The Rockmore House

44 | Sundowns

Christmas Eve

When the doorbell rang the next morning, I wasn't expecting to find Eric standing on the front porch. I answered the door still wearing my pajamas and the stunned expression of someone who couldn't believe her dreams had recently become reality.

"Morning, Ness." Eric waved with my phone in his hand. "Pete said you left this in the car last night."

As he handed my phone over, the screen lit up with our selfie from the night before. When Pete drove me back to my mom's house, I set it as my wallpaper, just before a goodnight kiss that left me so delirious I could barely walk to the house. I was so euphoric that I didn't even notice I'd left my phone behind, which was really saying something.

"It actually kind of worked out that he had it," Eric said. "Your dad called you because they needed Pete at his new job early this morning. Anyway, that's why I'm dropping it off instead of him."

"Thanks for bringing it over. I'll see you later."

"But I just got here!" Eric pushed past me and kicked off his shoes. "You're not gonna offer me a snack or something for my trouble? There's gotta be some Christmas cookies or Chex mix around here somewhere."

I grabbed a bone-shaped dog treat from the glass canister on the entryway table and tossed it to him.

"Here's a snack for you."

He caught the dog treat, inspected it and took a bite. At the sound of the treat jar opening, Tommy bounded down the hallway.

"Ew! I can't believe you're actually eating that."

"If it's good enough for Tommy, it's good enough for me." He gave Tommy the other half.  She chomped it quickly and licked his hand.

"It makes sense, I guess. You're like the human equivalent of a golden retriever."

"That's the nicest comparison you've made yet."

"I must be feeling generous. My heart recently grew three sizes."

He responded with a grim smile. After a short, uncomfortable silence, he said, "So that explains it! Since you're feeling so generous, how about you invite me in?"

"Come on in!" I said with a sweeping arm gesture and a fake perky voice.

I pulled a plastic container full of frosted sugar cookies out of the freezer. The top layer included a Christmas tree one I'd decorated, surrounded by Jason's deranged cookies: snowmen with sad faces and yellow splotches on them and gingerbread man skeletons.

"Sorry. Those are Jason's. He's actually twelve, like, maturity-wise."

Eric picked out the tree shaped one and sat at the kitchen counter. He tapped his finger against the frozen frosting.

"Should we microwave these?" he asked.

"No, they're the best when they're frozen. You have to breathe on them."

I demonstrated by holding one point of a star cookie between my teeth, closing my mouth and exhaling until the buttercream icing melted against my lips.

"Oh, nice technique."

"When they're frozen, you have to eat them slower, so it really improves the whole experience."

We silently warmed and nibbled away at our breakfast cookies. The house was quiet. Jason was still sleeping, my mom was out running last minute errands and Chris was in Grand Rapids visiting his mom.

"You're right," Eric said. "These are good. They're not perfect, they're a little rough around the edges. But I don't think I want a perfect cookie ever again."