Person. He was like a person who mates for life.
After they’d carried out their dishes, Mel didn’t ask Mitch to help anymore. Instead, she introduced him to a few people and encouraged him to enjoy himself. But people kept mistaking him for her boyfriend, which meant she had the severe mortification of correcting them. She didn’t want Mitch to think that this was why she brought him, to pose as her boyfriend. While she liked having a plus one, she certainly didn’t like having to clarify what their true relationship was all the time. If anything, it was worse than being the only single one.
After a few of these introductions, Mitch seemed to be trying to slip away from Mel and the rest of the party, she supposed to just sit and wallow in his own holiday-season depression. Mel would have spent more time trying to cheer him up, but he seemed in an even worse mood than usual. Mel brought Amos and Dylan over to say hello, and Mitch barely cracked a smile before saying, “Excuse me,” and walking to a corner where nothing in particular was waiting for him and proceeding to sulk.
This was just irritating. After a couple of minutes, Mel followed. “The guys will think you’re homophobic now,” she said.
“Huh?”
“Amos and his boyfriend.”
“That’s his boyfriend?” Mitch said distractedly. He was looking at his phone. Mel’s mind flew again to the day they’d met, and she was filled with annoyance.
“Yes! I told you that when I introduced you. Are you even listening to me?”
Mitch finally looked up at the tone of her voice and said, “Yes. Sorry. Yes, I’m listening.”
His eyes were wide, and Mel’s heart was still racing. “I know you’re going through something right now with Ashleigh, but it would be great if you could at least try to be friendly. You didn’t have to come if you thought you couldn’t do that.” She folded her arms in front of her chest, trying not to cry with the frustration she felt. She really hated confrontation, and it made her eyes sting, even when she wasn’t particularly sad, just with the stress of having the conversation.
Mitch looked duly chagrined. “Okay. You’re right.”
Mel didn’t meet Mitch’s eyes as she added, “If you’re annoyed that people keep thinking we’re dating, I just want to say—” She had been about to defend herself against any ungenerous suspicions, but Mitch interrupted her.
“That doesn’t bother me half as much as it bothers you, Mel.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve told everybody at the party that we’re just friends, so. Message sent and received.”
Mel shook her head, feeling a little slow thanks to a couple glasses of “adult” eggnog. What did he mean? “Well, yeah. Not because it bothers me, though. Just because I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable. I know how everything with Ashleigh has been lately.”
Mitch looked at her with exasperation, and it made her panic. Tears began to sting in her eyes again, and she said, “I’m sorry if I did something wrong.”
As soon as she said it, her heartrate picked up even more. She felt like she might be sick. She genuinely thought she might pass out if she didn’t use her stupid gift, and she had no idea why. If her reaction increased in relation to the intensity of the wish, then this was the most intense wish she had ever been exposed to. It made her whole body ache with the longing and pain of it.
This was unbearable. It had to stop. Mel glanced out the window, where a thick, fluffy snow had just begun to fall. It was a beautiful night, and the crowded party was warm and full. Nobody would mind a little music, would they? She knew what she had to do.
She was terrified, though, of what using her gift might mean for Mitch’s family. Would Ashleigh and Sam break up? Would Aiden be okay? What would happen to her friendship with Mitch? But ultimately, it didn’t even feel like her decision anymore. She had to do it. She had to sing.
So she turned back to Mitch, who was looking at her with concern and seemed about to reach out and touch her when she’d turned around.
She swallowed her tears, gathered her courage, and said to Mitch, “I know what will make it up to you. What’s your favorite Christmas carol?”
He seemed confused, but he gave her that wry grin she adored and said, “I like ‘Let it Snow.’”
“Okay,” Mel said with a smile. And she sang.
It was one of Mel’s favorite songs, too. As she sang about keeping each other warm, Mel watched Mitch’s face, the way she’d done with Ashleigh, the way she always did. She liked to see the moment the wish was granted, the moment that whatever it was that was going to change would change.
But as the song progressed, she became distracted. She noticed his smile—that great jaw line, with the lightest layer of stubble, and lips that looked soft. They were soft, she remembered. The shape of his hazel eyes when he was happy, and his body language toward her, always welcoming and warm. She noticed how tall he was, and his broad, muscular shoulders, and hands that could steadily perform complicated surgeries, carry an injured hobby runner around her living room, or assist a child with decorating a Christmas tree. He was so much more extraordinary than she ever gave him credit for. And his dorky sense of humor, and his occasional moodiness that never really bothered her—all it meant was that he felt things deeply. She loved that about him.
The realization spread over her, slowly and steadily, like a blanket of freshly fallen snow, making everything clean and bright within her. She loved him. She was in love with him. Of course she was; it was the simplest and most obvious thing in the world.
