell later. It’s like our first little Christmas adventure!”
“I don’t understand,” Nicolas frowns. “How is this fun?”
He does have a point… butI’mthe optimist here.
“Well, wearestranded in an airport on Christmas Eve,” I chuckle, waving a hand around us. “Isn’t that how a lot of great Christmas movies start?”
Nicolas slowly nods, looking all serious. God, I love it when he does this thinking frown. Every time he takes another of my silly comments seriously, like this, it makes me love him a little more.
“I see your point,” he finally says. “…But I still think that the woman forgetting her child was very irresponsible in that movie. And the father, too, looked really unbothered by the whole incident. I think he seemed very inappropriate as a parent. I’d never—”
He stops himself, and I blink. It’s so rare that he stops himself mid-sentence!
“You’d never what?” I ask, confused.
Nicolas frowns and then shakes his head.
“…The child was very ingenious about his circumstances,” he finally says, with a firm nod. “I liked his part.”
I chuckle. Nicolas and I have been watching a lot of the Christmas classics lately, remotely or together. I can’t go through December without binging at least one Hallmark movie every night, and while I wouldn’t impose that on my boyfriend, I admit it’s been pretty funny to see his reactions to each must-see Christmas movie I’ve selected for him to watch. He had never seen most of them (unbelievable, I know!), and hedidhave a phase of the ‘this wouldn’t happen in real life’and ‘their clothes don’t make sense for the implied temperature’at first… but once we got past the first few minutes of each movie, he went quiet, and I’m fairly sure he actually enjoyed a lot of them—and hetotallywent ahead and rented the secondHome Alonemovie without me even mentioning it. Victory!
“Well, it’s true that wouldn’t happen with you,” I say, smiling at him. “You’ve been very good at guiding me through all of this.”
I see his shoulders visibly relax a little, and his lips finally tip into a smile. His ears even go a little pink, his telltale sign that he’s feeling shy, but he puffs his chest a little, and I get his confident smile.
“Of course,” he nods. “I have considerable experience with airports. It’s convenient, but also highly stressful if you’re underprepared. Any crowd or delay can quickly turn this intoa very negative experience. And you did mention you’ve hardly ever flown before, so… so, of course, it made sense I should take the lead. Not that I don’t think you could do very well alone,” he quickly adds. “Youarea very organized person.”
“Thank you, honey,” I smile. “Still, I’m glad you took care of everything this time!”
“Right… I just wish this delay didn’t inconvenience us.”
“It’s alright,” I shrug. “Nothing we can do about it. The worst-case scenario is our flight being canceled, and if it is, we could always grab the kitties and drive directly to Portland? …I’d feel very sorry for Emi, though. And your mom. But it’s not like we can help it.”
“Yes,” Nicolas nods pensively. “You know, I really don’t think they’d enjoy spending Christmas as just the two of them. It might be a lot better if my brother were there, at the very least.”
I pinch my lips not to say anything. Ooooooh, now that might be the understatement of the year…
Emi and Solange do not get alongat all.And I am not exaggerating one bit. The couple of times I witnessed them in a room together, it wasawful—a tennis match of not-so-subtle comments, nasty remarks, and disdainful looks… For the twins’ birthday, Nicolas’s brother Antoine and I put a lot of effort into distracting them from each other and keeping their interactions to a minimum. It was a long evening for everyone involved…. Well, I admit that I am team Emi. I know I shouldn’t, but I still feel like Solange is a bit rude to her most days, and Emi is not the type to quietly take it. Hence, the sparks.
Emi told me it’s been a lot better since she’s pregnant with Antoine’s baby, Solange’s first grandchild, but still. I can say for sure she would rather spend Christmas alone than spend a whole dinner with her mother-in-law if we can’t make it!
“Let’s just make sure we get there,” I say. “Did you tell your mom we’ll be late?”
“I did, and she sounded upset about it,” Nicolas frowned, “but I explained to her we should make it for dinner, so I’m not sure what she was upset about.”
I just nod along; that sounds like Solange… but surely she can’t fault us for being held back by a snowstorm? We got up very early to drop the kitties at their fancy cat hotel, and went on straight to the airport! Nicolas always makes sure to leave room for traffic delays, so we even got here way earlier than suggested. I pull up the live feed of our kitties’ room at the cat hotel. Those two are so lucky to spend a couple of nights in such a fancy place! Plus, I love that we can keep an eye on them at all times through the pet cam. Right now, Coconut is playing with a little feathery toy, while Muffin is a bundle of fur, nestled in one of the beds for a nap.
