Page 35 of Stuck With My Christmas Crush

“Just the clothes Charlie borrowed when she stayed with me in the storm.”

Memories of being snowed in together come flooding back and I don’t know what to do with them. Images of Charlie in the candlelight; asleep on the couch; her sleepy face in the morning; the way she raced out and made snow angels; the way I stood there like an idiot.

“Get your things, Maddie. I’ll feed Rocko, then we’ll go.”

I park in Meredith’s driveway. Daniel, my brother-in-law, comes out to greet us.

“Daddy!” yells Maddie, loud and excited.

“Hey, Maddie, my darling,” Daniel says opening the rear door of the Chevy. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I missed you, so much too,” Maddie says as her dad unbuckles her from the back seat. “Jason got a present from fairy Charlie.”

“That’s nice. Who’s fairy Charlie?”

“You know, Daddy. She was at Isabel’s party, then she had a sleepover with Jason.”

“It wasn’t a sleepover, Maddie. There was a storm. She was stuck there with me.”

I watch as a lightbulb pings on in Daniel’s head. “Oh, that fairy Charlie. Please come in and tell me all about it.”

I follow Daniel and Maddie into the house which is festooned with Christmas decorations. A huge tree takes up most of the space in the living room.

“That’s new since I was last here.” My comment about the tree is a deliberate deflection from the subject of fairies. “How was Washington, Daniel?”

“Ha! Frustrating mostly. A lot of talk and not much action. Thankfully, I got away earlier than expected. But enough about that. It’s Christmas and I’m back here with my best girl.” Daniel picks up Maddie, squeezes her close,and dances in a circle on the carpet which makes Maddie giggle. “You’ve grown so much, Maddie. How come my little girl has got so big so quick?”

Meredith appears in the doorway wiping her hands on a tea towel, quietly watching her husband and daughter laughing.

“Come on, I’ve made some gingerbread cookies,” she says smiling warmly as we walk to the kitchen.

“Fairy Charlie, huh? What’s going on there, do you think?”

Meredith scoops out some frosting and fills a piping bag. The countertop is almost completely covered with person-shaped gingerbread cookies which smell mouth-wateringly delicious. I put my hand out to take one, but Meredith slaps it away, then she fixes me with a stern look.

“She stopped by with a thank-you gift,” I say as casually as I can, hoping my churn of emotions isn’t showing. “Which was nice and completely unnecessary.”

Meredith doesn’t say anything but holds the frosting bag nozzle steady over the first gingerbread man in the row.

“Really. She’s nice.” I sound too defensive. “And that’s all.” I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans and look out of the window. “The gift was a nice thought.”

Meredith looks up briefly from piping a smiley face onto another cookie. “And,” she says.

Maddie comes into the kitchen followed by Daniel. He picks her up and sits her on one of the bar stools, then sits on the stool beside her.

“They look good enough to eat,” says Daniel with his arm protectively around Maddie.

“Soon,” says Meredith.

“We washed our hands and everything. Didn’t we, Maddie?”

“Well, great. Maddie, do you want to decorate a cookie?” Meredith hands the frosting bag to Maddie and then gives her a plate with three gingerbread men on it.

“Alright,” says Maddie seriously. “This one is you, Daddy.” She pipes a smiley face onto one of the gingerbread men. She gives him a tie and buttons in a line down the middle. She pauses and says, “Did Jason tell you about the present?”

“No, Maddie.” Meredith grins at me. “Not yet.”

“Jason. Tell us about the present.” Maddie continues to decorate the cookies. “It’s the best,” she says as she draws a smiley face on the next cookie. “This one’s you, Mommy.”

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