Page 33 of A Candy Cane Christmas
Wiping my forehead, I checked for sweat, but there was none.
One moment, everything was hot, and the next, I felt like someone had doused me in ice water, and I still couldn’t breathe right.
It took me two steps to reach the living room window, and about thirty seconds to get the dalmatian thing to open. The air was so cold and frigid that I felt it all the way into my lungs. Which meant it was actually reaching them. Sucking in another big gulp of air, I traced its way into my body. Oxygen. Wrapped in ice, but it was oxygen, and it was helping me breathe.
My phone buzzed on the kitchen counter, and I jerked violently, hitting my head on the open window.
Fridging fridge.
Maybe I was a tad bit nervous.
Okay, so maybe I was really, really nervous.
Today was a big day. The biggest.
I was gonna ask Luci if he wanted to move in with us. Officially. I was pretty sure he was technically already living with us, but it was going to be different.Official.
“Daddy, we’re here!” Hazel shouted just as the apartment door hit the wall with a loud bang. I was incredibly lucky that my landlords were her grandparents. The way she carelessly smashed doors into walls in excitement, I’d never see my security deposit again. Not that I’d paid one. Oh, I’d tried to, but…
“Son, are you here?” I swallowed the lump in my throat. The air was gone from the room again, and my eyes burned. The endearment was a recent development, and I still wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“Living room,” I shouted back, but my voice was all hoarse and scratchy. I sounded like I was on the verge of tears, and, yeah, maybe that was more accurate than I wanted it to be.
I barely managed to turn around in time to catch Hazel, who came at me at full speed.
“We made the most incredible gift, Daddy. You’re gonna love it. And Luci is going to love it. He won’t be able to say no because if he says no, he can’t have the keychain. Meanies don’t get keychains, do they, Daddy?”
Blinking, I wrapped my arms around my daughter, my mind working hard on catching up with her words. “No, sweetheart, meanies don’t get keychains,” I agreed, though maybe I shouldn’t. Luci was no meanie, and making him decline our offer to move in wouldn’t make him one. “I’m sure Luci is going to love the keychain you… made? Did I get that right?”
“Yes. Grandma, Grandpa, and me. We did a fun craft session. I’m gonna show you. We made five keychains, so now everyone gets to have one, and I decide who gets which one.”
“Okay, that’s great, sweetie.” She grinned up at me, her eyes filled with so much excitement and joy that something inside of me unwound. There was no doubt in her eyes, none of the worries that filled me to the brim and kept bubbling over. She was certain he was going to accept our proposal. And she was probably right. No, shewasright. Luci would say yes because, again, while not official, he was basically already living with us. His coat hung next to our front door, his shoes were standing right beside Hazel’s and mine, and his clothes lived in my closet. Hell—ooo kitty, his artwork hung on the walls, his dresser had found its way into our hallway, and we had swapped our coffee table for his. We had our bathrooms stocked with his fancy soaps, the ones Hazel had loved so much the first time we’d visited Luci at his apartment.
Still… there was a chance he was going to say no.
It was his right. Standing up for himself wouldn’t make him a meanie, even if it would break my heart.
“Can I show you?”
I nodded, and Hazel was off again, sprinting to the hallway and back, followed by Joseph and Linda. They both looked a bit stunned as they took in our open-plan living room and kitchen, and I took a moment to see it through their eyes. They hadn’t been here for a couple of weeks, and yeah… I guess things looked different.
“The kitchen towels are new,” Linda said with a smile, pointing at bright turquoise towels adorned with white ornaments.
Joseph let out a rumbling laugh. “The boy changes up half the apartment, and you notice the kitchen towels? What about the big dresser in the hallway? The pottery bowls for the keys?”
Linda shrugged, her eyes alit with mirth. “I like the towels.”
Hazel watched our conversation for a moment, obviously waiting for a chance to budge in, and now she had it. “Luci’s friend made the towels,” she declared. “Her name is… Sarah, and she’s an artist, too. She has an online store, but we visited her last week. All three of us, and we made tie… tie… what was it, Daddy?”
“Tie-dye?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “We made tie-dye. It was sooo cool. I made a T-shirt, and it has all the colors of the rainbow. But Sarah is like, really, really good. I’m a beginner, but she said I did a great job. She can do all these patterns, and I can’t. But I can do other things. Like keychains, look!”
She held up an open box for me to look inside. Five gleaming stainless-steel keychains lay in a tangled mess inside, so I carefully picked one out of the mix and held it up. Thekeychain had a teardrop-shaped pendant on it that held an abstract art print that was a wild mix of colors under a protective glass.
My lips tilted into a smile as I looked at the colors and shapes I’d recognize everywhere.
“You turned Luci’s art into a keychain?” I asked, voice still scratchy.
