Can't Love Christmas

Thirty Two

"Mom? Dad? Artoo? What are you doing here?"

"Merry Christmas!" They all shouted in unison.

Her mom continued, "it's not really Christmas if we aren't all together, so here we are! Together for the holidays!" and wrapped her arms around Ash, still frozen with shock.

"I can't believe you're really here."

"We wanted to surprise you. Aren't you surprised?" Her dad stepped forward and embraced Ash.

"I literally could not be more surprised than I am right now."

"Well, are you going to invite us in?"

"Oh right, of course! Come on in, you can pile your shoes beside the door, coats on the hooks, bring all your bags through for now and I guess I can find somewhere to put them."

"Don't worry, we don't have many bags. We got a hotel room."

Ash heard footsteps behind her, and turned around to see Rowan walking barefoot through her house, rubbing his wet hair with a towel. He stopped dead in his tracks when he realized how many people were staring at him. His surprised eyes met Ash's wild ones.

"Oh. I didn't realize you already had company." Her mom said.

"Um, yeah, this is Rowan. Rowan, this is my family. They came to surprise me for Christmas." Her smile was tight and forced.

"Hello Rowan." Her mom's voice was overly sweet.

"Pleased to meet you all." He nodded at the group, but hitched his thumb over his shoulder. "Sorry, I don't mean to intrude, I will just go grab my stuff and head out."

"Did you stay over last night, Rowan?"

"Mom!" Ash whisper-shouted, scared of where the conversation might go. Colour flushed high on her cheeks.

"What? I'm just making conversation with your houseguest."

Rowan jumped in for Ash. "That's alright. I did. We had dinner and Ash subjected me to some Christmas movies last night, but I had a bit too much to drink so Ash let me crash here instead of having to bother our taxi drivers and their families."

"Netflix and chill?" One of the twins snickered.

"Shut up, Reese!" Ash cried, mortified. Rowan looked amused, though a bit awkward.

Ryan waved at Rowan from behind everyone else. "Hi! I'm Ryan. This imbecile is Reese."

"Pleased to meet you both." Rowan acknowledged them with another nod.

"I'm Darren, Ash's dad." Her dad stepped forward with his arm outstretched, which Rowan shook, "and this is my wife, Tana." Ash's mom stuck her hand out and Rowan grasped it firmly as well.

When he stepped back, awkward silence blanketed them all once more until Reese broke it. "Well, I love a good awkward silence as much as the next guy, but I am wearing jeans on Christmas and I hate it."

Ash finally wrapped her brain around her new reality, and jumped into action. "Right, so quick tour." She started walking and expected everyone to follow. "Here's the kitchen and the living room, then over here we have the den which is a total disaster right now. My bedroom and the washroom. It's not huge but it works."

"It's lovely, Ash." Tana smiled at her and Ash felt herself relax.

"Okay, well, if no one else is going in here, I'm getting my pajamas on because it is Christmas and if we don't start doing something normal soon I'm going to lose it." Reese pushed past everyone, backpack slung over his shoulder.