Page 58 of More Than Words
That was better.
A lot better.
Ethan
It’s not that I didn’t like Christmas.I did.
In December.For two days.
I’d never been the type of person to drag out the holiday season for an entire month, let alone fortwowhole months.
When Quinn was little, I worked hard to make the holidays special for her.Especially because Polly was always too busy to do the traditional things like decorating the tree or making a gingerbread house.
She always had a string of excuses as to why she couldn’t fit the special family time into her schedule.I remember getting into big arguments early on about how she needed to adjust her priorities, but over time, I simply lost the energy for the fight.
It wasn’t like she was ever going to change.In hindsight, it was probably all those years of arguing and trying to convince Polly to participate that tainted the holiday season for me a little bit.
Which was why I didn’t expect to enjoy decorating Delaney’s shop so much.Especially in early November, which—despite how much fun I’d actually had with Quinn and Delaney—I still thought waswaytoo early to decorate.
But truthfully, it didn’t take long before I kind of got into it.
Okay, I gota lotinto it.
Maybe it was the music that Quinn found.The perfect mix of holiday classics and fun, upbeat versions I’d never heard before.Maybe it was the pine and spice candle Delaney had lit at the front of the shop.
But more likely, it was Delaney herself.
And the way she had Quinn laughing and forgetting that as an almost teenager, it probably wasn’tcoolto have so much fun decorating a Christmas tree and hanging garland.
Watching the way the two of them interacted so easily stopped me more than once.Their easy laughter and playful jabs back and forth looked like the most natural thing in the world.
The way a family should be.
The thought stopped me cold.It waswaytoo early for me to be having such thoughts.We’d only just started…whatever it was we were doing.Quinn wasn’t even used to the idea of Delaney and I together, let alone the two of us having a moment to get used to it.
Or even discuss it properly.
Still.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let myself fantasize about whatcouldbe.
Delaney was untangling yet another strand of fairy lights while Quinn attempted to assemble some sort of snowman on a nearby bookshelf.I didn’t want to say anything, but I was pretty sure she had the snowballs in the wrong order.
When it fell over for the second time, she grabbed the decoration and tossed it back in the box.“I need cookies,” she announced.“This is important festive work and I require snacks.”
“There’s a tray upstairs,” Delaney said over her shoulder.“I set out everything for hot chocolate, too.Just hit the power button on the kettle and heat up the water.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course.”Delaney turned.“You don’t really think I would expect us to decorate without Christmas goodies, do you?”
In response, Quinn laughed and took off upstairs in search of the snacks without another word.
The second she disappeared up the back staircase, Delaney turned toward me, a smile pulling at her lips.“Are you hating every minute of this?”
I shook my head and descended the ladder.“Not at all,” I answered honestly.“I’m actually enjoying it.”I lifted a hand toward the box that, despite my best efforts, was still full of lights waiting to be hung.“But I still think you have way too many lights.”
She threw back her head in laughter.“Never.”And as if to prove her point, she held out the lights she’d just untangled and spun in a quick circle, wrapping herself up like a present I would very much like to unwrap.
