Page 15 of When She's Merry
“I will take a maybe.”
ChapterNine
DEVIN
Liesje is surprised to see us on her doorstep. “You should have sent a message,” she calls out to us, holding the door open as snow pours from the dark gray sky. “This weather is terrible!”
“And miss out on our merry holiday? Never!” Sinath carries me to her door, blanket, Jerry and all. “Help her warm up while I get the rest of the things from the air-sled.”
“The rest?” Liesje asks, giving me a curious look as she helps me peel the blanket off.
“Our custodian friend is a shopper,” I say. “He’s got a bunch of gifts in the sled.”
“How fun.” She takes my blanket and shakes it out. “Let me put this in the clothes dryer and get you some tea. I made some cookies, too. Do you likespeculaas?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, then it might be good that these are not quite them.” She bustles towards the kitchen. “They don’t taste quite the same as the ones from my homeland, but thekerststolis close. It was my son’s favorite forkerstdag.”
She makes me taste everything, and of course it’s all delicious. The cookies are full of all kinds of spices and remind me a bit of gingerbread, and the cake-like stollen bread she callskerststolis filled with nuts and bits of dried fruit and honey. The foods here are never quite the same as the ones back home, but these are darn close, and I immediately want seconds. “I made cookies too, but mine are boring compared to these.”
Liesje chuckles. “We will eat nothing but sweets and wash them down with tea and enjoy ourselves thoroughly.”
Sinath crashes inside a moment later, his arms full of snow-covered presents. He shakes himself like a dog again, flinging snow off, and then looks at us. “These go under the tree and below the tree’s clothing, right?”
“The tree’s not wearing clothing, for the millionth time,” I exclaim. “Good lord.”
“So it’s a naked tree. Naughty.” He grins at me and heads for the tree itself. “Do these need to be set in any particular order? Is there another tradition?”
I roll my eyes and give Jerry the last bite of mykerststol, then move to Sinath’s side, helping him arrange the packages underneath the tree. Mine are now mixed with his and there are so many presents that between those and the mass of decorations, the small, vivid green tree looks overwhelmed.
“Come eat, come eat,” Liesje says, tutting at Sinath. “I baked all these things for you. Presents can come later.” She turns toward the counter, cutting him a large slice and then pouring some tea. “Do you need to go and help others with their farms in this weather?”
Sinath follows behind Liesje, cramming a mouthful of the cake-bread into his mouth. His eyes light up and he grins at her, his cheeks full like Jerry’s. “This is so good.”
She beams at the compliment. “Just like my son.”
Maybe this is what she needed, I realize. She tolerates my fussing enough, but I’ve never been able to get through to her. Within a week, though, Sinath has her cleaning up her house and baking, and he doesn’t coddle her. He just shows up and reminds her that he cares. That he understands. And as she smiles up at him, I suspect she sees a little bit of her lost son there, too.
I’m just glad she’s found a reason to smile again.
ChapterTen
SINATH
Ieat the delicious human foods that the females pass to me as if it is my duty to do so. It’s clear to me that Liesje enjoys feeding me, so I continue to devour plate after plate of cookies and the nut-studded stollenbread. It reminds me of something my grandmother made when we ran out of our funded rations allocated for the month. She would pull bits of all kinds from leftovers and trade with our neighbors for nuts and fruits, and make a thick loaf of whatever we had available so it would last as long as possible. I remember dipping that hard, strange loaf in water to soften it and thinking it was the tastiest meal possible.
Grandmother just wanted someone to look after. Someone to have a connection of some sort with. Family. I suspect Liesje wants the same. She doesn’t want Devin, however well-intentioned, to do things for her. She needs to be goaded into doing them for herself.
So I polish off another piece of bread and hold my plate out for more. I’m going to have a gut like Rektar if I keep eating like this, but there are worse things.
Liesje is in a great mood as we eat and drink tea. Or rather, I eat and the females drink tea. Devin nibbles on some of the cookies, handing bits to her rodent, and I don’t even mind his presence. I pick a candied nut off of my plate and hold it out to him, and I’m rewarded with the little chirp he makes when he’s excited. He looks ridiculous in his sweater, though. I’m going to tease Devin about that later. Liesje sips her tea, talking of holidays in the past, like the time she caught her former mate cheating on her and threw him out in a snowstorm much like today’s.
Now that, I don’t understand. Mesakkah are decisive when it comes to females. Some might say “covetous,” but I like to think we know instinctively what we want. I knew when I kissed the first human that she wasn’t for me, but I was intrigued by the thought of kissing. She’d been yellow-haired and round-faced with pale eyes. Me, I prefer the vibrant snap of Devin’s darker eyes, the wide smile on her face, and the way she gives me defiant glares.
Oh kef.
I choke on a bit of stollen, coughing. Liesje and Devin both reach over and thump my back, and I grimace my thanks. Why is it when I picture a mate, I’m suddenly picturing Devin and it feelsright? Like something has slid into place?