Twenty-Six

Garrett

The days flew by on the way to Christmas, and every night I enjoyed the time I spent with Steve. I thought back on how he looked the first time I seen him and now I didn’t recognize the angry man I’d met that day. He was happy, and he’d found a little peace in himself despite doing everything he could to maintain his anger with a holiday that deep down I think he still loved all along.

This would be the first Christmas we’d spend together, and I wanted it to be extra special. I bought something I thought he’d appreciate sharing when we got home from both the families, and I knew he wasn’t expecting it.

I hurried home from work the night before Christmas Eve and turned the Christmas lights on the tree and lit the candle that smelled exactly what I thought Christmas smelled like. Steve would be home soon, and I wanted to surprise him by having dinner ready. Putting the already prepared lasagna in the toaster oven, I turned it on and set the timer before setting out the loaf of garlic bread. “Quick and easy,” I said to myself.

“Hello?” Steve said as he let himself in. I’d given him a key since he was here nearly every night, and I didn’t want him to have to wait until I got home if he arrived here early. Teddy’s nails tapped rapidly as he ran to greet him. “Well hello, little man, did you miss me?” Just listening to him gave me a warm feeling inside. He was without a doubt one of the sweetest men I’d known, even if he didn’t know it himself.

“You’re home,” I said, wiping my hands off on a towel as I hurried over to give him a kiss hello. “I thought you’d be later.”

“No, I got lucky. There were plenty of employees, so Terry let me leave on time. Oh, guess what?” he asked and nuzzled Teddy as he held him close.

“What?” I said and settled my arm around his waist.

“Terry wants me to work at the mall again next year. He said I’m good with the line. Which basically means I’m not beyond yelling at someone to keep them in line.” I laughed at that as his eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Are you going to? I know how much you hated it at first.”

“Hell, yes, I’m doing it. I met my hot boyfriend there,” he said and kissed me again.

“What about your other job?” I asked.

“I’ll just tell I need to work around it, and maybe do it part-time rather than full-time but I’m not going to lie, it’s been fun.”

“Aww, sweetheart, you do love Christmas.” I chuckled.

“There’s a few things I love,” he whispered.

Clearing my throat, I led him to the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready soon, go ahead and shower or change if you need to.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.” He kissed me again before setting Teddy down on the floor and hurrying to the bedroom. I’d thought of asking him to move in many times, but his parents owned his house, and I knew he loved it. He walked out wearing some trackpants slung low on his hips and a t-shirt. He froze when he caught my eyes on him. “What?” he asked.

“You look hot,” I said and shrugged. He grinned and sauntered over to me.

“Hot?”

“Oh yeah,” I said and kissed him on the cheek. “Go relax, this will be done in a few minutes.”

He sat on the couch with Teddy and turned on the television. Nearly every channel was showing Christmas shows but unlike the Steve I met a little over a month ago, this Steve didn’t mind, and he chose one and watched it with Teddy. “Do you think you’ll be done early enough to meet me here to go to the movie tomorrow?” he asked.

“I think so, but you know how it is. It depends if everything is running smoothly, and traffic isn’t horrible. I’ll let you know though and like I said, if I’m running late, I’ll meet you there.” This was the beauty of having paid for reserved seats. Even if I got there after the movie started, I would still be able to find him.

“Okay, I hate to admit it but I’m excited about going, and I love that we can eat there too.”

“Just be prepared. It might be crowded. But it’s not as bad with reserved seats.”

“Babe, I’ve survived the past month by sheer will and an eagerness to see the other side of this holiday. I finally just accepted the fact that everything is busy this time of year, and all we can do is stay calm and get through it.” He chuckled, making me laugh.

The timer went off for the lasagna, so after taking it out, I shoved the bread in. I poured us both a glass of wine and carried it over to him. “Here you go, I think we both deserve a little treat tonight.”

“Thank you, that sounds good,” he said and took a sip of the red wine. “Mm this is good.” Neither of us were big drinkers, but the more we got to know each other the more similarities we discovered. One of them being that we both liked a small glass of wine with dinner some evenings, and after the past week, we both deserved it.

After making both of us a plate I took it out to him and the two of us sat on the couch eating while chatting and watching television. It was nice, and I liked the fact that neither of us felt the need to do something that we didn’t like to impress the other, but there was somewhere I wanted to take him tonight after dinner. “Hey, do you mind if we take a little drive after dinner?”

“Where to?” he asked.

“You’ll see. Don’t worry, you only need to throw on a coat and you’ll be ready to go.” He stared at me a moment before lifting his shoulder in a shrug.

“Sure, is Teddy going?” he asked, and I know he was trying to figure out what I had planned.

“Of course.”

“Well now you’ve got me curious,” he said. We chatted a bit more as we finished eating and as soon as we were done, we put the rest of the food away and loaded the dishwasher. “Are we going?” He rubbed his hands together as he waited for me to answer and when I said we were ready, he rushed to get both of our jackets.

“Let’s go then,” I said and led us out the door with Teddy tucked inside Steve’s coat. We loaded into my car and even though it hadn’t been that long ago I’d driven it—it was still cold. I cranked up the heater and drove us to the nearest coffee place with a drive thru.