by Dee Florence
“Maybe I can help?”
“No, gorgeous. You’ll ruin the surprise. I give good surprises. You know that.” He turns the music up to drown out whatever I might whine next.
He knows me too well! Damn it!
I decide a shower and a cute outfit is the distraction I need.
20 minutes later I hear the front door open and what sounds like people talking. I’m running low on patience now.
There’s a knock on my bedroom door, “Hey gorgeous, you can come out now.”
Blake opens the door for me. He stands there for a moment, stunned.
“I clean up nicely, huh?” I do a little spin.
He nods whilst eating up my body with his eyes. “Did you guess what’s happening?” he asks.
“No. I just thought I’d get dressed up for the fun of it.” I shrug. “A girl has to have hobbies!”
“Come see!” He holds his hand out to me and pulls me into my tiny living room.
I stumble when I see my small Christmas tree has been reassembled and a Christmas feast has been laid out over my craft/dining table. There are miss-matched chairs for six and Lottie and Ella are beaming at the two of us.
Blake has slid in behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. There are also two men who I don’t recognise. But they look friendly and seem glad to be here. I look around, wide-eyed.
What is all this?
“Merry Christmas, gorgeous. I thought we deserved a do-over.” He tips my head up and kisses me from behind. Lottie and Ella whistle, and the men make “hey-eh” protest sounds.
“This is perfect. Thank you!” I whisper.
Lottie and Ella each come over and hug me and wish me a “Merry Christmas!” then step away to continue their conversation.
It seems they are fast friends. Chatting away like they didn’t just meet minutes ago.
“Let me introduce you to the two you don’t know, and then we can start eating before the food is ruined.” Blake walks me hand-in-hand over to the two men in their late twenties, “This is James and this is Christian.”
They both smile and take turns shaking my hand.
James, tall, brunette and very fit, speaks first. “Thanks for having us. Blake said he had someone special to make up to. Honestly, I’m surprised you took his sorry arse back.”
We all laugh.
“Thanks for coming. It’s nice to meet you both. How do you know my Blake?” I squeeze his hand to know that there’s no mood change with what James said.
Christian, six-foot-something, sun-kissed surfer type, pipes up with, “We work with him. I can never say no to a feed and some good company.” He looks over to where Lottie and Ella are lost in conversation. “It’s going to be a good night.”
Blake claps his hands. “All right, it’s food time!” He leads me to my seat and everyone else takes their place.
He’s hand written place cards in his chicken-scratch handwriting and the effort he’s gone to is too cute. He brings a glass of Chardonnay over to me and checks that everyone else has the drinks they need. “Dig in.”
He sits opposite me and switches the playlist on his phone from ‘Aussie Barbeque’ to Christmas tunes, to keep the spirit alive, on this hot January evening. After quick introductions, we all settle into friendly conversation.
There’s lots of laughter and the joy of popping Christmas crackers and wearing silly paper crowns.
It’s the perfect Christmas do-over and one I’m so thankful that we had. My man loves me and he’s showing it, not just in grand gestures, but in the little things.
Lottie and James are hitting it off. Sparring over beach holidays versus snow holidays. Lottie’s getting so into it she just offered to take him to her grandparents’ house in Guadeloupe.
He’s not backing down. Maybe there’s a trip to the Caribbean on the cards for the two of them?
Ella and Christian are having a polite conversation. He’s looking at her like a goddess, but she may be harder to impress.
Blake said she had her eye on someone at New Year, so she might not be open to someone new right now. I think Blake is kind of glad of that. Few would be worthy of her, in his eyes.
They’re all excellent company and this is probably the best Christmas I’ve had in years. Blake and Ella clear the dishes away and they replace everything with dessert selections.
Ella made reindeer cupcakes. Lottie brought a Christmas pudding that was heavily discounted because it’s January. She was so proud of her bargain that she had to share it with everyone.
Christian brought Barbeque Shapes that are Christmas trees and a packet of Clinkers and James brought his grandmother’s famous trifle.
Blake made green and red jelly because he knows how much I love the childhood favourite. I feel like I’m lacking in my contributions, but Ella tells me that I provided the venue, the Christmas tree and a happy brother for her. So we’re even.
Can’t argue with that.
When everyone is filled to the brim with food and new stories, we say goodnight and they all leave together with containers of leftovers.
I suspect that’s not the last we’ll see of Lottie and James.
“My heart is full to bursting. Thank you for doing this for me.” I pull Blake into my arms.
“Anything for my woman. Anything.” He kisses my head. “But I’m not done yet.”
He pulls me to the couch and sits me down. He grabs a small parcel that he hid in the tree.
“I bought this for you a while back and I’m so glad that I finally get to give it to you.”
I just stare at the pretty, wrapped long box he hands to me.
A while ago? We’ve only been back together four days?
“Come on. Open it. The suspense is killing me!” Blake is bouncing on his heels.
Whoops! I must have really spaced out for a moment.
