“Shut up, you’re going to freak her out!” his mom pouted.
“I am?” His salt and peppery brows went up to his hairline. “You’re the one showing up unannounced at the girl’s doorstep, on Christmas Eve, nonetheless,” he retorted. I bit the inside of my lip. They were a funny couple.
“David Sharpe!” She turned, stomping her foot slightly as she scolded. My lips twitched.
“What? Am I saying something that isn’t true?” he asked, clearly exasperated. Nate’s mom shook her head.
“My son is engaged, David.”
“Not telling me something I don’t know, honey.”
“So, then? What’s the big deal of me wanting to meet the woman who finally wrangled his heart?” she asked.
“Just saying you could have waited for New Year’s. Like the plan was.”
“Plan?” I found myself asking, both their gazes meeting mine.
“You guys are coming to Miami. We got you two airline tickets as Christmas presents. Surprise!” She put her arms up enthusiastically, giving me spirit fingers. I laughed.
Her soft caramel-brown eyes met mine. Then suddenly, they went glassy. Motherly emotion clear as day reflected at me as she opened her arms and stepped toward me in quiet glee. “Welcome to the family. Call me Mom!” And just like that, I was wrapped up in her arms, Nate’s dad cursed behind me, and I couldn’t stop myself from hugging the very excited woman back.
Nathan
He had his arm wrapped tightly around his woman as she leaned into him. Thank God.
“You okay?” he asked her. She looked up at him, her eyes clear and happy.
“The best,” she answered honestly, He couldn’t help the surprise he felt at her words.
Their Christmas Eve had been thrown for a loop with his parents showing up unannounced. But even as flustered as a surprise visit from her future in-laws might have made her, she didn’t show it. Angie had called to ask her sister if they could come with for Christmas Eve dinner. Elena hadn’t blinked and had Nena add two table settings.
Now, they were all together, his family and hers sitting around the dinner table. The kids were watching a movie in the living room.
“What is your favorite Christmas memory?” Elena asked. Everyone went around the table, telling their own moment in time they cherished.
They had been doing this for a while. Everyone sharing, getting to know one another, especially since they would soon be family by law.
“Nathan?” Angie said, and he glanced down at her and blinked.
“Sorry, what was the question.
“Favorite Christmas memory.”
“Baking snickerdoodles,” he immediately answered, his eyes pinned on hers as he watched her pupils dilate and her cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink.
“Oh, that’s right, we used to do those with you kids. Do you remember that, David?”
“I don’t think Nate was talking about baking with his mom, Kay.”
“What?” his mom asked, obviously not getting it, but by the humor shining back from his dad’s eyes, he knew his old man did.
“I’ll show you when we get back to Miami,” his dad told his mom with a wink, and Nathan groaned.
“Jesus, Dad!” he muttered but could feel his girl’s body shaking with silent laughter next to him. Elena stared down at the table with a big smile on her face. Nathan coughed his own laugh down, trying not to get a mental picture of his parents baking.
“Favorite Christmas movie?” he threw out there, quickly trying to change the subject.
“Oh! White Christmas, hands down,” Elena answered, and everyone kept talking around the table. Angie leaned in close, and he could feel the edges of her lips on his ear.
“Best underestimated cookie ever,” she whispered for his ears only, and just like that, he felt his blood heat up ten degrees.
“Happy first Christmas Eve, baby,” he whispered back and liked how her face went soft and she leaned in to give him a small, chaste kiss.
They sat around, everyone getting along and enjoying one another’s company, till half past eleven. His parents had rented a cabin and were heading back to Miami the very next day. This was, of course, after having gifted them airline tickets to spend New Year’s in Florida with them and his sisters.
Back in their home, they went to bed and cuddled together. Having her body pressed up close to his, he smiled as he looked at the ceiling, one arm tucked under his head, the other around her.
“What are you smiling about?” she asked, and he grinned even wider.
“Before Hawaii, would you have imagined this?”
“What, shacked up and engaged?” she teased, and he glanced down at her.
“Head over heels in love with your soul mate.”
“You think we’re soul mates?” she asked softly, her face gentle.
“I think something greater than we know made our paths cross,” he honestly said. The idea of having left the bistro just a couple of minutes earlier or later made his heart ache. They would have missed one another and wouldn’t have met.
“The same something greater that had you lose my information?” she asked. He thought about it. Blinking once, then twice, he shifted, rolling her onto her back, his body on his side as he tucked a wild strand of hair behind her ear.
“Yeah. Isn’t it serendipity who has a sense of humor when getting people together?” he asked, but her eyes were conflicted. “Hey? What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t think that month was funny,” she muttered. He knew she was right.
“I didn’t either,” he confessed.
He thought about hat month they’d lost, a month they would never get back. Every waking moment, his head had been filled with nothing but her, and even his dreams had revolved around her.
“What about kismet?” she asked, and he quirked a brow up. “It’s a word for fate or destiny. I think it was kismet we crossed paths in Hawaii the way we did, just out of the blue. Me on vacation alone, and you there for work. Then an honest human mistake that lead to a month apart happened, but kismet had placed Lindsey in your path and mine way before Hawaii. I really think we would have met eventually.”
“At her wedding,” he found himself adding to the make-believe scenario life might have put them in, and she grinned at him.
“Yeah. Her wedding. We would have had a fling there.”
“We could always crash a wedding and pretend to have a fling.” He wagged his brows, and she laughed, her body shaking slightly.
“Kismet made sure to get us back together. Reminding us what is supposed to be ours would happen and was meant to be.”
“And I sure as hell am yours,” he mumbled, placing his lips on her forehead.
“Ditto,” she replied, trying to stifle a yawn.
His girl was tired and he needed to make sure she rested. Christmas would be a whirlwind of activities, and he had a naughty idea or two of how to wake her up.
“Come on, let’s get some shuteye.”
“Okay,” she agreed, her voice sugary sweet. He prayed he would never take that tone or any moment of their future for granted. Somehow, he was almost positive he wouldn’t. They shifted in bed, her back nestled perfectly to his front, the now familiar scent of her hair and shampoo one he would always think of when sleeping. They spooned in bed, and holding her in his arms, under the same roof, he knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Every mistake in his life, every wrong and right turn he had made, had somehow led him here.
He didn’t know what he had done for the stars to align the way they had when it came to her, but he was forever thankful.
He drifted off to sleep thinking he was grateful for a lot in his life, but this year topped it all.
He had Angie, cookies, and kismet on his side.
The End
Hope Falls: Cookies & Kismet (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 11