I slumped down into one of the kitchen chairs. What then? I couldn’t get the man a puppy. The spoilsport wouldn’t even let me get a kitten. You didn’t even have to take a kitten outside for walks or bathroom time.
Such a killjoy.
Aubrey, stop it. You have to think nice thoughts about Cole, so you can think of something selfless to do for him. Otherwise, who knows what comes after jury duty?
I took a few deep, cleansing breaths.
I closed my eyes and searched my memory banks for times when Cole and Zach had played together as boys or hung out at teens. What would Cole Frostlike?
My eyes popped open.
Of course!
He spent almost all of December with our family because his father and stepmother were usually too busy arguing with each other to celebrate Christmas. He especially liked to come here after school. He would sit in the light of the Christmas tree until his stepmother called him home for supper or our bedtime, whichever came first.
Even as a girl, I had wondered how parents could not notice that one of their children hadn’t come home from school. But Grandma would help him with his homework, just as she did with Zach and me. She gave him the same milk and cookies.
No wonder Cole wants to buy this house from you.
He could talk about location and school districts and the proximity to work all he liked, but there was a part of him deep down that wanted to live here because it was a place where he’d been happy.
To be honest, there was no need to kick him out. Neither one of us had a significant other we wanted to marry. We had plenty of room to share. When I thought about it from the point of view that the house was just as much, if not more, a home to him, then it made it easier not to be as annoyed with him.
I smiled to myself, knowing exactly what my first selfless act for Cole was going to be.
A clean house and Christmas decorations, coming up!
4
Cole
It was after seven when I finally made it home. I paused outside the front door. Was that Christmas music? Yes! Aubrey was playing the old Mariah Carey Christmas album. Per usual, it was loud enough for the entire neighborhood to enjoy.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself for whatever elaborate craft mess she had begun. But when I opened the door, the house was…clean.
I stopped in the foyer looking over to the kitchen. Clean—except for the tray of cookies fresh from the oven. And the table was cleared of clutter and had been wiped down to a shine. Beyond me, the living room was free of shoes and books and stacks of paper. I sucked in a breath.
She’d put up the Christmas tree, and multicolored lights reflected on the ceiling. It reminded me of being younger, back when this was Miss Ruth’s house.
“Hey, Mister Tall Man,” Aubrey yelled over the music. “Would you mind putting the angel on top?”
I swallowed hard.
She stepped down from the chair, and I stepped up. She handed me the angel, and I placed her on top of the tree. It was one of those seemingly mundane moments in life that you wanted to freeze and capture forever because you felt as though you were exactly where you were supposed to be doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing.
Miss Ruth used to let me put the angel on the tree. She knew my dad and stepmom were too busy fighting to decorate a tree. She’d always wait until one of those evenings when my stepmonster didn’t even call to check on me—she never had to wait long—and then she’d say, “Young Master Cole, do you think you could stand on that chair and put the angel on the tree for me?”
For years I thought it was because she was afraid to stand on the chair. Only later did I realize that she wanted me to have something important to do, something that was all my own. It was a kindness I’ve never forgotten even if I’d somehow fallen into my parents’ trap of not decorating for Christmas.
“You’ve been busy,” I said as I stepped down from the chair and followed Aubrey into the kitchen. I didn’t know what else to say.
“Cookie?”
“Sure.”
Oh. It was one of those peanut butter cookies with the chocolate kiss on top, my favorite. A groan of pleasure escaped me.
“Your favorite, right?”
