“Will you guys excuse me? I gotta use the restroom,” she bolts from the room, locking herself in the bathroom down the hall.
We all sit for a few more minutes, the eating and drinking slowing as everyone gets full and slightly drunk. Bel’s wandering hands get increasingly insistent the more she drinks, and the urge to kick everyone out grows.
Rather than make an ass of myself, I stand and start clearing the table with assistance from Caspian. Mike and Eamon both ask if they can do dishes, but Caspian insists on taking care of it, not taking no for an answer.
After roughly ten minutes of Isla’s absence, I take Bel aside and lean to whisper in her ear, “Darling girl, I think something has upset Isla. You may want to go check on her.”
“Oh, shit, okay,” she looks around slowly, swaying slightly on her feet, “I think I’m drunk.”
“You are,” I tell her between cackles.
“Okay, I’m… I’m gonna go talk to Isla,” she announces, both hands on my shoulders to steady herself before she toddles off, leaving the five of us to sit in awkward silence.
A few moments later, the girls return, elbows linked, acting as though everything is fine. If not for Isla’s slightly reddened eyes and nose, I might even believe it.
Waltzing into the kitchen, she snatches one of the chilled bottles of wine from the fridge, “Caspian. Is there dessert? Please tell me there’s dessert.”
He grins, continuing his cleaning, “Of course there is, Isla. Are you hungry for dessert now?”
“Actually, I have something for everyone first,” Bel announces with a hand on his arm.
“Oh?” I raise a brow in question.
“Oh,” Bel mimics back before falling into a fit of giggles. My eyes are locked on hers.She’s magnificent when she laughs.I swear she makes the whole room feel brighter. Her light has been dimmed as of late, not that I can blame her. But she’s almost herself tonight, her chosen family fighting off the (figurative) demons that haunt her for a few hours.
She beams at all her loved ones gathered around, “I’ll go grab them real quick. Can you come help me, Fritz?”
“Of course, Sweets.” With one hand on her lower back, I try to keep her upright as we make our way to the room she’s been using as her office. “Is this what you’ve been working on in here?”
She wraps both hands around my neck and kisses my lips, “Yes! It’s beensohard keeping the surprise to myself.”
“Are you going to tell me what it is?” I ask.
For a moment, she opens her mouth to spill, eyes wide with excitement, then snaps it closed, “No.”
I laugh, and she begins to hand me bags and boxes with everyone’s names on them. “I thought we were doing presents tomorrow?”
“Oh, we are. This is just… something I wanted to do for everyone,” Bel explains, tearing up. “My family did this as a kid, and ummm… I just wanted to do it, too. For the people who mean the most to me.”
I don’t want to ruin such a bittersweet moment for her, so I nod and kiss her cheek, barely containing all the gifts she’s entrusted me to carry. She grabs a few of her own, bringing them behind me.
Placing the gifts on the table, she announces, “Okay, people. You all get one gift tonight. From me.”
“You didn’t have to do this, Bel,” Charlie chides.
She grins at him, “Of course, I did. You’re gonna love it, promise.”
“Alright, alright,” he concedes, “But first… Can I get a refill on this thing, please? It’s amazing,” he holds his sparkling cocktail up.
I happily oblige, setting the entire pitcher in the middle of the table to make future indulging easier. While Bel divvies out her secret presents, I closely watch Isla and Eamon, wondering what made her so upset and who will be the unfortunate soul that Eamon holds responsible and bleeds dry.
“Sit,” Bel orders, “Open.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I chuckle, ripping into the box before me, hearing the rest of the group do the same. “You got us all… clothes?”
Isla shouts, “They’re pajamas!”
“Matchingpajamas,” Bel corrects, words adorably slurred. “I just figured this is our first Christmas and we could all like… match.”
