“I’m not annoyed,” I say, maybe a little too quickly and he purses his lips around a smirk. “Okay, maybe a little disappointed.” He chuckles. “I like being the hostess with the most-ess.”
“I know, babe,” he says, trying to sound sympathetic but still showing way too much amusement at my confession. “But Nel and Jake are having everyone tonight, Mandy insisted on hosting Christmas day tomorrow, your parents wanted to stay at the hotel this year to give us some space, and Rhi and Luke are with his parents. It’s a quiet Christmas where we don’t have to do everything.” He stops and we turn to face each other on the pavement. “And, we don’t have to share our room with any children.”
“Always a bonus.” I smile against his lips as he bends to kiss me.
“Don’t be too disappointed, yeah?”
I pout childishly. “I just like it when everyone tells me how great I am.”
My husband laughs at me and taps the tip of his nose against mine. “I promise to tell you how great you are, over and over and over again.”
“You better.” I grab his coat and pull him to me for a firm kiss before we both turn into the small drive of Jake and Nel’s house. It’s a pretty standard two bed house but Jake and Harry have been working together in their spare time to knock down walls and fit a new kitchen to make it Nel’s dream home. Now, it looks stunning on the inside.
We don’t bother knocking, walking through the front door and calling out to signal our arrival. Oscar comes running to us first, a plate of some kind of savoury pastry in his hands. “Mum, Dad, look what I made with Auntie Nel.”
“They look good,” Harry says, taking a pinwheel from the plate and popping it in his mouth. “Mmm, delicious,” he mumbles around his mouthful.
“Did you guys have fun helping Auntie Nel today?” I ask, ruffling my boy’s hair.
“Yeah, we made so much food and Lucas helped Uncle Jake with the decorations. Mary didn’t do much.”
I look over the open-plan space and see the playpen is set up in the middle of the living room, but my daughter is nowhere to be seen, only my dad sat on the sofa talking to Jake’s dad. Pam is listening to Lucas talk about something I’m sure she has no interest in and doing a decent job at pretending she is. I’m about to ask where Mary is when my mum appears from the kitchen around the corner, with a toddling Mary holding her hand.
“Dada!” Mary lets go of Mum and runs like a drunkard to Harry, who sweeps her up and plants kisses all over her face, much to her delight.
“Darling,” Mum comes in and kisses my cheeks. “We were expecting you nearly an hour ago, everything okay?”
My face flushes. “Oh, I uh—”
“My fault,” Harry says, dipping to kiss my mother’s cheeks in greeting. “Just couldn’t get my hair right.”
She gives him an amused smile, like she knows that isn’t the truth and takes Mary again, leading her to the small stack of toys Nel and Jake keep here. We head straight into the kitchen to find Nel looking flustered, pulling a tray of some delicious smelling tarts out the oven.
“Hey, need any help?” I ask.
She looks up, cheeks red from the heat of the oven and looks relieved. “Oh, thank god you’re here.”
“Everything okay?” Harry asks.
“How do you do this every year. This is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done.” She brushes her long brown hair out of her eyes and fans her face with the oven gloves.
I chuckle. “I’m sure you’re doing great, everything smells divine. What can I do to help?”
“Nothing, absolutely nothing. I want you to relax.” I’m about to argue when her eyes turn excited. “But have you heard from Mandy?”
I frown. “No, why?”
Mandy has become one of my best friends this year. She decided to leave Australia and move back home to be closer to her family and she also happened to find a place on Pear Street. We’re slowly taking over the neighbourhood. She wants to host Christmas day tomorrow as a thank you for everything we’ve done for her, but honestly, we haven’t done that much. It turns out we get along like a house on fire, so do her and Nel so the three of us are practically joined at the hip now.
Nel sucks on her cheeks and leans in to whisper, Harry and I mirror her. “Well, she called this afternoon to ask if she could invite some guests tonight.”
“What guests?” Harry asks, some other item of food now in his mouth.
“Three guests.” Nel smirks. “Threemaleguests.”
I raise a brow. “Really?”
“Mhmm, met them today apparently and they’re stuck here somehow, I didn’t really understand but she invited them to spend Christmas with us. Her three French men.”
