Page 9 of New Tradition

“So what do we do about Trinity? She’s all alone in the city.”

“Let’s do Christmas Eve with her and we’ll invite her over for drinks after we finish dinner at Dad’s.”

She sighed. “OK. To be honest, I’ve spent the last… five? Maybe six Christmases with her. This is kind of weird for me.”

“First, we’ll figure it out baby girl. We’ve still got time. Second, we can talk at dinner about why you're just now telling me this. Now hurry and finish your work.”

Right, they were racing to see who finished first. Winner was picking dinner. Though judging from his tone, she wasn't winning anything for hiding her feelings from him.

Ten minutes later, she was nearly done with her last project of the night when her phone rang.

“Miss Green, I’m Haley Mann from Senator Hirschman’s office. I’m calling to let you know that we’re going to be able to get you in for a meeting, but it will have to be the twenty-fifth.”

She hummed. “I know for a fact that Senator Miranda got a meeting for this Thursday with no issues. Why are you even taking meetings on Christmas? It's a federal holiday.”

Haley paused, seeming flustered that a junior senator’s chief of staff was questioning her. “I know you’re new to capitol hill Miss Green, but it’s not easy to juggle a senator’s schedule. You’ll soon find that out. Senator Hirschman is doing you a huge favor by coming back from his own holiday break early. That’s how committed he is to the party and to our agenda this year. Now do you want the meeting or not.”

Erin bared her teeth just as Samuel looked up from his screen. He shook his head and laughed as he pushed back from his chair, signaling that he was done with his work.

“I’ll order dinner,” he whispered as he backed out of the room.

Damn it. Not only was Haley making her Christmas with her boyfriend difficult, she’d just caused her to lose the work race. Not that Samuel would pick something she didn’t like, it was the principle of the matter. He’d set her a challenge, and she didn’t like losing. Especially not to him.

“I’ll take the meeting,” she said, sagging in her chair.

“Excellent. I’ll put you down.” Now she just had to figure out how to tell Samuel she was taking a meeting on Christmas.

When she finished her work, she headed downstairs to see what Samuel had picked for dinner.

As she hit the bottom step, she heard him on the phone.

“I appreciate the information. I’ll let you know when I make a decision.”

“Decision about what?” she asked as he tucked his phone in his pocket.

Was she seeing things or did Samuel jump at the sound of her voice? It made her smirk. Normally he was the one who snuck up on her.

“Christmas is right around the corner so no nosy questions from you, young lady,” he said with a mock scowl on his face when he turned to face her.

She grinned and went to wrap her arms around him. “What did you pick for dinner?” she asked as she rested her head against his broad chest.

“I got a phone call as soon as I got down here and haven’t ordered anything yet. Why don’t you pick? I was technically still working I suppose.”

She grinned. Maybe she won on a technicality, but damn it she still won.

She went to the drawer where the takeout menus were and pulled it open. Instead, she was met by neatly arranged tea towels.

She scowled. “Why don’t you have any menus? How do I know who to call?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I have a smart phone and there are three smart speakers in this house why do we need junk in a drawer?”

She shook her head. “I guess that makes sense. I’m just used to doing things differently,” she said as she scrolled through her phone to find the food delivery app she rarely used and ordered pasta and salads for both of them.

When she put the phone down, he pulled her close. “You OK?” he asked. “You seem a little down.”

She shook her head. “I’m great. Just trying to get used to the idea of living here. I feel like you already see it as our place and in my head it's still yours.”

He trailed a finger down her cheek. “You know we don’t have to stay here, right? We can find something we both love and make it our own.”

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