The Christmas Pact

by Keeland, Vi

  But…

  I couldn’t eat.

  I couldn’t sleep.

  I couldn’t think of anything but her.

  Not to mention, my heart rate skyrocketed every time an email pinged at work—thinking maybe, just maybe, it might have been her.

  Starting to sweat, I ran a shaky hand through my hair and blew out a rush of hot air from my lungs.

  It didn’t make any sense.

  I couldn’t love her after knowing her for such a short time. Could I?

  There had to be something else going on with me.

  I felt overheated, like maybe I had a fever. And a bit lightheaded while I considered all the other possibilities. Eventually, I settled on the answer that seemed to make the most sense—the one I could accept.

  I must be sick.

  I ventured out of the house long enough to stock up on cold medicines, Tylenol, Vitamin C, D, and E, plus a multivitamin and some antacids. Something had to alleviate the way I was feeling, loosen the aching tightness in my chest.

  “Not feeling well, huh?” the guy in a white lab coat at the pharmacy commented as he rung me up.

  “Yeah. Must be a bug or something.”

  He nodded. “It’s going around.”

  I knew it!

  His eyes pointed toward the glass window to the left of us. “Better bundle up. Flurries just started.”

  It looked like someone had shaken a snow globe while I was inside. I paid and shoved the plastic bag inside my wool coat, before buttoning and pulling the collar up to cover my neck. Even though it was snowing, I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I’d been cooped up for a day and a half already, so I just started walking.

  An hour later, my navy peacoat was almost fully white with a layer of snow. I found myself a few blocks away from where Riley had said she lived. I had no intention of dropping by, but I started to walk toward her apartment anyway. When I arrived across the street from her building, I realized I didn’t even know which apartment was hers. She could live on the first or twelfth floor for all I knew. I started to survey each of the windows to the individual apartments.

  A few had Christmas lights around the window frame; one had a menorah. Some Scrooges had a whole lot of nothing going on and just kept their blinds closed. But one apartment on the left side of the third floor caught my attention. It looked like someone threw up Christmas all over it. There were blinking lights lining the edge of the window, a decorated tabletop Christmas tree was centered in the middle, and garland draped on the outside below the sill.

  I smiled, certain it was her apartment for some reason. She’d bitched about her mother overdoing it, yet it would be just like her to find her own way to honor her father’s love of Christmas by doing the exact same thing. I’d bet she didn’t even realize she was doing it.

  I stood across the street looking at that window for a while, enjoying the view and the possibility that she might be inside. Eventually, I shook my head, laughing quietly at myself. It was time to leave. I definitely didn’t want to have Riley look outside and see me. She’d think I was stalking her. Though that was, apparently, exactly what I was doing, I just didn’t want her to think that.

  Yet I couldn’t bring myself to leave just yet. So instead, I walked to a coffee shop on the corner, a few buildings away from Riley’s. Shaking off as much snow as I could, I went inside and asked for the table next to the window. My fingers were probably starting to get frostbite anyway, so it made sense to warm up before beginning the long trip home. After all, I was already sick—I shouldn’t make it worse.

  I ordered a cappuccino and settled into a chair that gave me a straight view of Riley’s building. I’ll just warm up and then get going. I really wasn’t stalking.

  Yet an hour and a half and two more cappuccinos later, I was still staring at her building. Nothing much had happened either. My hands and face had warmed up, a few people had come and gone from her building, but no sign of Riley.

  This is ridiculous.

  I sighed and waved the waitress over to pay my bill. She deserved a decent tip, since I’d taken up her table for so long. So I plucked a few bills from my wallet and tossed them on the table, before standing to put my coat back on. I took one last look at Riley’s apartment building, and just as I did, the window I thought might be hers went dark.

  I froze. Maybe she was going to bed early.

  Or maybe that wasn’t even her damn apartment.

  Or maybe she was going out…and moving on.

