by Tara Sivec
“You aren’t coming back with us to California, are you?” she asks with a sad smile on her face.
I look away from her for a few seconds to glance into the dining room. All of the small, round tables have been folded up and put away, and one long table has been put in its place, covered in a red Christmas tablecloth with candles and greenery and food all down the center, and chairs set up all around it. I watch John and Brian laugh and joke about something as they take their seats. I watch Joy and Jen smile and chat, sticking serving spoons into all the platters on the table. And I watch Jason in the middle of it all, with Maddy on his lap and a smile on his face, his eyes never leaving mine as he watches me from the other room, making sure I’m okay.
“I don’t think I am,” I finally reply to my mom, looking away from the Norman Rockwell-like scene in the dining room to look at her.
“I think I knew that as soon as you walked out the front door, had my assistant check flight records, and found out you booked a flight to West Virginia,” she tells me. “You always did love it here the most.”
“If you knew where I was, why didn’t you…?” I trail off, not wanting to sound so needy, when the whole point of me leaving California was to not be needed too much.
“Because I knew you needed your space,” Mom says, confirming what Millie and Jason both told me. “I knew if you were coming here, you needed something that we couldn’t give you. And being here now, seeing you, I know you found it. You look so happy.”
I smile through my tears and nod.
“I am. I really am. I don’t know what I’m going to do or what the future holds, but I’ve been cooking again, and everyone is just so nice here. I can think, and I can breathe, and I can figure out what I want to do with my life, and—”
“And you found a handsome young man who looks like he’s very smitten with you.” She smiles, glancing over into the dining room, where Jason smiles and waves at both of us.
I laugh, shaking my head at him.
“I just met him. It’s crazy. Now that you guys are here, I feel like I’m betraying all of you. This isn’t my home, and this isn’t my family.”
“I’m not going to lie and tell you that I’m perfectly fine with you staying here, but I like what this place and these people have done to you. I haven’t seen you this happy since… the last time we were here. And in case you haven’t taken a good look around while you’re been here, none of the guests are related to the Redingers. They’re here, because they don’t have anyone else, and this family has taken them in and made them one of their own. Remember Aunt Evelyn?”
I nod my head.
“She wasn’t your aunt. She wasn’t even your dad’s aunt.” Mom laughs. “She was Granny’s friend from the campground they went to in the summer. Come to think of it, I don’t think anyone even knew Aunt Evelyn’s last name.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. Aunt Evelyn never missed a family get-together. She always bought us Christmas presents and mailed us birthday cards with five dollars in them. I can’t believe she wasn’t even related to us.
“The point I’m trying to make is,” mom continues, “family doesn’t always have to be blood. These people have taken you in and made you one of their own. They chose you. That’s even better, if you ask me. You will always have your sisters and me. Always. Unfortunately, you’re stuck with us. But it’s time we get back to remembering what Christmas is all about. No more extravagant, over-the-top Christmas Eve party.”
“Oh my God, the party! And the television special! Wait. Where’s the camera crew?”
I can’t believe it’s just now occurring to me that my mom and sisters showed up here alone. As in, no security, no assistants, no photographers, no hair and makeup, and more shockingly, no film crew.
“It didn’t feel right celebrating when you weren’t there with us. Even though you spent every Christmas Eve party in the bathroom with Millie, eating fried foods,” mom tells me with a pointed raise of one eyebrow. “We’re not doing the television special anymore.”
As if that wasn’t shocking enough, she continues.
“We’re not doing the Christmas Eve party anymore either. It was ridiculous. All of those people we took away from their families every year. And for what? So they could have great videos for social media? Your sisters had complete meltdowns when I cancelled the party this year, but we compromised. We’ll spend Christmas with you, wherever you are, as long as you promise to come back to L.A. after Christmas starting next year, for our brand new Parker Family New Year’s Eve Bash.”
Giving my mom another hug, I nod against her cheek.
“I think I can handle that. As long as I don’t have to be on camera.”
“And since I’m assuming you’ll be bringing a plus-one with you to the party next year, I’d also like to request no bathroom hiding out.”
