Page 42 of Miles & Mistletoe

Chapter Eleven

Stacia

“Aw, man! Super Bowl tickets! Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad!” my younger brother, Raymond, screeched in delight. Apparently, my mother and stepfather had gotten Raymond tickets to the following year’s Super Bowl.

“I hope Tyler Townsend and the Williamsport Cougars make it to the big game this year,” he cheered. Raymond was a huge football fan just like his father. And just like his father, who’d grown up in the city of Williamsport, he was a fan of the team, although he hadn’t grown up in the same city.

“It looks like they’ve got a chance, if Townsend and Riggs can get along for more than five minutes,” James, my stepfather, responded from his position on the leather couch. His arm was draped around my mother’s shoulders, while she snuggled up close to his chest, smiling as she looked down at Raymond.

I angled my head and took a hard, long look at my mother, observing her. Her skin was a few shades darker than my toffee complexion. Her heart-shaped face, full lips, and button nose mirrored my own. A few fine lines had begun to creep into her forehead but her skin held a healthy glow. She kept her hair long and permed. At the moment, she wore it in a french braid. The pearl earrings James had given her that morning donned her ears. She sighed and lowered her head to James’ shoulder.

I furrowed my brows. Overall, my mother seemed … happy. At the same time I realized that my mother’s brown eyes moved to mine, her smile widened. I returned her look with a half smile before dipping my head.

I don’t know what had possessed me to catch a flight to JFK airport the night before, but as soon as I landed I called my mother, who at her insistence sent a car for me to be picked up. I had just thought to find a hotel room or Airbnb in the city, but somehow I ended up at my mother and stepfather’s front door, suitcases in tow. I was even more surprised to be welcomed with open arms. As if I was missed.

“Here, sis. I didn’t get a chance to wrap your gift because I thought I was gonna have to mail it like I do every year,” Raymond stated as he stood over me.

I peered up, pulling myself from my thoughts, and smiled at my kid brother. He was so tall now, nearly six-one. And handsome. I wondered if he had a girlfriend. At that moment, I realized I didn’t know all that much about my kid brother’s life. A lump of shamed formed in my throat. I had loved Raymond ever since my mother told me she was expecting another child.

I smiled, reaching for the gift bag. “Thanks, Ray. Oh, here.” I pulled his wrapped gift from behind me. I had put Raymond’s gift in my suitcase the last time I was in Atlanta, hoping to find time to mail it out, but of course, I got distracted with Ian—

No. I wasn’t even going to think of that man.

“New Beats by Dre headphones!” Ray shouted as he unwrapped the present I’d given him. My mother had told me he broke his the last time we talked which had been a couple of days after Thanksgiving.

“Thanks, sis!”

“You’re welcome!” I giggled when Raymond threw his long arms around me. I sighed. I hadn’t recognized how much I actually missed my brother until that moment.

“Open your gift,” he insisted.

Smiling, I dug in the green, white, and brown gift bag he’d handed me. I pulled out a small box. Opening it, I realized it was a pastel pink mini jewelry box meant for traveling. I’d lost the last one I owned about a year prior.

“Thanks, Ray.”

“It’s not just from me. Mom and Dad helped, too. Mom said you lost your old one.”

I looked over at my mother and James. They both were smiling at me.

“Thank you.”

“Open it,” Ray urged with enthusiasm in his voice.

At his insistence, I did so and my jaw dropped. Inside was a beautiful pair of tear drop diamond earrings.

“These are gorgeous,” I gasped, pulling the earrings out of the box.

“Your mother said you were eyeing the pair she wore the last time you were home.”

I looked up at James and had to swallow the lump in my throat. I hadn’t been back home in well over a year but he was right. The last time I was there, my mother had worn a similar pair of earrings that I’d told her looked spectacular on her. I don’t know what touched me more—the gift itself or the fact that she had even remembered.

“Th-thank you,” I stated just before clamping my mouth shut out of fear of choking up.

I watched for some time as my mother and stepfather opened the tickets to the opera that I’d purchased for them. Once the gifts were all given and opened, I went to the kitchen with my mother to help her cook for that night’s dinner. James’ family was coming over later for Christmas dinner as they always did, as well as my grandparents, who I hadn’t seen in a long time. I was looking forward to it, so I opted to help my mother cook while James and Raymond began watching football replays of old Super Bowl games.

“I’m glad you came,” my mother remarked after a few moments of silence while she’d begun basting the turkey and stuck it into the oven.

“Me too.” I smiled across the kitchen’s island from the wooden stool I sat on. I looked back down at the bowl filled with water and raw collards that I was washing. Even the thought of eating my mother’s collards that night wasn’t enough to make me smile, and I loved my mother’s collard greens.

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