Chapter Thirty-Three

"So what do you think?" I ask Willow, a hopeful look on my face.

She puts her hand under her chin and tilts her head to the side as if in thought. I sit quietly, waiting for her answer as I tap my fingers nervously on the table.

"I think . . ." she pauses. "I think she'll love it." A smile takes over her face.

"Really?" I ask. "You don't think that she'll think it's super lame. Or cliché?"

"No. She'll think it's the perfect amount of lame. You have to keep in mind that she hasn't experienced these ‘normal' things. She'll enjoy every cliché moment."

I smile. "Okay, good. Thanks for all of your help with this stuff, Willow." I turn to leave.

"Archer?" Willow calls.

I quickly stop and turn towards her.

"You honestly don't need my help with this stuff anymore. At this point, I'd say you know her pretty well. Almost as well as I do." Pride coats her face.

"I have you to thank for that!" I answer.

"No, actually, you don't. I may have guided you in the right direction at the beginning, but almost all of it has been you. Just trust your gut." Willow pauses for a second. I try to read her face, but can't make out how she's feeling. It almost looks like she's getting emotional. I take a step towards her. "Now go! You have work to do." She waves before quickly turning her head.

I take her advice and head out, knowing I need to make this date perfect.

"Can I look now?" Alison asks.

My hands are covering her eyes. I feel her warm breath on my fingers as she talks. A chill runs down my spine.

"Almost," I whisper in her ear. I guide her a few more steps so that she has a perfect view of the scene in front of her.

"Now," I say as I slowly remove my hands from her face. I quickly move so that I can see her expression as she soaks up everything in front of her.

She starts bouncing up and down on her feet as her mouth forms into a massive grin. "A Christmas festival!" she all but shouts in my face.

I nod and smile. "Do you like it? Is it okay?"

She turns towards me, grinning. "It's perfect!"

She gets up on her tiptoes and gives me a quick kiss, then quickly turns back to the festival.

"Let's go!" she says as she reaches behind her, grabs my hand, and starts dragging me towards the festival.

"This is amazing," she whispers into her cup of hot chocolate. Her top lip is lined with white whipped cream. I laugh.

"What?" she asks, her brow furrowing.

I lean over and slowly wipe the cream with my thumb. "Got it."

She quickly pulls back as her hand goes to her lip. Her face starts to turn red with embarrassment as she looks down. I smile as I reach towards her, pull her hand down, and give her a kiss. I feel her smile forming under my lips.

"That was embarrassing," she whispers.

"No, it was cute."

She looks at me with eyebrows raised. "That's not what all of social media would have been saying if they caught that on camera. They would've said I'm a mess. I'm a child. I need to grow up. The list goes on and on."

"Well," I lean down and give her another kiss. "I'm not the media." Another kiss. "And you don't have to worry about them tonight."

I wrap my arms around her and pull her to my side. She snuggles into me.

Her smile grows. "I can get used to this."

I put my lips to the top of her head. "Me too."

We walk down the street glancing at all of the lit up booths as we go. I have Alison's hand in one of mine and a bunch of bags full of all of her purchases in the other. My cheeks are starting to hurt from all of the smiling I've been doing today, but I don't care.

This has been one of the best days I've had in a long time. I'm so glad that I called the festival ahead of time and got them to take extra security measures so Alison didn't have to worry about any paparazzi being allowed in. I don't know if I've ever seen her so relaxed. She deserves to have fun without having to be on guard.

"So, I think I got gifts for basically everyone on my list and then some. We've tried practically every item of food and drink that they serve here. What's next?" She looks up at me expectantly.

I point towards the booth in front of me. Alison looks over reading the sign.

"Picture with Santa?" She raises her eyebrows.

"Yep." I raise my eyebrows right back at her as if to challenge her to say something against it.

"Let's do it!" She tugs me forward.

By no accident, there's no line when we arrive. Alison looks at me as if questioning it, but doesn't say anything. We walk over to Santa who greets us with a warm smile.

"Ho, ho, ho. Hello! How is your evening going?" Santa asks as we approach.

"Amazing. Perfect," Alison says in a singsong voice.

"Christmas magic at work I see," Santa responds in his jolly voice as he looks at me and winks.

Alison sits on one of his knees while I stand next to the arm of the chair Santa is in, leaning towards him as much as possible. The photographer snaps a quick photo and then starts printing it for us.

"So, what is your Christmas wish this year?" Santa asks as he looks between the both of us.

"Hmmmm . . ." Alison puts her finger on her chin in thought. She leans over and whispers something in Santa's ear.

"Hey, no secrets!" I say, reaching over Santa to bump Alison on the knee.

"If I tell you, it won't come true!" Alison says matter of fact.

"I'm pretty sure that's birthday wishes."

"No, she has a point. Christmas dreams work pretty similar to birthday wishes," Santa answers.

"Thanks, Man," I say to Santa as I cross my arms.

"Well, I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas," Santa sings out as Alison jumps off his lap and heads to the photographer to grab our picture.

I start to walk away but feel a tug on my arm. I turn back towards Santa. He motions for me to get closer.

"Take care of this one," he whispers in my ear. "She's special."

"I know, Santa. Believe me, I know."