“I don’t even know if he’ll want anything to do with me a year from now,” I reply with a roll of my eyes, even though I’m secretly making another Christmas wish that Jason is my plus-one for the party next year and we are still doing a lot more than speaking.
“Okay, whatever you say.” Mom laughs with me, pulling back to give me a wink. “That man in there ordered that your sisters and I come here to West Virginia, because he said, and I quote, ‘I refuse to let this wonderful, amazing, smart, beautiful woman not get her Christmas wish or be sad for one more second over the holidays.’ He was a southern gentleman, of course, and ended his request with a please and thank you, and called me ma’am, but still. I have a feeling he’ll still want everything to do with you a year from now.”
Looking over at Jason in awe that I found someone just as wonderful and amazing, I make that second Christmas wish to myself one more time for good measure.
“Since I knew before I even asked that you were probably going to stay here, I’ve been practicing what I’ll say to your sisters when I break the news to them tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah?” I ask with a smile, looking away from Jason.
She squeezes my hands, and gets a serious look on her face. “Tori, Zoey… suck it the hell up. Your sister is happy. Let her be happy.”
We chuckle together, and I give her another hug.
“Merry Christmas, Allie girl,” mom says.
“Merry Christmas, Mom.”
We walk arm-in-arm into the dining room, my mom taking a seat next to Joy, while I squeeze in on the other side of them, in between Jason and Millie.
When we’re all seated, Jason’s dad gives a Christmas toast, and everyone starts digging into the food, praising me on how good everything tastes. Halfway through the meal, Joy says she forgot something, excusing herself from the table then coming back a few minutes later, her arms piled with presents. She hands one out to everyone at the table, including my sisters and my mom.
“Christmas Eve tradition,” Joy announces, which makes John, Jason, and Jen all groan as everyone at the table rips into their packages. “Matching Christmas Eve pajamas for everyone!”
The entire table laughs as soon as we get our presents unwrapped, all of us shaking out and holding up the pajamas Joy bought. Onesies that are supposed to make everyone look like they’re dressed as Santa. Except this Santa is missing his shirt, and he has very impressive, very naked washboard abs.
“I don’t want to hear one complaint!” Joy orders. “The description said Hipster Santa Pajamas. The thumbnail was so small, and I didn’t have my glasses on, so I just assumed it meant a fun, cool Santa. I didn’t know he would be so… chesty!”
“This was… so thoughtful of you, Joy,” Mom says diplomatically, neatly folding up her half-naked man pajamas and setting them on the table next to her plate. “How in the world did you manage to have a pair here for myself, Tori, and Zoey?”
“Oh, Mom always orders a few of every size, in case something doesn’t fit,” Jen explains.
“Is this synthetic fiber?” Tori whispers to Millie, grimacing as she brings her pjs up to her nose and sniffs them
.
Millie pats her on the back and gives her a reassuring smile.
“You’ll get used to it. I have my creams from Paris upstairs that will stop the itching.”
We spend the rest of dinner chatting, laughing, and doing exactly what Jason promised last night—having the best Christmas Eve ever.
“You good?” Jason asks when everyone is stuffed from dinner and we’re all lounging around the living room.
The guests popped in and out all day, but now they’re all over at the barn watching Christmas movies, giving the Redinger family time alone to celebrate Christmas Eve, even though Joy and John have repeatedly insisted everyone is welcome at all times.
Jason and I are curled up on one end of the couch, with his parents at the other end, and Millie in between us. My mom is in a recliner with her feet up, Tori are Zoey are curled up together under a blanket on the floor right beneath me on the couch, and Jen, Brian, and Maddy are lying on pillows on the floor, right next to the tree. Everyone is watching It’s a Wonderful Life, and everyone, including my mom and my sisters, are comfortably lounging in their chesty Santa pajamas.
I stare around the room with a huge, sappy smile on my face, watching my actual family, and the family who chose me after just a handful of days, all hanging out together under one roof, and that roof is not on fire, and no one is screaming. At least, no one is screaming since the last one out of Zoey, when Millie informed her there wasn’t a masseur on staff at The Redinger House.