  I waited a few minutes and nothing else happened, so I shrugged and decided to finally head home.

  But as I opened the door to the coffee shop, I froze mid-step. Riley was coming out of her building.

  And she wasn’t alone.

  Riley

  It had been three days since my date with Trevor, a nice enough guy who lived in my building. He’d asked me out several times this past year, and I’d always found an excuse to decline. But after venting my frustrations in that email to Ask Ida, I decided to take matters into my own hands and finally said yes.

  We’d had a nice time, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been thinking about Kennedy the entire time I was at Serendipity 3 with Trevor. And I hated knowing that, but there it was. Basically, Trevor was sweet and had everything going for him except one thing—he wasn’t Kennedy Riley.

  I hadn’t heard back from Ask Ida and wasn’t sure I ever would. After my rude response to her previous advice, she was probably done with me. I was secretly hoping that Soraya would read my email and try to convince me contacting Kennedy was the right thing to do. But on my own, I simply didn’t have the courage to reach out to him. Why was I still hung up on a man who apparently wasn’t interested in being with me? If he was interested, he would have called by now, right?

  The phone rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. Of course, my heart raced at the possibility that it might have been Kennedy.

  I looked down at the screen. It was my mother.

  The adrenaline rush subsided as I picked up. “Hey, Mom.”

  “Hi, honey. Just checking in. Are you alright?”

  Letting out a breath into the phone, I stared at the reflection of the Christmas lights in my window.

  When I didn’t immediately respond, my mother sensed something was wrong. “Oh, no. Did something happen with Kennedy?”

  Great.

  I didn’t want to have to do this so soon—try to figure out how to explain Kennedy’s exit from my life. I just didn’t have it in me to mislead her anymore. So instead of concocting a lie, I decided to tell her the truth.

  “Mom...I lied to you, and I’m very sorry,” I blurted.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “Kennedy wasn’t really my boyfriend.”

  “What?! How is that possible? You two seemed so enamored with each other.”

  “I know. Looks can be deceiving, can’t they?” I sighed. “I lied about the whole thing.”

  “Why on Earth would you have lied about that?”

  “Because I wanted to give you something new and exciting to be proud of when it came to me. Every year, in your Christmas letter, I’m the only child with nothing exciting to report. I was sick of feeling inadequate and figured if I could appear to be with someone worth writing home about...that you would finally be proud, even if it wasn’t real.”

  My mother fell silent. Then she said, “I don’t even know what to say. I never imagined that my letters made you feel inadequate. That was never my intention.”

  “I know. And actually...it doesn’t even bother me anymore. The whole thing seems silly now. I’m just letting you know my reasoning at that time.”

  “So, if he’s not your boyfriend, then who is he?”

  Good question.

  “He’s a friend from work. Or rather, we work in different departments of the same company. He made up the whole thing about the space program. Well, actually, that wasn’t a total lie. He had applied in the past and gotten in. That’s how he
knew so much about it. But currently, he works at Star Publishing along with me. But don’t blame him for lying. He was doing it as a favor to me. It was totally my fault.”

  It was interesting that despite everything, I still wanted to protect him.

  “Boy, you sure had me fooled.” Her next question surprised me. “So...why aren’t you actually with him? Aside from the fact that he lied for you, he still seems like he’d be a catch. You two had such amazing chemistry. You just can’t fake that, Riley.”

  “It’s complicated, Mom. But by the end of my trip out to visit his family, I actually had started to fall for him.”

  She laughed. “Well, isn’t that ironic.”

  Yup.

  “Anyway. I’m really sorry for lying.”

  “Well, I think we all fell for him a little bit. Please don’t do something like that again, Riley. Not only because it’s not good to lie, but because there really is no need to. I love you just the way you are, even if I do go a bit overboard with the letter every year. I never realized that it bothered you so much. You know that ever since your father died, I’ve been looking for ways to distract myself, throwing myself into making the Christmas decorations bigger and better every year, trying to make it seem like everything is going so well via those letters. Truth is,” she said, her voice shaky, “I’m really quite sad, deep down. I do the best I can, but being without your father is harder than I ever imagined.