When Mel was finished singing, Mitch was listening at a close distance, but Mel couldn’t help herself. She came closer, leaning in to the warmth of his body, standing on tiptoes to be nearer to his face. She put her hands on his arms, running them gently up his biceps, to his shoulders, to his face.
The smile on Mitch’s face then was only slight, lips parted in a look of surprise and wonder, but it was the most powerful, meaningful smile she’d ever seen. It held his whole heart in it. He barely needed inviting. As soon as Mel touched him, he wrapped his arms securely around her, and then the smile that had been so mesmerizing to her was pressed against her own, opening her lips with such tenderness. His hands pressed against her back, and he hummed softly. Why had she been so confused before? It was obvious now. Mel and Mitch—they simply fit.
They kissed until Subha stopped them, interrupting with a smirk to say it was a PG party, and all PG-13 behavior had to wait for the after party. Mel blushed, but Mitch squeezed his arm around her and said, “I’ve waited weeks, so I guess I can wait a little bit more.”
Mel turned to him in surprise. “Weeks?”
He reached up and brushed a strand of hair lightly away from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear. “Weeks,” he confirmed with a smile.
“But I thought you weren’t over Ashleigh.”
He sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I wanted to get back together with her, at first, because I didn’t like being dumped. But, to tell you the truth, I haven’t wanted that since—well, since Thanksgiving.”
Since Thanksgiving? Mel couldn’t believe it. “Not really,” she said.
His smile widened. “You are adorable, do you know that?”
“Mitch,” she said, trying to get him to focus.
“I don’t know if I realized it at the time, but that’s when it started. That’s when I realized, the way I felt about you was different from how I ever felt about her. You make me want to be…who I want to be. When I’m with you, I feel like I’ve finally found what I was waiting for.”
Mel didn’t know how she’d missed it. For weeks she’d been so convinced that Ashleigh was all he wanted. She only saw what she expected to find, and didn’t see the truth.
While she was still parsing though the confusion of her thoughts, Mitch kissed her again. With all the heartfelt tenderness and certainty of a man who isn’t torn between two women, a man who knows exactly who and what he wants, Mitch held her face in his hands and kissed her. When
he pulled away, he whispered, “You are the only thing I want this Christmas.”
The truth opened to her slowly. It danced across her thoughts and settled in the warmth of her heart, where Mel’s optimistic soul had been waiting for years to be found out. Mitch’s deepest wish was her.
Epilogue
The Turkey Trot was underway. A year had passed, but Francy still couldn’t be prevailed on to run. Now that Mel was married and could run with her husband, Mitch, she hoped Brent would sit the race out, too. But it turned out, Brent really liked running this stupid race, so Francy had bundled up her baby daughter, Elsa, and brought her to watch her daddy, aunt, and uncle run through the frigid, early morning air on this cold November day. She was sure she was supposed to be thankful on this holiday, but wasn’t sure there was anything to be thankful for.
Although, perhaps being out of the house was something to celebrate this year. Her mom and Mel weren’t exactly fighting, but Mom’s passive aggressive comments were a bit much. She still hadn’t forgiven Mel for eloping last spring, insisting that she deserved to be present for her daughter’s marriage. Never mind that Mel and Mitch had thrown a reception for family and friends after the fact, Annie was still complaining about it—not overtly, but in the little comments she made. It was getting on Francy’s nerves, and Liz’s too—but it was pretty obvious that Mel barely noticed, and Mitch not at all. The newlyweds were still in their honeymoon phase, and nothing ever seemed to bother them.
On a cold morning like this one, Francy was grateful that the race was short. She watched the runners approach the finish line, but she thought Mitch was acting really strange. He and Brent were faster than Mel, which never bothered Mel, but Mitch kept circling back to her. He was holding her by her arm, and he kept leaning over to ask her something, which seemed to be annoying her. Francy didn’t understand it. Obviously, Mel’s knee was totally better. She was looking great, except maybe a little winded, but being short of breath sort of comes with the territory when you’re a runner. And Mel adored Mitch, was just truly smitten with him, so it was odd in general to see her acting so irritable.
Elsa babbled from her stroller, and Francy walked around to tuck her blanket in more securely. The little fair-haired girl smiled up at Francy, and she was returning the smile when she had a sudden realization. An instinct. A sense.
She stood up straight and looked back at her twin, who was still fending off Mitch’s zealous attentions. And she knew. She scooped Elsa out of the stroller so they could meet the runners at the finish line, and as they waited, she kissed Elsa’s chilly cheek and whispered in her ear, “This time next year, baby girl, you’ll have a new little cousin.”
“A-goo,” Elsa said.
The End.
Author's Note
Thank you, Dear Reader! I hope you enjoyed reading Christmas Melody as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please consider leaving a review, and if you join my author mailing list, you’ll get an exclusive free novelette, Secret Santa, a short holiday romance. Enjoy!
<3
Alyssa
Christmas Melody: a romance for the holidays Page 15