Page 42 of Merry Kissmas

“The rules are somewhat strict, aren’t they?”I say to Brynn as we rush to our villa.

“We take it seriously,” she says without a glance behind her.

I catch up, but she slips on a piece of ice and falls back.My arms stretch out to catch her, but my foot catches the same piece of ice, and we both go down.The only thing I can do is maneuver us off the cement and onto a pile of snow.

“Perfect!The power couple is down.Hurry, everyone!”Carter shouts, laughing maniacally as he and Faith enter the villa next to ours.

“You okay?”I ask, but she scurries to her feet.

“We’re on the clock!”Brynn recovers quickly while I’m lying on the ground, relishing that I had her in my arms again.

I get up and follow her inside.

She’s already going through the construction paper, pulling out all the green and yellow.“Do you think you can do the maple syrup bottles?I can do the Buddies.”

“Yeah.”I nod.

“Perfect.”

I’d hoped for the two of us to have time for some conversation while we’re alone, wanted to take the opportunity to win her over a little.But she’s way too distracted by the contest for me to make any headway.Maybe that’s by design.

An hour later, our floor and coffee table look like a nursery school room, but the tree is coming together.Brynn’s drawing faces on the Buddy characters, while I make the garland.We still have the candy canes and stacks of snowballs to complete.

“You’re a genius,” I say because I never would have come up with something like this.I would have researched before deciding what I was going to do.

“No.”She shakes her head, concentrating on adding the faces with her marker.

“You know that in class, I called on you a lot to hear your theories.They were never standard.You have a gift for brand marketing.”I tape the rings of paper garland together, which is hard to do with my large fingers.But Brynn said everyone else in her family would do rings of colored garland like they used to make in grade school and insisted I do it this way.

“I do enjoy it.Figuring out the audience, the way to bring awareness.And when it succeeds, it’s kind of a high to try to do it again, you know?”Her eyes rise to meet mine.

I shake my head.“I don’t.I’ve only really ever taught it.”

She doesn’t say anything at first, and I think maybe the conversation is going to end.“Why do you want to leave teaching?”

“I feel like a fraud.”It’s the first time I’ve admitted it to anyone.It’s been about two years since I wanted to see if all my knowledge would carry out into the real world.

“Fraud?”

Thankfully, she doesn’t look up at me.I don’t want to be so vulnerable in front of her, so it’s easier if we can pretend to be busy.I continue to cut the garland.

“It’s admirable, you know?The way you and other students go into the workforce and put the principles to work.I’m sure it twists and reforms how to go into the next project.I’m retelling other people’s hypotheses and successes and failures.”

She drops the marker and leans back against the couch.“I can see that, but you always had a different spin on the material when you taught our lessons.”

Our eyes meet, and for a moment, I’m scared of what she’s going to say.She picks up her marker and goes back to drawing the faces.

“I looked forward to your lectures.Just so you know.”

I bite down my smile.“Well, I am a good-looking guy.”

She looks up through her dark eyelashes at me, her hand still wrapped around her marker.“That wasn’t the only reason.”She smiles, and it pierces my heart like a dart hitting the bull’s-eye.

I’d do just about anything to be able to push all this construction paper away, lower her to the carpet, and kiss her until her lips are bruised.

She gets up off the floor and sets the little Buddies together in a pile.“We better get working before the time runs out.”

For the last hour, we only converse about the tasks we’re completing and the overall look of the tree.Working alongside her is oddly peaceful, and the mutual respect we seem to give each other when we have an idea is encouraging.She even used my idea to have the garland come down the tree from the top rather than wrapping it around.

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