“Excuse the mess. I don’t usually have company,” he apologized, embarrassed.
“It’s fine, honestly. We’re intruding and I don’t want to be any trouble. Don’t even worry about it,” I tried, but he wasn’t listening.
When he stripped the sheets off the bed I had to stop him.
“Chris? What are you doing?”
“Changing the sheets.”
“Why?”
“So you can sleep in the bed.” He shrugged like it was obvious.
“I’m not sleeping in your bed. We’ll take the couch,” I offered, eyeing the couch in the living room wondering how we’d make it work. It didn’t matter. We’d figure it out. I wasn’t putting him out of his own bed.
“I’ll take the couch. You and Noelle can share the bed. Please,” he replied as he opened the closet and pulled out a new set of sheets and an extra blanket.
“Are you sure? I mean, we’re taking your bed. We’ll be fine on the couch.”
“Take the bed, Holly. There are two of you. You both won’t fit on the couch. It’s fine,” Chris declared as he started fighting the fitted sheet onto the mattress.
Moving to the other side, I reached for the sheet and helped him make the bed. We fell in sync so easily that it was almost like we’d done this before. When I realized we didn’t have any of our things, Chris ran down and collected our bags from our car that was now sitting lifelessly in his workshop.
“Mom?” Noelle asked while he was gone.
“Yes?”
Noelle yawned wide. My girl was ready to crash. She’d had a big day, and it was already past her bedtime. “Are we staying here for Christmas?”
Where the hell did that come from?
“No, sweetie. We’re just staying here tonight because of thestorm. Hopefully, tomorrow Chris will be able to fix our car, and we can make it up to the resort where Poppy is waiting,” I explained, hoping my words were true despite the sinking feeling I needed to make other plans.
“Oh. Okay,” she replied, defeated.
“Is that okay?”
“I guess.”
“Noelle, what’s wrong?”
Worry slammed into me. The last thing I wanted was for my daughter to feel uncomfortable. And even though Chris has been nothing but kind and patient, if Noelle wasn’t okay with this, I’d have us out the door in a heartbeat.
“I don't want to stay here,” she mumbled, and I opened my arms letting her fall against me, hugging her tightly.
“It’s just for tonight,” I assured her.
“But, Mom!” Noelle whined. “He doesn’t even have a Christmas tree!”
I pushed Noelle back and dropped to my knees to meet her eye. “Is that what’s worrying you? That Chris doesn’t have a Christmas tree?”
Noelle rolled her eyes. The sass in this child was going to kill me one day I was sure of it. How I was supposed to survive her teen years, I wasn’t sure. But that was a bridge I’d cross when I got to it. Right now, I had to focus on getting us through the next twenty-four hours.
“He’s probably been busy,” I suggested.
“But it’s almost Christmas!” Noelle cried, stomping her foot.
“Noelle,” I warned. I get that she was tired, in a strange place, and had one hell of a day, but I wasn’t going to sit here and let her be a brat. “That’s enough. Now Chris has gone to get your bag. When he comes back, I want you to say thank you, brush your teeth, and get ready for bed.”
