Page 37 of Stuck in Christmas

“Many of my friends and colleagues know about it, but they respect my wishes to keep my involvement quiet,” Eli shared. “All it takes is for them to see those kids' faces on Christmas morning as they open their presents. The absolute joy the right present can bring to a child.”

“That’s wonderful,” I admitted.

“I came to get you because I have a surprise for you.”

I straightened. “For me?”

“Call it - an early Christmas present.” He reached for my hand. “Come with me.”

Eighteen

When we got to Eli’s apartment building, he asked me to close my eyes. But, since he also didn’t believe I’d keep my eyes shut, he stood behind me, placing his hands over my eyes and guiding me into his inner sanctum. The thrill of being alone with him without being surrounded by family members, fake Santas, and nosy townspeople was almost more than my nervous system could take. And if I got any smexy ideas, I’m sure the system would reset me. A reset that I couldn’t afford.

I would have to keep it in my proverbial pants for the moment.

“You can look now,” Eli said as he removed his hands.

I had to blink a few times before it all made sense. The entire front room of the apartment was decked out in Christmas decorations, and a spinning Christmas tree stood in the middle.

I rushed over to it, clapping. “It spins!” I glanced at the man who surprised me every day of the reset and found him blushing—another surprise.

“I thought you might like it.”

My heart swelled. “You have no idea.”

“I stumbled on it when I was getting decorations down from the attic for Bonnie. And boy, is it cool - when it spins, you get to see?—”

“All the ornaments,” we said together.

I threw my arms around him, caught up in the moment's joy, but clutched him tighter as tears threatened to fall.

“I should have shown you the tree sooner,” Eli whispered against my head.

I blinked a few times as tears fell on his sweater. “This is really special. Thank you for this. This means so much to me.”

“I remember you talking about how much your mom loved Christmas and how you haven’t had much of a Christmas celebration since she passed away. I didn’t want another year to go by without you tapping into the spirit of the season,” Eli said.

“Thank you,” I croaked out. Dang it. The crying would turn my face into a red, puffy mess.

Eli pulled back a little bit and dried my tears on the sleeve of his sweater. “I hope those are happy tears.”

I nodded and smiled up at him.

His grin widened. “Good. Because I also made some dinner, if you feel like eating.”

How was this guy still single? “I always feel like eating. What’s on the menu?”

“Wait here,” Eli commanded before dashing into what I assume was the kitchen. He emerged a few minutes later with two plates covered with silver domes. He placed the plates on the two-person table next to the tree, removing the domeswith a flourish. “Voila! Lobster macaroni and cheese for the mademoiselle.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “How’d you know that’s my favorite?”

“A little birdie told me.” He clanged the metal domes together. “Fine. I read your story about it.”

“You read my stories.”

He looked at me like I was nuts. “Of course. I couldn’t wander around town with a world-famous writer without reading anything she’s written.”

“World-famous? That’s a stretch.”

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