“That sounds really nice, actually.” Ainsley smiles, something in her expression telling me she could use this as much as the rest of us.
“Where in the world did you find all that?” Levi asks me, leaning against the rail of our porch, eyes widening as his chin drops to his chest.
“Don’t just stand there, make yourself useful,” I tell him, carrying a big box labeled Christmas. “There are two more of these in that shed over there.”
Levi groans in protest but does what I ask.
“Thank you,” I say sweetly over my shoulder before heading into his place.
He drops the boxes down on the floor in front of me, where I sit, removing things and sorting them into piles of things we can use and things we can’t.
“What are you doing?” he grumbles.
I click my teeth and look up at him. “What’s it look like I’m doing?”
“Making a mess,” he replies.
I glare up at him. “Sit down.”
Ellie comes to lie beside me, and I smile when he reluctantly takes a seat as well.
“That’s better. Now, we are going to go through these old boxes of yours, and we’re going to make this place ready for Christmas.”
“But it’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”
“I know that, but Thanksgiving will be here in like two and a half weeks, and with all the planning and organizing I have to do with the girls for this Friendsgiving at the cafe that’s turned into afull-blown event, I want this to be something just for us. I want to come home and have it feel warm and cozy.”
“You want warm and cozy?” he asks, skeptically.
“Is that so hard to imagine?” I snip, pulling out string lights and untangling them.
“A little,” he chuckles.
“Listen.” I sigh. “I’ve never done this before. I never bothered with any of my apartments because I was always hopping around from place to place. Growing up, my family hired people to decorate, and it was always so commercial and cold. My house looked more like a Macy’s than a home,” I explain, staring down at the string of colorful lights, longing for something I’ve never had so deep that it physically aches. “This will be a first for me. I want it to be different.”
His lips curve with quiet affection, and he opens the box in front of him. “Warm and cozy it is.”
After about an hour, we’ve separated everything into our piles and begin decorating.
“This is way too much stuff,” he grumbles, half smiling as he places another snowman around the fireplace.
“It’s your stuff,” I chuckle, adding another.
“Not all of it. Some of this stuff belonged to my parents,” he says, pointing to the snowmen. “I think some of it belongs to the DuPonces. They probably forgot it was in there.”
My lips pull down to the side. “Whoops.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure they have plenty, knowing Callie. The rest belonged to,” he pauses, looking down and picking up a snowglobe with two firefighters inside. A small, sad smile touches his face as he looks at it before surprisingly passing it to me.
“To you and Krystal,” I finish for him.
He nods his head, but he doesn’t look as sad as he once did at the mention of her name.
“Will you tell me about her?” I ask carefully.
His brow twitches down, like he doesn’t understand why I’d want to know.
“A part of me doesn’t get it either,” I admit. “But there’s this whole person who was once a part of you that I know nothing about. How can I know and understand every part of you without knowing anything about her?”