“Okay. Here goes!” I unwrap it carefully. It’s a necklace box. I carefully open it. “Oh! This matches my earrings from that weekend away?”
He nods. He’s still waiting. Unsure of my full reaction.
“It’s beautiful. It’s perfect! Can you put it on me?”
He takes it from me and carefully places it around my neck. He’s standing so close behind me as I grab my hair out of the way and he fastens it and places the chain gently on my neck.
He leans down and kisses the nape of my neck, over the chain and whispers, “You’re perfect. You’re my Christmas present.”
I twist and kiss him deeply. I love this man and I’m so glad we found our way back to each other.
“I didn’t get you a present though. I feel bad.”
“I told you, you’re my present.” His eyes go dark. “Now let me unwrap you!”
I giggle and pull him back to my room. “I’m so glad there’s a bow on this dress.”
“Me too, babe. Me too.”
FORTY-TWO
BLAKE
The week after we are reunited can only be described as bliss.
I wake early and run every morning, letting my woman sleep. Returning to her all sweaty, as she loves to point out. Before she pulls me back to bed by the waist of my running shorts.
We spend our days hanging out with our little friendship group—the one we formed on fake-Christmas—either at the beach or in my back yard.
We split our days between my home and hers, though I’m trying to convince her to keep some craft supplies at my home because it has more space.
She is, of course, digging in her heels and claiming that we should ‘take it slow’.
Fuck slow. I want her forever.
We’ve never been the slow couple though. We dove in to bed and then entwined our lives without really realising it. I still have that magnetic pull to her and I can’t see it ever waning.
It’s Monday and the first day of Cate’s summer holiday program. Little Crafting Adventures is running craft classes 3 days a week, for the three remaining weeks of the school holidays.
To deal with demand, they are running both m
orning and afternoon sessions each day. Cate has Ella working as her assistant and Gemma is pitching in too. It’s wonderful to see them helping her make sure this new venture gets through it’s growing pains and is a success.
She’s nervous. But I’m not sure why. She’s booked out all the classes and we’ve come up with a business plan to make this a viable business for her. She’s also super excited and I can’t help being excited for her. Watching her dream come true is a pleasure to witness.
I love her and she loves this. I’ll do whatever I can to make this a reality for her. I want nothing more than for her to leave the job she hates for something that not only makes her happy, but enhances the lives of the kiddos she’s teaching.
I’ve taken leave from my job, so I have nothing but free time. I’ve never really taken my annual leave before now and my boss realised that I have so much accumulated that he pretty much forced me to take the next 8 weeks off.
I guess that’s the benefit of never taking more than a week off in a year, over a 5 year period?
So I go to Cate’s morning class. I just stand up the back and watch her work her magic again. She’s in her element and it’s clear that those Christmas classes helped her and Ella find a way of working well together.
The kids are happy. Very few parents stay now. They’re more than happy to let their kiddos have some craft time, that’s not making a mess in their own homes no doubt.
When the first class is over, I give her a quick kiss and a big squeezing hug and head off. I’m not helping being there and Ella whispered in my ear that Cate was worried that I’d be bored. I’ve got things to do anyway.
I spend some time tending to my garden at home and then check on how Cate’s succulents are faring. They’re doing better than I anticipated, with a known plant-killer taking care of them. She’s even bought a watering can and added some colourful stickers to the outside.
My woman brings the sunshine where ever she goes.
I meet James and Christian at the pub at 1:30pm for a late lunch. I hadn’t really made much time for friends before Cate.
I went to parties and vaguely knew the people who were at them. Other than Matt, I hadn’t really spent too much time with people just catching up.
James and Christian are two newer guys on the team at work and they asked me to join them after work a few times during that time when Cate and I were apart.
At first I blew them off, but they persisted and eventually I agreed. It was only for one drink after work at first, but even with my sour mood, they seemed to know that I needed company.
They’re laid back mates in their late twenties. Not much younger than me. They’ve been gardening almost as long as I have. But they both just moved back to Adelaide, from the Sunshine Coast.
They’d been working short term jobs and travelling the country at the same time. It’s pretty cool, actually. They’ve been friends since they were kids and after they finished their apprenticeships they decided to travel Australia slowly.
They have spent the last several years working for a few months in one place, before moving to the next city or town.They have endless stories of the places they’ve been and the people they met along the way.
I’m grateful that they made time for me, especially when I was so frosty at first.
“So I never asked, what brings you two back to Adelaide? Surely there’s more than this sleepy town for the likes of you two?”
They share a glance and silently decide that James will speak. “A couple of reasons really, at least for me. My mum’s not well and I wanted to be nearby. She lives up in the Hills and it felt like time to come back. I’ve loved seeing Australia and lived in some beautiful places, but at the end of the day, there’s no place quite like home.”
“Yeah. 5 years of travel and working hundreds of jobs has taken its toll.” Christian adds. “I feel ready to settle in one place for a while and maybe buy a house or something. Do some growing up, you know?”
“Yeah. I really do.” I reply. They’re Ella’s age, but I get it. The partying eventually gets old.
