Page 39 of Better Than the Beach
“Colorado is supposed to be great for snowboarding,” she says with a shrug, and Cassie barks out a laugh.
“You two are going to snowboard?”
“Nah, we’re going to get drunk on spiked cider with you and Nan.”
“Hell yes, you are, honey!” my mom calls out, and everyone laughs.
“Nolan thought it would be nice if we surprised you for the holiday,” Cassie’s mom says, and when Cassie turns to me, I’m already walking toward her and wrapping her in my arms.
“Thank you,” she says, and I press a kiss to the top of her head.
“Anything for you,” I say into her hair.
We usher everyone into the house and do introductions. Ivy and Bailey visited last winter, so they know everyone except for Oliver and Bev and their kids, but this is Cassie’s parents’ first visit to Golden. It’s their first time meeting anyone in my family other than me, actually. It’s a bit stilted at first, but by the time we’re heading to the community center for the holiday gift drive, the awkwardness is gone, and the conversation and laughter is flowing.
Some of that, admittedly, might be due to Ma’s spiked cider, but I’ll take what I can get.
Ma passes out little elf hats and makes us all wear them, which is at least an improvement from when she used to make us wear entire elf costumes. These days, the only person in full costume is Ma herself who wears a red velvet dress with white fur trim and a red velvet hat.
She definitely leans into the Saint Nanta Claus nickname.
Cassie’s parents even join in on the fun, passing out gifts and singing carols. By the end of the night, it’s another magical holiday gift drive for the memory books.
“Oh, there’s one last gift under here,” I hear Ma say loudly, and we all glance her way to see her pluck a large giftbag out from underneath the giant Christmas tree. “Cassie, dear, this one is for you.”
My mom walks slowly toward Cassie, holding the bag out with a mischievous grin on her face.
“For me?” Cassie says with a laugh. “Is there a kid from town named Cassie? I thought we were exchanging gifts in the morning?”
Ma shrugs and holds the bag out, giving it a little shake.
“Says your name, Cass,” she says, and Cassie slowly reaches out to take the bag.
Her eyebrow rises in question, and she glances from Ma, to me, then to her friends, and back to Ma.
“Nan, what have you done?” Cassie asks warily, making my entire family chuckle.
“If you don’t want it, give it here, I’ll have it,” Duncan says, pretending to swipe for the bag, but Cassie yanks it out of his reach quickly and sends him a stern warning.
“Keep your hands off of this, Duncan. It’s mine.”
“Then open it!” one of my nieces says, which starts the rest of the kids shouting encouragements at Cassie as well. Eight kids can make quite a ruckus, and not for the first time, I find myself wanting to apologize to my mom for having to raise me and my brothers.
“Okay, okay,” Cassie says with a giggle. “I’ll open it!”
Slowly, she pulls the tissue paper out of the bag, dropping it to the floor piece by piece until there is none left. Then she lifts a medium sized box from the bag. She lets the bag fall to the floor and rips the wrapping paper off the box, then huffs a laugh when she sees what’s inside. I know even before she pulls it out what it is.
Another gift bag.
She empties the tissue paper from that bag until she can see what’s inside, and then she gasps. When she pulls out the small playing card box, letting the gift bag fall to her feet, her hands are shaking. Slowly, she looks from the playing card box to me and the tears forming in her eyes cause matching ones in mine.
Shuffle the deckhas become something of a mantra for us since Cassie came back to me. It’s what we say before making big decisions or before changing plans. It’s how we remind each other that no matter what life throws at us, we’re in control of our happiness. It’s another way to sayI trust you, I love you, andas long as we’re together, we can accomplish anything.
One look at the playing card box, and Cassie knows immediately what I’m about to do.
“Open it, Cassandra,” I say, and her tears start to fall faster.
Carefully, she opens the playing card box and dumps the contents of it into her palm. She drops the empty box to the floor, her free hand coming up to cover her mouth as she stares at the ring sitting in the palm of her other hand. When she finally looks from the ring to me, I take the ring from her palm and lower myself to one knee before her.
