My best friend's mom

Epilogue: A glimpse of the future

"Love have you seen my car keys? I want to start loading the car." I was rushing up and down the house looking for them and carrying everything outside so long.

"No Baby girl. You always leave them on the kitchen counter, did you check there?" Dianna was still busy getting ready, making us late as usual. Fashionably late is what she always liked to be. I went to our room and sat on the bed, admiring her as usual when she got ready. She winked at me and blew me a kiss in the mirror. 

"We're going to be late. Well we already are. It's quite a drive this time of day. I hope Anna started the roast early this morning. Remember last holidays?" I laughed.

"We ordered takeout and ate roast the next morning for breakfast." She shook her head and laughed too. "Alright, let's go Baby girl. Found your keys yet?"

"Yeah... Right where you said they would be." I flung my arm around her neck and we got in the car. 

The drive over to Anna's took us an hour longer than it should've. Traffic in the holidays are always a drag. I ran up to the door before getting everything in the car. I hadn't seen Anna in nearly 6 months. I missed her everyday. They moved away from the coast when Anna finished her studies and Graham found a job. They married soon after. 

"Where's my bitch!?" I yelled at the top of my lungs by the front door. Who needed a bell? Not me. Anna flung the door open and jumped on top of me screaming. We hugged each other for a solid 3 minutes.

"Auntie Ali!" Two voices rang from behind her. Each of them clung to a leg with Anna also still clinging onto me. I toppled over and we all fell to the floor. 

"Hello my little rascles. Hey Anna Banana. Gosh I missed you guys." I hugged Tanya and Ryan and headed back to the car.

"Hey mom! How have you been?" Anna greeted as Dianna came around the car with some of the baggage. She hugged Dianna and also took some bags from the car. 

"Hello honey. Fantastic. Where are my sweetie pies?" Tanya and Ryan ran and jumped on her too. 

"Where are our presents?" Ryan asked through his missing teeth. They were glaring at the luggage and open doors to spot their presents. 

"There, there. All in good time." Dianna laughed. After unloading, we headed inside and unpacked in our room. 

"This never gets old. I'm so happy love." I smiled as we were unpacking and smelling the roast in the air. Some music was blaring in the background - random Christmas carols. Dianna came over to me and put her hands on my hips, pulling me closer. We swayed slowly back and forth to the rhythm of the music. She took one of my hands and let me do a swirl, pulling me back in again. 

"You are my world Baby girl. You make everything brighter. I love every single minute with you." She kissed me gently on the forehead and we headed downstairs. My heart still skipped a beat every time she kissed me. 

"Come on you two love birds, the table is set." Anna said, rolling her eyes but loving our dynamic. "Oh Ali, your mom also just arrived." 

"Just in time." I smiled. I went over to greet her. We all sat down at the dinner table. Candles lit and many prepared dishes stacked in the middle. Anna was sitting next to Graham, who had grown a fierce beard. The two kids on either side of Dianna and I and mother across from me. 

After dinner, we all got cozy by the fireplace, next to the Christmas tree. "Unwrapping time!" I yelled and laughed as the kids dove into the gift pile trying to figure out what belongs to who.