Boyfriend for Christmas: A Love Story

by J. Nichole

  Boyfriend for Christmas

  J. Nichole

  Copyright © 2018 by J. Nichole

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Boyfriend for Christmas

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Noah

  Chapter 3

  Kai

  Chapter 4

  Kai

  Chapter 5

  Kai

  Chapter 6

  Kai

  Chapter 7

  Kai

  ✩✩✩✩✩

  About the Author

  Also by J. Nichole

  Boyfriend for Christmas

  By J. Nichole

  Chapter 1

  Kai

  Gliding across the ice, hand in hand, under the sparkling string of Christmas lights. This is what Christmas is about. Or what it should be about. I watch as the couple skates past us, for the fourth time, as Reece and I grasp at the rink wall.

  “Auntie Kai.” Reece looks up at me with her hair falling into her face. Her pouty lips look just like her mother’s, the one feature of hers I wish we shared. Instead, I have her chipmunk cheeks. “Can we take a break?”

  I thought she’d never ask. We’ve been trying to make our way around the rink since we arrived an hour ago. But between her inexperience, and my inability to balance on the skates, we haven’t made it too far past where we started. “Of course.” I look back towards the entrance. “Thankfully, we didn’t make it too far.”

  From the bleachers surrounding the ice rink, I point out the other activities that are setup in the park hoping Reece would rather those over returning to the ice. “Your mom is much better at this than I am,” I tell Reece after she isn’t persuaded by my efforts to deter her from ice-skating. “How about a picture with Santa?”

  Reece rolls her eyes, and I’m convinced her seven-year-old skepticism is more about the loss of her father than her dislike of Santa. “Nah.” She looks to the back of the park, towards the food stands. “Let’s try the hot chocolate.”

  I help her unlace her ice skates and climb into her boots. After we return our skates we walk to the back of the festival to the food tents. Unlike when Reece was a couple of years younger, and I would come to visit, she isn’t holding on to my hand. Instead she walks beside me, nearby but not touching. In a way, I miss the days when she’d let me hold her hand.

  Making our way past the winding line in front of Santa I ask, “What’s your thing against Santa?”

  Reece watches the line before responding, “I’m just not excited about Santa anymore.” She shrugs her shoulders. I don’t remember how old I was before I stopped believing in Santa, but with my sister’s dream-crushing personality I’m sure I was younger than Reece.

  “When will you have time to tell him what you want for Christmas?” I pry, knowing Eva and I have already filled my spare room with toys, clothes, and a new bike—one without training wheels. We are a week out from Christmas, and Eva made sure we wouldn’t have to fight the last minute shoppers.

  “The only thing I want for Christmas this year, not even Santa can bring me.” Reece looks at me, her eyes glistening. I stop in the middle of the festival and wrap her in my arms. Lawrence, Reece’s dad, had a heart attack at the beginning of the year leaving all of us heartbroken, but especially Reece.

  Reece is my only niece, from my only sister, and when I heard the news about my brother-in-law, I knew I had to leave Virginia and come home, back to Georgia to help them. Eva insisted that she didn’t need help, that she would figure it out, but as I was finishing up the last months of the school year she had countless meltdowns. Not that the meltdowns have subsided, but at least I can give her a break, on days like today, and entertain Reece.

  “Reece…” I haven’t had the words to comfort Reece or Eva. “I understand. Still feel like getting a hot chocolate?” She nods her head and on our way to the tent I convince myself that I need to bring the joy back to Reece’s Christmas.

  The food tent line is not nearly as long as that in front of Santa. At the counter I order two hot chocolates with extra marshmallows as Reece insisted. “Did you get your letter in to Santa?” the older lady asks Reece as she hands us our cups of hot chocolate.

  Reece shakes her head and says, “No ma’am.”

  “There’s a booth”—she points to our right— “over there where you can write a letter and they’ll get it right in the mail headed straight to the North Pole.” I thank the lady for our drinks and guide Reece to a table nearby.

  “I know your dad isn’t here with us this year,” I start, “but I remember how much he loved Christmas.” Even before Reece came along, Lawrence would spoil Eva with loads of gifts. She told me how he didn’t have memorable times as a kid, but wanted to make up for it. When Reece was born he went overboard for her each year.

  “Yeah, he loved Christmas,” she says with a smile. “I think it was his favorite holiday.”

  “What do you think about writing that letter to Santa?” I hope she’ll agree. She gives me a wicked side-eye and I laugh. “I’ll even write a letter.”

  “Auntie Kai…” Reece looks at me observing my face. “What are you going to ask for from Santa?”

  Obviously, it’s been a while since I sent in a request to Santa, or to anyone. “I’m a bit out of practice, Reece. What do you think I should ask for?” Santa may not be able to deliver the one thing I want most, a man. As I rub my hands together waiting for Reece to respond, I watch kids gather around the craft table.

  “Is your list to Santa like a wish?” she asks after taking a sip of her hot chocolate. I have little experience with kids Reece’s age, and her question catches me off guard. Instead of making up a response I shrug my shoulders. “Oh.” She looks at me, her mouth dropping open. “How about a boyfriend?” she yells louder than she should, and I look around to see if anyone caught what she said.

