A Very Grey Christmas (6 page)

I tucked the phone in my pocket. Grey and I had an official double date with Taylor and Mason. I hoped he was as excited about it as I was.

I turned the corner for the kitchen, to see Grey standing on a stepstool to reach something for my mom in the cabinets over the refrigerator. I didn’t know why those cabinets even existed; they were impossible to access.

“Be careful up there,” I teased.

Grey laughed. “Are you more worried about me or these china bowls?” He showed me a handful of red and green soup bowls. I couldn’t remember ever seeing them before.

“The bowls of course.” I leaned against the counter, watching my mom take the bowls and then direct him to grab something else.

“Grey, thank you so much. Frank would get them, but you’re so tall.” She beamed at him.

I was happy my parents had taken to Grey, but I didn’t think it would happen so quickly. They acted like he was already part of the family.

He folded up the stepladder and returned it to the laundry room. “Ready for our walk, darlin’?” He kissed the top of my head.

“Yes, I’ve got all our snow gear ready to go.” I led him to the back door. I handed him a pair of gloves and one of my dad’s wool scarves. “I promise not to let you freeze out there, island boy.”

“Oh, you don’t think I can handle it?” he taunted.

“We’ll see.” I winked before ducking under his arm and out the door.

The woods were quiet as if the snowy blanket had hushed all the usually sounds. Grey and I walked side by side along the trail.

“So this is where you used to play?”

“Yes, the other neighborhood kids and I would take the trail to the park. Our parents weren’t worried because we didn’t have to be on any major roads. It was like we had our own secret path.

“It’s completely different here than the island.” He looked up at the trees towering overhead. Snow drifted from the limbs as a squirrel scampered up the side.

“Yeah, it is. I miss the trees.” The beach was beautiful, but sometimes I missed the canopy of the woods.

“I hadn’t really thought about it before.” Grey was quiet.

I reached for his hand through our padded gloves. “I love Texas. You know that, right? And sometimes I’m going to miss being here, but that doesn’t mean I have any regrets. Being with you is where I want to be.”

He stopped me in the middle of the trail. For a moment, I worried I had said something that hurt his feelings. All I wanted to do was reassure him that living with him was the best decision I ever made.

“Sometimes I worry that you’ll want to come back here. That it’s not enough.” His eyes were dark. “That we’re not enough.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want you to ever think that. I can’t believe you would worry.”

“Your parents are great. You have all these memories here. Friends. Neighbors. Your whole life is here.”

I pulled the glove from my hand and traced the side of his face. It felt frozen out of the warmth of my glove. “Grey, I have all of that with you in Padre. Well maybe not the parents part, but I’ll still see them and I talk to them every week. It was time for me to move out and live my own life. I wanted that life to be with you.”

I heard a branch crack in the distance. It was a sharp splintering sound in the quiet woods.

My words must have soothed his doubts, because his mouth descended on mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck, reaching on my toes to bring our bodies closer. I started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” He brushed the snow from my face.

“We are in twenty layers of sweaters and coats.” I tugged at his scarf.

“True.” He chuckled.

I retrieved my glove and fanned my fingers, trying to get them covered again. “Come on. Let me show you the park. Unless you want to take me back and get out of all these clothes.”

He laughed. “Nice try. Tonight, baby. We’ve got all night.”

I
recognized a lot of the kids I used to babysit performing in the church pageant. Mary was played by the little girl who lived at the end of the street, and her doting Joseph used to throw spaghetti at me whenever I fixed him dinner.

The annual Christmas pageant was always a part of our holiday traditions. It started the first year I was cast as a sheep, and then moved up in the ranks to be a shepherd, and eventually the angel. In high school, I phased out of being a part of the ensemble, but by then, we were so used to going, it became a family Christmas custom. Tonight Grey was getting a full indoctrination into our family practices.

Grey, my parents, and I sat in the middle of the church. The cast parents filled the first five rows. Grey and I had never been to church together, other than attending Marin’s wedding, and I didn’t think that counted. His hand felt warm in my hand, and he gave me an extra squeeze when the chorus started singing
Silent Night
.

If I had tried to picture Grey here, with my family, meeting people I had known my whole life, it would have seemed foreign and out of place. Our life was in South Padre. But now that he was here, it was a seamless blending of our lives. He fit in as if he had been a part of the community as long as I had.

We stood to applaud the performance while the mini actors and actresses bowed. The baby Jesus started screaming and the audience laughed. I saw his mother race to the side of the stage with a bottle, while the shepherds’ crooks became entangled.

“Fun show.” Grey chuckled as we rose to file out of our pew.

“Did you like it?” I wasn’t sure how he would take a bunch of amateur child actors shouting lines, and knocking over half the props.