“I’m good.” I smile up at Jason.
“Am I forgiven for making your Christmas wish come true?”
I glance around the room one last time, smiling down at Tori and Zoey when they quickly look back at me and blow me a kiss before turning their attention back to the movie.
“There’s nothing to forgive. There was no bloodshed, and lightning didn’t strike us down, so all in all, I’d say it was a good thing you did here tonight. I mean, the Christmas wish bylaws do state that you have to fucking make a wish come true if you can,” I remind him, giving him a kiss.
“Is Die Hard a Christmas move?” he quickly asks against my lips.
I laugh and just shake my head at him, turning away and pretending like I’m super interested in the movie.
“Come on. It’s the only thing I want for Christmas, and you have the power to make it come true. You have to tell me, Allie,” Jason pleads on a whisper, so he doesn’t disrupt the movie for anyone.
“I thought your Christmas wish was that my Christmas wish would come true.”
“And now it has, so they cancelled each other out and I get a new one. God, Allie, check the bylaws. This is your tradition, after all.”
With a sigh, even though I can’t stop smiling, I lean up, cup my hand around his ear, and whisper into it.
“I knew it!” he shouts, pumping his fist in the air and then quickly apologizing when everyone in the room shushes him.
“You knew nothing, pipe down,” I whisper with a laugh as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me against his side.
“I knew we were a match made in heaven when you passed out from pot chocolate in my arms, and you just confirmed it.” He winks.
“That was so cliché.”
“This whole thing is cliché,” Millie complains, leaning over on the couch to whisper to us. “Can we just get to the part where you guys profess your undying love for each other?”
Jason and I both laugh, sharing an eye roll between us before looking at Millie.
“We’re not in love,” I continue, laughing. “We just met. We’re…”
“Taking things slow,” Jason finishes, and I nod along with him.
“And I’m staying in West Virginia for now, because I love it here, and sure I want to cook, but who knows what will happen? I’m just… taking things slow. One day at a time, and enjoying being happy.”
Jason kisses the top of my head, and we watch the movie for a few minutes before Millie leans in again.
“The big city spinster found herself a woodworking mountain man to love. I bet he’ll propose next Christmas Eve, on the town square during the lighting ceremony, but there will be a power outage, and only Santa’s son can save the day! Spoiler alert, you’ll find out Jason is Santa’s son in the sequel, John has secretly been Santa this entire time, and the dashing best friend will have to fly in from Barbados—first class, obviously, because I’m not doing that shit again—to help you plan the best Christmas wedding ever, because obviously you’ll get married at Christmas. Don’t worry, you can catch up in the sequel.”
“Will you stop trying to compare my life to one of those Christmas movies?” I complain with a laugh.
“You’re right. I’d definitely be flying in from Palm Beach to help plan your Christmas wedding.” Millie nods.
“Taking things slow, remember?” I chuckle.
“Narrator: But they wouldn’t take it slow. They would take it faster than Allie crashing into the end of Jason’s driveway. They’ll live happily ever after in this bumfuck, nowhere town, celebrating Christmas just like this every year at The Redinger House, where Allie will be the chef, Jason will play with his wood, and all their little offspring will learn these wonderful Christmas traditions to carry on. And Allie’s mom and her sisters will come and visit, forever and ever, the end.”
“Stop it! You have no idea that’s how things will happen,” I say with a laugh after Millie finishes her monologue using a manly voice.
“You know I know things, Allie. Like how Tori and Zoey will return to L.A. after this adventure and not be such assholes.”
“Heeey!” Tori and Zoey both complain when Millie doesn’t keep her voice down.
“That’s exactly how everything is going to happen. Mark my words. You and Jason are just one, big Christmas cliché.”
With one last roll of my eyes, I snuggle tighter into Jason’s side, enjoying the best holiday I’ve had in a long time, even if it was one big cliché.
But Millie Chamberlin knows things. And with all that Christmas magic floating around all the time here at The Redinger House, wouldn’t you know it? That’s exactly how everything did happen.
The End
Check out all of Tara’s books: www.tarasivec.com