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Chapter 136

It's the best time of the year

— Burl Ives, A Holly Jolly Christmas

. . . .

When I get back to Harry's house, the lights are all off, a hill of presents positioned under the tree. It's only around nine-thirty, so I expected Harry to be up walking around the house waiting until I come back to start their own Christmas traditions, but as I walk into the bedroom, the lights are all off, and his body is slumped underneath the blankets. His snoring gets louder as I walk closer to the bed. I drop my things down on the floor by the dresser and kneel on the mattress to wake him up.

"Hey, it's me."

I run my fingers through his hair, and he stirs around a bit. He groans and rolls over onto his side. His eyes slowly open and a dopey smile spreads across his lips. He sits up and kisses my lips then rubs over his eyes with the sides of his fingers.

"How was your Christmas morning?" He asks me as he stands up to walk into the bathroom.

"Great. I thought you'd be up by now," I reply, taking my shoes off as he uses the toilet. "Why is it that when I'm here, you're up at the crack of dawn every morning and not waking up with me?"

"I didn't get to bed until eleven last night. I found a present in the back of the closet that I hadn't wrapped, so I had to wrap that which took longer than I thought it would," he turns off the bathroom light and extends his arm out to me. "C'mon. Let's go wake up Lilly."

. . . .

After about an hour or so of unwrapping presents one by one, the floor is covered in layers of gift paper. Lilly's patiently playing with an older Barbie as she's waiting for Harry and me to unbox the new ones she got from the both of us.

She bounces up and down on her knees as she sees her new toy being pulled out of its temporary coffin and all of the accessories are handed to her as well. Once the other dolls are taken out of the packaging, she starts dragging them over to her dollhouse.

Meanwhile, I sit back with the rest of Harry's coffee and a blanket as he cleans up the paper on the floor. He pulls out a gift that's messily wrapped in an abundance of red paper and buried behind the base of the tree. He studies the present and looks at the packaging slip that shows who it's for and from.

"Lilly, who's... Andy...?" He asks as he tries to make out her premature handwriting.

"Ooh," I coo at her as her cheeks flush a gentle pink color. Her little fingers fidget around with her doll as her eyes flicker from me to Harry.

I've never seen her this nervous. She's never had a crush and everything from the tingles she gets in her stomach and the pounding of her heart to our reactions when she tells us is all very foreign to her. She's never dealt with the symptoms of having a crush so she doesn't know what to expect. The denial she expresses is her defense mechanism in trying to push it away, but to be honest, I think she's just scared of the feelings.

"A boy from school..."

"And why did you get him a gift?" He questions her as he sets the gift on the table and takes his coffee back out of my hands. "Is he your friend?"

"Uh-huh..." she answers vaguely.

"I've never heard of the kid before. Is he new?" Harry asks obliviously.

I had told him about his daughter's first crush late at night before I went to sleep, but clearly, Harry was past consciousness and awareness to partake in having a conversation with me.

"No. He started school this year, too."

"Why do you look so nervous, Lil?"

"... He's cute," she declares with a tiny grin on her face. "What if he doesn't like my gift?"