“Kids are cute.” He smiled as he slid his fingers through mine.

My mom stopped us in the lobby. “I’m going to check in with the cookie drive committee. I’ll meet you all at the car.” She dashed off toward the church social center.

My father turned to face us. “Why don’t I heat up the car and meet you out front?”

“Need any help?” Grey moved in front of me.

“Well, if you want to help me scrape off the snow, that would be great.”

The snow had started up again and the parking lot was coated in powder. It would probably take awhile to create any kind of visibility out of the windshield. I was glad my dad was the one who was driving. I hated trying to navigate the roads in the snow, even if we were only five minutes from the house.

“No problem. See you in a minute.” Grey squeezed my hand before ducking out with my dad.

I watched the two of them pull their collars up and dip their heads as the snow drifted around them. It looked like they were laughing about something. I’ve always heard that you date people like your father, but until this moment, I had never seen the similarities. I smiled as Grey followed my father through the parking lot. I thought I’d keep that little realization to myself.

“Merry Christmas, Eden. Good to see you here.” Mr. Robinson, my high school math teacher appeared from the crowd.

“Merry Christmas to you. It was a nice production this year.” I kept my eye on the parking lot. Mr. Robinson had been my number one crush for the four years I attended high school. Secretly, I had a feeling the reason I went into business was because of him. Who could ignore those dimples and how sexy he looked when he pulled on a pair of glasses at the overhead board?

“So I heard you moved to Texas?” He grinned.

“I did. In the fall, I left for South Padre.”

“That’s pretty far south, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Almost in Mexico. It’s a small island.”

“I never heard the story. What took you there? New job?” Mr. Robinson leaned in closer, and for the first time in four years, he was looking at me like I wasn’t a student.

“Actually, I met someone.” This was one of the oddest conversations I’d had at church. Trying to tell my one-time off-limits high school math teacher crush that I had fallen in love with someone his age and moved to another state.

“Really?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t know.”

“What about you? How are things going at school?” My dad and Grey must be having a hard time de-icing the windshield. There was no sign of the car.

“I’ve got a few good classes, but no students like you.” He smiled lightly. “Maybe I’ll see you before you head home.”

“Merry Christmas, Mr. Robinson.”

“It’s Paul. You can call me Paul now.” He waved as he darted out the door.

“No car yet?” My mom looped an arm through mine.

“No, they said they’d bring it up for us.”

“Was that Mr. Robinson you were talking to?” My mother arched one eyebrow higher than the other.

I felt my cheeks turning crimson. “Yes. He didn’t know about my move to Padre. Just filling him in.”

“Uh-huh.” She smiled. “I never had teachers that good-looking in school. Can’t believe he’s still single. But he’s young, only twenty-eight. He’s got plenty of time.” Her grip tightened against my arm.

Was that supposed to be a single? Was she trying to tell me that since I was younger than him I had time to wait and settle down? Before I could ask her what the cryptic signal meant, the car pulled in front of the door and Grey hopped out to hold the doors open for us.

“It’s pretty and all, but I think I’m glad we don’t have to deal with this mess in Padre.” Grey winked as he shuttled me into the car. His breath formed clouds of ice crystals; he looked like he was about to shiver out of his coat.

“All right,” my father announced. “Let’s get this sleigh back to the house for a night cap.”

By the time we finally said goodnight to my parents and Grey locked the guesthouse door, it was well after midnight. His arms wrapped around me and he kissed me lightly on the forehead.

“You know what I want to do we haven’t done yet?” he asked.

After last night, I was dying to know what other things we could try. “What’s that, cowboy?” I tipped toward him.

“We haven’t watched any Christmas movies.” His smile was wide.

“Christmas movies? You want to watch a movie,
now
?”

“Sure. I’m starting to get into this Christmas thing. Which is your favorite?” He hooked his coat on the back of the door followed by his scarf.

“That’s a tough one. All-time favorite Christmas movie?” I thought through the usual catalog. “Have you seen
Christmas Vacation
?”

Grey had already turned on the TV and was repositioning the pillows on the couch.

“Yeah, in high school, but let’s watch it.” He picked up the remote and started flipping through the iTunes movies.

“Be right back.” I left him searching for the movie and walked into the bedroom.

If Grey wanted to watch a Christmas movie, I had no problem with it, but I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. I pulled open the top drawer of the dresser and shuffled through what little lingerie I had. I lifted a sheer black lace bra and matching thong from the pile. It wasn’t much, but that was the point.

I shed my sweater and ignored the chill bumps on my arms and legs. I strutted into the living room in my Christmas best.

“Find the movie?” I asked and slid into the open spot on the couch.

“Damn.” Grey chuckled. “I did, but you aren’t in the mood for a movie, are you?”