  “I’m sorry, Mom. I know.”

  “I suppose I’ve convinced myself that if others believe my life is wonderful, then eventually I’ll believe it myself. Not the best example to set for my children, I know. But, Riley, always be honest with me, even if I apparently don’t deserve it sometimes.” She sighed. “Now tell me more about this Kennedy. You didn’t really answer me. Why can’t you two be together?”

  “It’s a long story, but the gist is that Kennedy’s ex-girlfriend ended up marrying his brother.”

  She gasped. “Well, how terrible! Wait, was that the wedding you attended together?”

  “Yes. And so...he’s definitely wary of women and of getting hurt, although I can’t be a hundred percent sure that’s why he hasn’t contacted me. He may just not be that into me.”

  Suddenly, I heard something hit my window. Something small. It sounded like a rock against the glass. Sensing potential trouble, Sister Mary Alice started barking and ran to the window.

  “Hang on, Mom.”

  When I peeked out the window, I saw the last thing I ever expected to: a man sitting atop a beautiful white horse. I leaned in, squinting to try to see who it was. A second later, my eyes flew wide open and I jumped back with a gasp. The phone slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. I could hear my mother’s muffled voice off in the distance, but I could only focus on so many things at once.

  And it wasn’t every day that the man of your dreams showed up on a white horse.

  I opened the window, not caring about the cold air I was letting inside my apartment. “Kennedy? What the heck do you think you’re doing?”

  He appeared to be struggling to control the animal. The horse lifted up onto its hind legs as Kennedy tried not to fall off. It neighed loudly and continued to prance and shift its feet restlessly.

  Kennedy was working hard to hang onto the reins, but managed to call out, “Can you come down for a minute, Riley?”

  Still in shock, I bent down and finally picked up the phone I’d dropped.

  “Riley? Is everything okay?” Mom asked frantically. “I heard a crash. What is going on? Are you okay?”

  In a daze, I ran toward my apartment door, but saw Sister Mary Alice eyeing the open window. I tucked her safely away in my bedroom and closed the door. Then I raced to the door and breathlessly explained as I locked up and ran to the stairwell, “I...uh...dropped my phone, Mom. Listen…actually, Kennedy—speaking of the devil—he’s here...on a horse.”

  That got her attention.

  “Did you say he’s on a horse?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yup. A white horse.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I, Mom. Neither do I.”

  “Well, go downstairs and see what he wants. And whatever you do—do NOT hang up. I’ve got to hear this.”

  Now standing on the sidewalk outside my building, I faced him, wide-eyed and utterly smitten.

  Kennedy was out of breath as the horse pranced restlessly on the street between two parked cars. “Am I too late?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did she email you back?”

  “Who?”

  “Ida…Soraya...whoever the hell she is.”

  Soraya? How did he know I’d written her again?

  “No. She never responded to me. How did you—”

  “I saw you with that guy, and I just assumed…”

  “What guy?”

  “You were walking out of your apartment with him the other night.”

  “Oh, that? He was no one. Just a platonic date.” I shook my head. “Wait…Kennedy, were you stalking me?”

  “No. I was having coffee across the street.” He continued to struggle to keep the horse at bay. “Anyway...am I too late?”

  Even though I had no clue how he found out I’d written to Soraya, I didn’t really care. I was just so happy to see him.

  As I looked into his eyes, what I saw there brought tears to mine. The frosty air billowed out of my mouth as I shook my head frantically and choked out the words he wanted to hear. “You’re not too late.”

  “Riley, I...”

