Page 10 of Merrily You

There were about fifteen different conversations going on at once, including a heated debate about daycare options for Nicholas.

Danny turned to me. “Now?”

“Oh, now? I mean, sure.”

Danny stood up and tried to ask for everyone’s attention. It took a few tries and finally her brother Michael whistled to get everyone to shut up.

She looked down at me and gestured with her eyes for me to stand up. Oh, right. We should have practiced this, shouldn’t we? Oops.

“Holiday and I have an announcement,” she said, and my back instantly started sweating, making my undershirt stick to my skin. I’d thought this would be a fun thing to do, like being an actor in a play, but now I was on stage and the lights were just a little too bright and the audience paying just a bit too much attention.

Yikes.

“We’re dating,” I said when Danny froze. I knew her well enough to see her starting to panic, so I grabbed her hand and squeezed it to get her attention.

For a second, no one spoke. Then it was like we were hit with a roar of sound and applause and “I knew it!” and even her dad handing over some money to her brother.

“You bet on us?” Danny asked. She still held my hand in an iron grip. I didn’t think I could have let her go if I tried.

Her dad just shrugged.

“Oh, my girls,” Carol said, her eyes brimming with tears as she hugged both of us.

Raquel hummed The Wedding March music loudly.

“Hold your horses,” I said, pointing at her. “This is new and we don’t want everyone to make a big thing of it.”

“Good luck with that,” Michael yelled. I glared at him and he hid behind his husband.

“This calls for a toast,” Carol said, still wiping her eyes. “To love. Both longtime love and new love. May we all experience as much of it as we can. Cheers!”

Everyone lifted their glasses, and I did the same, staring at Danny.

“To love,” I said quietly so only she could hear.

“To love,” she echoed as we sipped our eggnog.

“I’m cutting you off,”Danny said a while later when I was trying to sneak another cup of eggnog. She’d been attached to me all night, even more so than normal. I knew it was because of the fake relationship, but it was also to make sure I didn’t get wasted. Which I was very close to being, but I was past the point of caring.

“But I can just pass out here,” I whined. “We did that two years ago and it was fine.”

Danny’s eyes narrowed. “It was fine? Do you not remember punching me in the face?” She pulled her phone up, scrolled through her pictures, and then presented me with the image of her with a bruise under her eye that I’d accidentally caused when I’d rolled over in my sleep.

“I apologized for that a million times. I was asleep!”

“You two are so cute,” Raquel said, coming over to get some more food. “I can’t believe it took you so long to figure it out.” That was the prevailing sentiment about us. That inevitability.

Danny wanted to argue with Raquel like she usually did, but I nudged her and reminded her that we were doing things differently this year.

“Well, we did,” Danny said, her chin jutting out defiantly.

“We did, didn’t we, babe?” I asked, putting my arm around her and doing my best to give her an adoring look. It was easier now that I had a few drinks in me.

“Ugh, stop it,” Raquel said, shaking her head. “You’re too cute!”

She filled up her plate and left us alone. More of the adults had had a few by this point and the volume had gone up in the room and the random singing had gotten more frequent.Danny’s parents had a small mostly in-tune piano that people kept sitting at and playing carols. Everyone would join in and sing, regardless of knowing the lyrics. It was so much fun, but after a whole night of it, I knew Danny had had enough and needed to go recharge.

“Let’s go take a break in your room,” I said in her ear.

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