  “I’m not sure a boyfriend will fit in Santa’s gift bag.” I laugh. If he could, I should have asked Santa months ago when my relationship status turned into reluctantly single.

  When our hot chocolates are finished we walk over to the craft table to grab the paper and decorations for the letters. Sitting beside me, she decorates her page before turning her back to me to hide what she’s writing. Just in case letters to Santa are like wishes and will only come true if you keep them a secret, I guess. I take the time to describe my perfect man to Santa. I mean, if he is going to deliver, I’d hate to have to return him. Attractive, athletic build, funny, hard-worker, family man. Ironically, these are all characteristics my brother-in-law had.

  When Eva brought Lawrence home her last year in college, I had a mini crush on him. As their relationship grew, and I got to know him, my crush faded and he became the brother I never knew I needed in my life.

  “Auntie Kai,” Reece looks over my shoulder and says, “think Santa will find him before Christmas?”

  Folding up my letter, kissing the seam before standing from the table, I say, “I have faith he will.” I tap her nose. “And I have faith he’ll deliver whatever you asked for too.” We walk over to
the makeshift mailbox where we both drop our letters inside.

  Before heading home I ask Reece if she’d like to visit any of the other tents, and she shakes her head. I’m sure she’s ready to get home and check on her mom. Eva worked late last night and was still in the bed when I picked up Reece from their house this morning.

  Instead of knocking on the door, Reece pulls out her keychain and unlocks the door. “Mom,” she yells as we walk through the foyer. “We’re home.” Eva responds from the kitchen and Reece runs to her.

  “How’d you do ice skating?” I watch Reece melt into Eva’s arms before telling her about our lackluster attempt at ice-skating. “We can go back again.” Eva looks at me and says, “And I’ll try to teach you, again, Kai.” As a kid, Eva was the athletic one, picking up on soccer, softball, and apparently ice-skating. Me, I was the artsy one, spending most of my free time creating random projects that cluttered my room.

  “Oh and Mommy”—Reece grabs Eva’s hand—“we wrote a letter to Santa.” Eva’s eyebrows peak. “Hopefully Santa will bring Auntie Kai a boyfriend.” Reece smiles widely before running upstairs.

  “A boyfriend?” Eva asks with her hand on her hip. “Maybe we should make room under the Christmas tree for that one.” Eva laughs.

  Grabbing a seat at the kitchen counter I say, “I should have put my address on the letter, I’d hate Santa to send him your way.” Eva scrunches her nose and I try to distract her from the thought of being alone. “Are we still making the dozens of Christmas cookies you need tonight?” Eva signed us up for the cookie exchange at the church. I told her then I wanted no parts in her cookie exchange, but she pulled her sympathy card and persuaded me to help bake three dozen cookies. She nods her head and I say, “I should have left you hanging.” I glance at my phone before adding, “I had some shows to catch up on tonight.”

  Eva points to the TV before saying, “We have a TV.” With a tight grin she waits for me to give in, again.

  Chapter 2

  Kai

  Complaining now, after moving back to Georgia to do just this, would be pointless. Besides, there wouldn’t be anyone who would be listening or care to help me out of the situation. Nope. I’m not complaining about walking around the mall and stopping at every store catering to a kid’s every want. Nope. I’m not complaining about walking through the crowd of Christmas shoppers, the ones I’ve promised to avoid, in the middle of the day.

  After all, Eva needed me to watch Reece while she’s out of school on Christmas break. Since I too am on Christmas break, watching her isn’t that big of a deal. Except that it’s day three of this break and we’ve run out of things to keep her entertained. And here we are walking around the mall, through a crowd of people, in the middle of the day. Oh, but nope, I’m not complaining.

  We should be searching for the perfect gift for Reece to buy her mom, but instead we’ve weaved in and out of toy stores and children’s clothes stores. Then buttery, warm, bread smells lead us to the food court and Reece and I both fall for the lure of a free sample from the pretzel stand. Waiting in a line, similar to the ones I would have seen at the club when I was in college, I tell Reece our next stop is to an adult store for Eva’s gift. “Yes, ‘cause I know exactly what I want to get for her.” Oh, after all this walking, she finally has an idea. Great.

  “So what’s it going to be?” She begins to describe some kitchen gadget and I know she’ll need a little help. “You know your mom doesn’t cook often, right?”

  She nods her head before saying, “I was just hoping we could make cookies together after we open gifts on Christmas.” And just like that my internal clock rings loudly. Kids can be sweet, sometimes. I order a pretzel for each of us and take a bite as soon as the cashier hands them to me.

  “Kai,” I hear a male voice say.

  “Hi,” I respond, looking at him trying to remember how I would know this man. Of course I’m back at home, but it’s been a while since I’ve had friends here. I look down at Reece to make sure she’s close by my side.