  Before he could continue his sentence, Sister Mary Alice’s high-pitched barking cut him off. We both looked up to see her nose pressed up against my bedroom window. Kennedy’s horse was startled and started to go a little berserk, nearly throwing Kennedy off. Instead, it stopped short and proceeded to poop all over the pavement. Then it galloped away down the street—with Kennedy still hanging on.

  I watched in shock as he yelled to me in the distance, “Wait for me, Riley! I’ll be right back!”

  I’d nearly forgotten I was still holding the phone. My mother’s muffled voice registered through the receiver. “What in God’s name is going on, Riley?”

  I put the phone to my ear. “I have no idea, Mom. Kennedy just showed up on a white horse. I didn’t get a chance to ask him much because Sister Mary Alice started yapping at the bedroom window. She spooked the horse, and it pooped all over the street. Then it bolted off—with Kennedy hanging on for dear life!”

  “What on Earth?” Mom blurted before losing her composure completely.

  I shook my head and grinned as she laughed out loud. “I think it was supposed to be some kind of romantic gesture. But…”

  “Well, that certainly went awry. But it’s still pretty romantic, if you ask me. Where is he now?”

  The question caught me off guard and my heart thundered in my chest. “I don’t know! What if he gets hurt? Should I call the police?”

  I was about to do just that when I spotted Kennedy running toward me. The horse was nowhere in sight.

  “Mom, I’ll call you back.” I ended the call and put the phone in my pocket before she could respond.

  He was completely out of breath by the time he finally got to me.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, still not quite knowing what to make of the situation.

  Leaning his hands on his thighs, he caught his breath before he nodded, “Yeah.”

  “What happened to the horse?”

  “I took him back. The owner was waiting for me in the park in case something went wrong. I just wasn’t expecting that to happen so soon.”

  “Well, it was a valiant effort. And a very sweet gesture. But…why?”

  “You told Soraya that, deep down, that was what you wanted. Prince Charming to ride up on a white horse and whisk you away. I got the horse part right.” He frowned. “That was about it, though.”

  It took me a few seconds to realize where he’d gotten that fro
m.

  “I mentioned that in my most recent letter to Ask Ida. Did she accidentally send you the reply again?”

  That would explain why I’d never heard back from her.

  He straightened but was still struggling for air. “No, actually,” he gasped, “Soraya sent your letter to me—but on purpose this time. Told me I’d screwed up enough and that I needed to step up and fix it. Said if I didn’t find a horse and show up here, she was going to write back to you and tell you to forget about me and find someone else. I couldn’t let that happen. The truth is…I’d been looking for a good kick in the ass for a while and that was it. But, Riley, it was only a matter of time anyway, even if she hadn’t given me my marching orders. Because I just couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  I began to tear up. “I’ve missed you so much.”

  He closed his eyes. “Thank God.” Then he opened them and stepped toward me. “I’m sorry I was a jerk. I don’t even know how to explain what happened. I was just starting to feel so much toward you and got a little freaked.” He cupped my cheeks. “When you were talking so passionately that night at the wedding about how no one has the right to cheat on someone, I just knew you were the one for me, that I could trust you—that you would be my ride-or-die. But it scared the hell out of me at the same time. But in the days we’ve been apart, I’ve been miserable. And I’ve come to realize that I’m more scared not to take this chance with you.”

  In that moment, it all made sense: everything that had happened thus far in my life, all of the days where everything felt meaningless and not ‘letter worthy’, were necessary to get me here, to this point, with this man. A man I was destined to meet.

  He pulled me close. Wrapping my arms around him, I wasted no time pressing my lips against his. He groaned into my mouth, the sound a mixture of relieved and victorious at the same time. The second he began to swirl his tongue inside my mouth and I tasted him, I knew there would be no holding back now. Tonight we were finally going to get it right.

  Despite the frigid weather, I nearly melted when he spoke against my lips. “Riley, I know that how we met seemed like a series of mistakes, but I can’t help but feel like it was far from that—that we were somehow meant to be. I’ve never felt happier than when I’m with you.”