Page 27 of Holiday Hitch

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, I’m being serious.”

Daryl moved out from the kitchen and toward the living room as she spoke, “This isn’t about Christmas.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what this is about?” Leah snapped.

Daryl shook her head as her voice rose, “This is about you not feeling like anything I do is enough, no matter how hard I try or how often I show up for you.”

Leah raised her voice and argued back, “That’s not true…”

There was a loudbangon the front door, cutting Leah off. The couple listened in silence for a moment as they waited for the visitor to go away.

But another loud knock came from the front door, forcing Daryl to storm over to the entrance of her home.

She swung open the front door and barked, “What?!”

But as soon as the door opened, a loud cacophony of singing drowned her out, the tune of Silent Night filling the otherwise silent home.

Leah appeared behind Daryl to watch the carolers sing, wondering how long it would be before Daryl slammed the door in their faces. To Leah’s surprise, Daryl lasted more than a full minute as the carolers continued their lackluster rendition.

As they sang, Leah could see the tension growing in Daryl's back as she tried not to take out her anger on these random townspeople who were just trying to spread some Christmas cheer.

Leah bit her lip and took the break from the argument to figure out what had gone wrong so quickly. Just a few minutes before Daryl was licking whipped cream off her body. But now, Leah could hardly look at her girlfriend.

They had bickered from the day they met, never quite on the same page. But something about this was different. After a minute the carolers finished their song and Daryl and Leah clapped.

“Thanks for stopping by,” Daryl said through gritted teeth.

Leah called from behind, “Great job all.”

Daryl tried to wait until they were down the driveway to close the door behind them, careful not to slam it. She already had a reputation for being a grumpy old bitch, she wasn’t trying to have Scrooge added to the list.

Once the door was shut, Daryl walked back to the kitchen where Leah stood with her arms crossed. As Daryl and Leah looked at each other, neither of them knew what to say.

Daryl opened her mouth to break the silence, but Leah beat her to it, “If you don’t wanna be there for Christmas, that’s fine. But I don’t want you to feel forced either, so just let me know and I’ll deal with it,” Leah said, trying to resolve the fight.

Daryl shook her head, “Can’t we just talk about it?”

Leah looked to the floor, staring at her feet on the polished wood and shook her head, “Not right now, I think it’s better if we both cool off.”

Leah bridged the space between herself and her girlfriend on her way to the door, considering how she wanted to leave the interaction. She settled on a soft kiss on the cheek and a whispered, “I love you.”

Daryl muttered, “I love you too,” as Leah walked out the door.

In the car, she tried to stop tears from building in her eyes. Daryl skipping out on Christmas because she didn’t want to be there would be hard, but the thought of Daryl missing Christmas because of a fight broke Leah’s heart.

13

Jamie

Jamie and Malacktrekked their way through Bear Creek Park, passing the sledding hill where dozens of children zoomed down the steep slope. Watching kids play in the snow always made Jamie smile, bringing back memories of her own childhood visits to the hill.

But she and Malack weren’t headed for the slope today; they were looking for the hot chocolate pop-up truck that was stationed in Bear Creek Park every winter. Twin Cones, Malack’s favorite ice cream store, ran the truck, which undisputedly served the best hot chocolate in all of New Winford. As such, it had become tradition for Jamie and her best high school friend to grab hot chocolate in the park once a year.

So when Jamie had texted Malack about the fight she’d had with her fiancée, Malack said she would be happy to talk it over for the low, low price of a local hot chocolate.

Clearly, it was a great value.

“I always hated sledding,” Malack said as she watched the kids play cheerfully.