Silent Night

9 - Silent Night

STEF POV

I wipe down my long bar counter as the last lunch customer leaves, and I look around my diner and sigh. I had allowed Callie to leave a bit earlier this afternoon as she had a Christmas party for her mom that she needed to help get ready. Of course, I wasn't a Scrooge, and I knew that Callie was such a hard worker.

Walking to the back, I pull out my clipboard and pencil as I begin to do some minor inventory as I planned on being opened on Christmas Eve until 4 PM. That gave me plenty of time to head over to Mike's where he was having our Christmas Eve dinner before midnight mass. As I begin counting my cans of green beans, I hear the jingle of the bell above my diner door go off, and stick my pencil behind my ear to go see who it is.

Sometimes, Kirk comes in to have some afternoon pie, or Miss Patty stops by to chat before her evening ballet class. But I stop dead in my tracks as I see none other than Dana Adams, herself, her purse over her arm, glancing around my diner, her nose up in the air as usual as I untie my apron and toss it off to the side.

"May I help you?" I ask as I don't smile or nod, her eyes glaring right at me, no smile on her face either.

"Stefanie Foster?"

I nod this time as I walk around my counter and head to the giant coffee pot and grab a liner.

"I didn't recognize you with that...bandanna tied around your head," she says with so much sarcasm dripping from her voice, I want to kick her out of my diner.

"Would you like some coffee?" I ignore her rude comment about my appearance as I hear her walk closer, and I turn around as she sets her purse on the counter and looks right at me.

"I'm here because my daughter has chosen you. God knows why she likes you, but she does. She won't speak to me. She said I was dead to her. My granddaughter has lost her ever loving mind and wont even look at me. So, you won. She's yours. Go to her. Clearly you are more important to her than I realized, and I'd rather she be happy than miserable while she sits there and points her finger at me. I won't stand in her way another day."

I try to take in all that she's saying to me as I can feel my head spinning, and I'm trying to absorb all of this information at once. Lena hasn't spoken to her? I thought...never mind what I thought. I can't think. It takes time for me to fully comprehend what's thrown at me...

"Did you hear anything that I said, Stefanie?" Dana cuts me out of my thoughts as I swallow hard and manage to nod my head.

"Yes...yes, Mrs. Adams. I heard you."

"Good. I'm sure you can find it in your heart to forgive her in time for Christmas." She looks around my diner some more as she grabs her purse. "On a second thought, I'll take some coffee for the road."

I nod as my head is still spinning from all that she spilled as I manage to pour some fresh coffee in a to-go cup. "Cream and sugar?"

"No. Plain is fine."

I place the lid on top of the cup and hand it to her. "On the house. Thank you, Mrs. Adams."

"Just call me Dana. Merry Christmas," she nods at me, not cracking a single smile before she is gone, and I blow out the breath I didn't even realize I was holding.

It's true that tomorrow is Christmas, and here I've been away from Lena longer than I can bear. I didn't realize just how very hard it was for me to be away from her like this, but it took us this long to even become a couple. I just thought that with her mother interfering that it wasn't right. That we weren't right. That I don't belong in her world, but as Dana had just said, she chose me. Lena Elizabeth Adams chose me. And it's time for me to choose her back.