She’d been the first to arrive at her cousin’s house. Filled with too much anxious energy to sit home and wait until the party actually started, she headed over early and baked an extra batch of cookies in Keira and Daniel’s kitchen while they finished setting up the backyard. Now the party was in full swing. The girls were all there, Daniel’s buddies from Fire in the Sky Pyrotechnics. Keira’s friends from work, Grant and Armando and their girlfriends Violet and Nailah. Darby’s husband had to work a final shift with FedEx, so she’d decided to tagalong.
When Aidan arrived, she did her best not to hide in the bathroom. Introducing him around had been a special kind of agony. She’s tripped over her words a few times, but Aidan graciously threw her a life preserver and started introducing himself, leaving their relationship perfectly grey with the simple words “I’m here withShae.”
Aidan hadn’t left her side all night. At every opportunity he was touching her in some way. Holding her hand, resting his arm around her shoulder. During the White Elephant gift exchange, he’d gamed Daniel’s friend Mike into giving him the light-up toy microphone Shae wanted just so he could slip it to her once the festivities ended. Aidan was the perfect holiday party date and while she was enjoying her time with him, something still felt off and she knew he could feel ittoo.
Finally he pulled her out to the front foyer. It was darker and quieter there and Shae finally felt like she could think. “How are you holding up?” he asked with a kindsmile.
“Oh, fine.” And then for the first time in ages she lied. “Keira’s wedding is literally in a week and we still have a ton more to todo.”
“Are you handling thecake?”
“Yeah, but it’s just a little one tier set up for them to cut during the pictures. We’re doing a dessert bar. Most big cakes go to waste once they’re cutup.”
“There’s so much to dessert management that I have tolearn.”
“You will, intime.”
“I’d just like to point out that we are under the mistletoe,” he said. Shae looked up and sure enough a little bunch of green leaves clustered with little white berries tied in a red ribbon hung above theirheads.
“You’ll go to jail if you don’t kiss me,” she teased, trying to lighten her ownmood.
“Yeah, that wouldn’t do.” Aidan closed the distance between them and a second later their lips met. Shae sighed, her eyes slipping closed as she soaked in the softness of his mouth. A second too late, Shae could feel that they were no longer alone by the front door. Her eyes still closed, Shae could hear telltale clicking sounds from a cameraphone.
“So cute!” Erica said as Shae broke the kiss and stepped away, her hand still on Aidan’s chest. “See.” Erica turned her phone so they could take a look. It was a sickeningly sweet picture. Romance and the spirit of the season captured in one perfect image. Their outfits even looked nice. Shae felt like her whole body was starting to vibrate from the insideout.
“Hey, can you send that to me?” Aidansaid.
“Yeah, sure! Here.” Shae watched Erica hand him her phone. “Text it toyourself.”
“Thanks.” Aidan pressed the necessary buttons on the screen and then handed the phone back to Erica. A second later he said, “I sent it to youtoo.”
“Thanks.”
“I’ll leave you two love birds toit.”
“I’m actually going to take off,” Aidan toldShae.
“Okay.” The party usually went late into the night. Shae would make her way over to her folks’ place sometime in the wee hours of the morning and try to catch enough sleep before her mom and grandmother woke her up to help with breakfast. She didn’t expect Aidan to hold out thatlong.
“I just gotta grab mycoat.”
Shae made the rounds with him again as he said his goodbyes. Daniel and Grant made plans to catch up with him again. There was talk of a group guy outing to a Kings’ game at the start of the new year. The girls were very sweet, telling Aidan how happy they were to meet him and how they hoped they would see him again soon. Meegan managed to only waggle her eyebrows behind hisback.
He grabbed his jacket and they made their way out to the front porch, closing the sounds of the party out as the door clicked shut. Aidan shrugged into his coat, then smiled down at Shae. Shae wanted to smile back. She couldn’t though. That vibrating sensation had just gotten worse with each kind word and compliment about them as a couple that her friends had shared with her and Aidan as they made their way to thedoor.
She couldn’t smile because her lips were numb from the way she wastensing.
“This was great. I’ll text youtomorrow.”
She’d love nothing more than a Merry Christmas text from him, but she realized then that she couldn’t drag this out any longer. “Aidan I—I think we should take a little stepback.”
“Oh...okay.” The shock on his face was clear and that made her feel evenworse.
Shae groaned and rubbed her forehead. “It is absolutely not you. It is one hundred percent me. I’ve—I’ve been a divorced a few years, but I’m still new to the dating game and this is just too much for me right now,” she blurtedout.
“Oh. Yah,” he stammered, but then he cleared his throat and seemed to recover a little bit. “No, I—yeah, I get it. I’ve never been divorced, but it doesn’t sound easy. Orfun.”
“I wish I could be one of those people who is justeasy—”
