Page 61 of Can't Help Falling

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHRISTMASWASEXACTLYthe nonmonumental affair that both Tyler and Kylie had been hoping it would be. They both slept in, and Tyler made bacon and a kitchen-sink omelet for them around eleven. Over breakfast, Tyler slid a blank envelope across the table and experienced a stab of joy when her eyes lit up over the Sky Blue soccer tickets he’d bought for her. They were the professional women’s team that played in New Jersey.

“There are three tickets here,” she said.

“Yeah, well, one is for me and one is for you and the third is for whoever else you want to invite. Someone from school or—”

“Fin,” Kylie said decisively.

Well. That was that.

She got up and left the room and came back a second later with a wrapped gift. Tyler gaped at it in her hands. It hadn’t occurred to him that she’d buy something for him for Christmas. “Thanks for the tickets,” she said, somewhat awkwardly. “I got you this. But I didn’t wrap it.”

“Obviously Mary did,” Tyler said, observing the rectangular box from one angle and then the other. No one could wrap a sharp corner like Mary.

“Right,” Kylie said, sounding quite nervous.

Tyler put her out of her misery and tore open the present. He was stymied by what it was, however. It was obviously something from Mary’s shop. It was a type of small wrought iron stand painted a dark blue. Was it a decoration? He had no clue.

Determined to love it no matter what, Tyler held it up. “Ah, thanks, Ky. It’s great.”

She laughed. “I knew you’d have no clue what it is.”

He tried not to look too sheepish. “Busted.”

She stood and took it from him, walking over to his kitchen counter and standing it up. She selected a recipe book and opened it, sliding it into the stand.

“It holds the pages open while you cook!” Tyler crowed as understanding dawned.

She shrugged, embarrassed. “I thought you could use it.”

“It’s genius!” He couldn’t help but rise up and try it out himself, flipping the pages of the book and setting it back in the stand. He probably wouldn’t have bought it himself, but he was definitely gonna use it. And it even matched his kitchen decor.

Unable to help himself, Tyler grabbed Kylie in a gruff hug. “Thanks, sis.”

She hugged him back, harder than he’d thought she would. “Merry Christmas.”

After they showered and got cleaned up, Tyler suggested they go see a movie.

“Can we go to the Cobble Hill theater?” Kylie asked, and Tyler was loath to say no to that.

They took the train and rolled their eyes through a cheesy Christmas movie. On a bolt of inspiration, Tyler tugged the back of Kylie’s coat as she was walking out and motioned her into the theater next door to theirs.

“Doubleheader?” he whispered to her as the beginning of an action flick played on the screen.

“Sure!” she said in surprise.

They slinked into two seats and ducked down, not wanting to be seen. The movie was terrible, but made all the more sweet by the fact that they hadn’t paid for it.

“Triple-header?” Kylie asked, a sparkle in her eye as they left the second movie.

He laughed. “Your Christmas wish is my command.”

They ducked into the third movie, this one a self-serious Oscar contender already fifteen minutes in when they sat down. It wasn’t four more minutes when a flashlight splashed across their eyes.

“Sir,” an employee said. “Can I see your tickets, please?”

“Sure,” Tyler said smoothly, handing him their tickets from the first movie they’d seen. He gave the man an easy grin.

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