“James was coming back for his mum and I wanted to see this place with fresh eyes. I left at 22, with a stick up my arse about how small-town it was. I’m enjoying seeing it differently having been around the country.” Christian takes a sip of his pint.
We’re sitting outside under a big beer garden umbrella.
“How is your mum doing?” I ask James, armed with this new knowledge.
“She’s not great, but she’s doing as well as can be expected. She’s ridiculously glad that I’m home. She’s even glad Christian’s home and she always thought of him as the trouble maker.”
They both laugh. “She’s credited him with bringing me home. So he’s a golden boy now. Even if that isn’t true.”
“Hey! It could have been! It’s not like I tried to convince you not to come back. Not this time, anyway! Six months in, yeah. But not now!” Christian shakes his head.
They tell me more about their adventures and I tell them about this city and how it’s changed and how it decidedly hasn’t. They love hearing my ‘old man’ stories, even though I’m only two years their senior. I do have a mortgage, but that’s more an Adelaide-is-affordable thing than a Blake-is-a-solid-grown-up thing.
When I look at the time, I realise that Cate will be heading home from her first day of the new program. We say goodbye and head off in our separate directions.
I stop in at the fruit and veg shop on the way home, so I can make us something fresh and delicious for dinner.
When I walk in the door to her place, she’s lying on the couch with her feet up. The balcony door is open and she has the fan blowing the hot air on her.
Adelaide summers are brutal.
“Hey gorgeous! Shut the door and turn on the air con. I know you don’t like running it when you’re alone, but I’m here and it’s too fucking hot.”
She just groans from the heat. So I put the veggies down on the kitchen bench and close the balcony door myself. I press the button for the air conditioning unit and it whirs to life.
I stop by the couch and give her a quick kiss. “When you’re cooler come tell me about your day, whilst I make us a delicious summer salad. I want to know all about it.”
“You spoil me.” She says as she follows me towards the kitchen. She sits on a bar stool at the bench. She hadn’t even realised that the bench was made for sitting at until I got her some second hand stools, locally.
I hand her a cold drink from the fridge. Peach ice tea with ice cubes. It’s her favourite and I can’t resist treating her.
“You were made to be spoiled. Don’t keep it a secret. How was your day?”
She tells me about working with Ella and Gemma. How all the kiddos have different personalities and that it can take a bit of work to get some of them involved, but she felt she got the hang of it by the end of the day.
She thinks it will be interesting to take the next class because a lot of the kids are booked in for all three days. She’s only done individual sessions before, so having some kids take on bigger projects is quite different.
She is completely glowing as she talks. I can tell she was meant to do this. It’s glorious to see.
“Let’s Eat!” I proclaim, as I finish my masterpiece of a salad.
“How was your day?” she asks “What did you get up to?”
“Some gardening and then I had a late lunch with James and Christian. It was a good day. They’re good guys.”
“I think they are too. We should plan a barbeque at your place. Get them and Lottie and Ella to come over. We have good fun, all of us together.”
“We do. You work your magic and tell me when it will be and I’ll be in charge of food.”
“Yay!” She bounces in her seat. “I’ll text our group chat after dinner.”
Somehow, like the way we fell for each other, our crew has come together quickly. Like it’s always been this way. Sometimes someone brings an extra pe
rson to tag along, but most of the time, it’s just the six of us laughing and enjoying the long summer evenings.
Not only could I get used to this, I want this.
For me. For us.
FORTY-THREE
CATE
The three weeks of my school holiday classes whizzed by.
I got the hang of them quickly and was actually sad when I realised they were coming to an end. Little Crafting Adventures has already grown so much that I’ve decided not to return to work.
It wasn’t my intention in the beginning, but I’m already booked out for after school classes. Three afternoons a week and two sessions on Sundays, for the whole of Term One. Term Two is booking up fast.
Parents were asking for a weekly program to send their kids to as well as birthday party sessions for the Sunday.
To deal with demand, Gemma has helped me come up with a plan that works with her business’s evening adult classes, but is also sustainable for both of our businesses.
She’s even taken me on part-time as their social media manager so I could leave my job.
Reuniting with Blake is up there with one of the best decisions I’ve made for me. I wondered, for a second, if the way he treated me before was just part of the chase. That the sweet gestures and his care for me would die off once we were officially together. But I was wrong.
He’s one hundred percent boyfriend material and he’s all mine.
Blake is loving his annual leave and whilst he’s still an early riser, he’s enjoying the more laid back pace that life is giving us right now. I don’t start my new classes or my new social media job until February, so we have a week of nothing but each other’s company.
Can’t say I’m sad about it.
It’s Sunday night. Tomorrow we find out if Blake is the winner of the scholarship that would let him complete his course early, so he’s a bit on edge tonight. I offered to cook dinner, but we both know that’s just code for ‘Cate will order food’.
He’s politely declined and is insisting on making us a meal. He says that making food for me makes him happy and who am I to deny him that? He shoos me from the kitchen so he can work his magic.