“Oh my God, Till, it’s so good to see you. Merry Christmas! And you, too, Ryan. Come on in. Lunch is nearly ready,” she says while letting Tillie go.
She looks at me and furrows her brows, giving me the stink eye. I scrunch my brows, and she breaks out into a wide grin. “That’s all I’m going to say, Ryan. Okay?” She closes the door behind me, and I nod.
“I’m sorry, Rox. I’m just happy I came to my senses in time for Tillie to forgive me.”
She softly smiles and gently squeezes my elbow. “Me too, honey, me too. But if you break her heart again…” She pauses, giving me her well-practiced stink eye once more, then follows it with a bright smile. I nod, and she turns, walking into the kitchen.
That wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.
I place the presents on the couch and follow Tillie and Roxie to the kitchen, where Donny is busy mixing pots on the stove. He’s wearing a Mrs. Claus apron and a cherry red Christmas-inspired sweater. He looks like something from one of those old-style Christmas movies—it’s quite hilarious.
He turns to me and opens his eyes wide with a gasp while he looks down at his very feminine apron. “Fucking hell, Roxie! You didn’t tell me Ryan was coming.”
She laughs as I raise a brow. “I know, I did that on purpose just for this moment right here.”
Donny groans as he frantically tries to take his apron off, but he fails. “I swear, Ryan, I’m a man, amanlyman. I don’t normally wear women’s aprons. It’s just the only one Roxieconvenientlyhad available today. I bet she had this all planned out. The evil woman!”
Roxie giggles. “You may be correct in your assumption, dear husband.”
I laugh as Donny rolls his eyes, and Savvy rushes in from down the hall.
“Ryaaan!” she calls out, running right for me, her cute little curls bouncing as she goes.
“Hey, Savvy! Merry Christmas,” I say as she reaches me and lunges right into my arms. I pick her up before she wraps her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly.
“It’s so good to see you again. This is the best Christmas. Ever!”
“Well, it’s nice to know I’m not your favorite anymore, Sav,” Tillie says with a smile, and Savvy giggles.
“Aww… Auntie Til, you’re still my favorite. Just Ryan is cooler, that’s all,” she clarifies.
“Good to know,” Tillie says as I wink at her and move Savvy to my hip.
“We brought presents,” I say.
Savvy jumps up and down on my side, and I have to grab her again with two hands to keep her from dropping as she cheers loudly.
“Yay, presents! Can we open them, Mom? Can we?”
“Oh God, more stuff she doesn’t need. I hope you didn’t buy her anything expensive,Ryan!” Roxie emphasizes my name with a smirk.
I smile, trying to hold my laughter in and tilt my head. “I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations.”
“Oh, geez… okay, kid, go unwrap your presents,” Roxie says.
Savvy drops down from my arms and runs to the living room.
We follow her in, and Roxie walks up beside me. “You better not have spoiled her.”
“I might have… just a tiny bit.” I move my thumb and pointer finger close together and wrinkle my nose.
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head as we file into the living room, where Savvy’s already gotten all the gifts out of thebag. She grabs one and runs it over to Donny. “Dad, this one’s for you.”
“Thanks, guys,” Donny says.
Savvy runs another one to Roxie, shoving it in her arms so she can quickly get back to the others. That’s when she notices the other three gifts are all for her.
“They’re all for me?” Her eyes light up, and she jumps around in a circle. A slight pain seeps into my chest, thinking I could have had something like this with Maddie. But I’ll never see that, feel that elation of watching Maddie open her presents. In times like these, it’s hard not to think about her, about them, but I know there’s no point in dwelling on the what-ifs of life. I know from experience, it’s too damn depressing.