  “I thought that was you,” he says as his eyes drag the length of my body. Suddenly I regret my decision to grab this pretzel. The way his eyes linger over my thighs reminds me that I could hit the treadmill, or find a running trail soon. His hands rake over his beard before he says, “I know it’s been years, but you don’t remember me?”

  My eyes narrow before I recognize the scar above his eyebrow. The one he got when we were in grade school. I’ll never forget the day one of our classmates dared him to jump off the top of the slide. He did, but his landing was far from graceful. His head hit that ground, and the steady flow of blood had us all screaming for help. The scar was a constant reminder of his foolery.

  “Noah.” My eyes scan the rest of his face, under his beard I recognize his smile. “You haven’t aged, but you hardly look the same.” The last time I saw him was the summer after high school, ten years ago. “What’s it been…”

  “About ten years ago was the last time I saw you.” I nod my head. He looks down at Reece and says, “I didn’t realize you had a child.” He waves at Reece who looks bewildered.

  I put my arm around Reece’s shoulders and steer her out of the way of the steady flow of people. “Oh, no, I don’t have any children. This is Eva’s daughter. Reece.”

  He nods his head and says, “Makes sense. How long are you in town for?” Of course, someone returning home could only be for a visit. Either you moved away or you stayed. Not many people moved away, then back. Not in their tender years, as my mama would say.

  “I moved back here over the summer.” I didn’t mention the reason, although Reece definitely knows I didn’t feel the need to discuss it with Noah.

  “Welcome back.” He opens his arms and I laugh as I let him wrap them around me.

  “Auntie Kai,” Reece says, probably getting bored and feeling awkward by my interaction with Noah. “I’m thirsty.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t want to interrupt your time with your niece.” He pats his pocket before pulling out his phone. “Let me get your number and maybe we can connect sometime, if you aren’t busy.” I look at his hands holding his phone, absent of a wedding band.

  “Sure,” I say before rattling off my phone number. “We can definitely catch up.” He smiles and we part ways, us to get Reece a drink then to find this kitchen gadget for Eva, him to do whatever it was he was doing in the mall in the middle of the day.

  “Auntie Kai,” Reece says catching my attention from my thoughts that are drifting to the days of high school when Noah was a cute teenage kid. Much slimmer than he is now, but the extra weight looks good on him. “Is that your friend?”

  With a smile I say, “He is, actually.”

  On our way to The Kitchen Store my phone buzzes.

  * * *

  Unknown: Save my number.

  Unknown: Call me when you have time for a drink.

  * * *

  Oddly enough, I wouldn’t mind grabbing a drink with Noah. Hell, I wouldn’t mind grabbing a drink with anyone. I could use a drink, and accompanied by adult conversation would be a plus. The couple of nights that Eva and I have opened a bottle of wine have been intermittently interrupted by Reece. The nights we’ve managed to pawn her off on her granny have been few and far between.

  Most of my other friends still living here are married and too lame to hang out.

  “Here it is.” Reece holds up the cookie cutter set that includes piping for frosting. She stares at the package and says, “I think I have just enough money for it.” She digs in her pocket and hands me her crumbled cash.

  She’s a few dollars shy, but I won’t crush her dreams. “We’ll be good.” Her smile is worth capturing. I grab my phone and tell her, “Say cheese.”

  After we finish the Christmas shopping it’s just about time for Eva to be off of work. We rush back to the house to wrap her gift and stick it under the Christmas tree.

  Reece grabs a blanket and wraps it around herself on the couch. I watch h
er as her eyes begin to drift close. I’m ready to fall asleep too, but I know better. Reece won’t be asleep long, and if she interrupts my nap I’ll be pissed. Instead I scroll through my social media accounts. My friends back at home, well Virginia, are living the life.

  Being a teacher doesn’t pay well, but having holidays and the summer off, away from the rugrats, is the best of both worlds. Most of my circle consists of teachers, and we always keep each other occupied during our breaks. Acting like we were baller’s wives, we’d rotate houses hosting brunches with unlimited mimosas. Minus the ballers, and for most of us, the wifey status.

  Today appears to be Juliana’s day to host. From the snaps they’ve posted, I can tell they are a few rounds into their mimosas from the glee on their faces.

  The front door opens and as Reece stirs on the couch I take it as my cue to exit stage left. Grabbing my purse I meet Eva at the door. I whisper, “Reece is asleep on the couch.” Eva hugs my neck and thanks me.

  On my way across town to my parents’ house I pass Bar Baxter’s and decide to pull right into the parking lot. My Virginia friends can’t be the only ones enjoying the holiday break.

  At the bar I order a Sangria before digging my phone from my purse and posting a picture of my drink with the caption, “Trying to catch up with my girls!”

  Looking to the end of the bar I see a cute couple, sitting close sharing a plate of food. The guy leaning over and whispering in the chick’s ear makes me miss my boo, well ex-boo. My move back to Georgia wasn’t in line with his goals for our relationship. I wasn’t too concerned about his protest for me to stay. We’d been together for a year, and although I cared for him, we weren’t anywhere near a walk down the aisle.