“Oh gosh.” I scooped up extra buttercream frosting with a sugar cookie and stuffed it in my mouth.
“I need to bring a hostess gift. Maybe I should make some cookies. The menu didn’t seem like there was much dessert.”
“Cookies are probably too pedestrian for them,” Olivia said. “You need to take a pie or something fancy.”
“Right, maybe Christmas éclairs,” I said, thinking aloud. “The ones that are arranged and decorated to look like a Christmas tree.”
“Can’t go wrong with Christmas tree éclairs,” Olivia said.
I tried to stay calm as I busied myself mixing the choux pastry for the éclairs while Olivia helped me with the chocolate frosting and the cream filling. I piped the éclairs out into long strips that I would arrange in a triangle pattern to mimic a Christmas tree. A single round éclair covered in edible silver sprinkles would be the tree topper.
“I think if you wash your black dress, that will have to do,” Olivia suggested as I put the éclairs in the oven. “Just do your hair and makeup nice. It’s all about the shoes anyway.”
“All I have are boots and flats with a hole in them,” I wailed. “They’re going to make Matt break up with me.”
Olivia stuffed a spoonful of chocolate ganache in my mouth.
“You have to keep it together. Meeting the parents is the most important part of a relationship. This party is going to set the tone for the rest of your life.”
“I already met them, and I already failed.”
Olivia inspected my flats. “I think we can patch these with duct tape and a Sharpie. No one will know.”
When I went backto Matt’s condo later that evening with the éclair tree in a box, I wasn’t so sure. I checked my credit card limit on my phone as I waited for him to open the door.
Is it weird how I had basically just moved in?
It’s not because I’m a gold digger. It’s because Matt wouldn’t let me sleep in my shop. I would be perfectly fine sleeping in the shop.
“Merrie, I have some bad news,” Matt said when he opened the door.
“Oh no,” I cried, shifting the éclair box under my arm. “Is it Kringle? Is it Prancer?”
“No, nothing like that.”
I followed him inside, and he jerked his chin to the box. “What’s with the box?”
“I made it to take to your parents’ Christmas party,” I explained to him in a rush. “I saw on the invitation that they didn’t have any desserts, just some macarons, and I thought this might be nice.” I opened the box to reveal the éclair tree. It consisted of ten frosted éclairs, alternating plain dark chocolate frosting with frosting covered in green and silver sprinkles. “See? It’s a Christmas tree.”
“My parents’ Christmas party.” Matt’s face turned dark.
I pulled out the invitation and handed it to him.
“Your mom couriered it over. I told her she could just give it to me by hand, but she insisted.”
“You agreed to go to her fucking Christmas party, and you didn’t even ask me?” he roared, slamming the invitation on the counter.
I took a step back, confused.
“She said you weren’t calling her, and she accused me of stealing you from her and said I was being controlling and conniving,” I said in a rush. “She was mad I made you go to my mom’s Christmas party and not hers. I didn’t mean to force you to go to the ugly sweater party. You didn’t have to go. Honest.”
Matt turned away from me and rubbed his jaw.
I tried to decide whether I should just leave.
“I’m sorry,” I said, confused. “I thought, well, I don’t know, I didn’t want you to think I was trying to cut you off from your parents in favor of mine.”
“My fucking mother,” Matt said finally, shaking his head. He turned back to me, scowling. “She did it on purpose. Who knows how she found out about your mom’s party.”
