Our Love (Advent Calendar 2015)

The 22nd of December

"How's Kristen?" Clare asks her son as they decorate the Christmas tree together.

"She's good," Rob tells her, smiling by the mentioning of Kristen, though he was already thinking about her. "Why?" he asks her, suspicious.

"Oh, no reason. You've just been smiling like a fool for the past two days and I was just wondering if there's a reason," his mum explains. Rob doesn't say anything

"Last time I spoke with you, you'd begun seeing each other more," Clare recalls. Rob tries to remember when the last time he spoke with his mum was (when it wasn't after he'd just landed in Heathrow), and realises it was at the party with their friends.

"Yes," he confirms, not bothering to elaborate.

"So what's going on between you two now?" Clare continues her interrogation, her curiosity growing.

"Uhm, well, not that much really, we just hang out," Rob tells her, his words only partly true.

She puts the Christmas ball in her hands on one of the branches and looks him into the eyes.

"That's bullshit, Robert."

Rob sighs, feeling defeated; his mum can see right through him.

"Okay, there might be a little more than 'not that much' going on between us..." he admits, digging through the box of ornaments.

He can feel Clare's impatient stare on his back as she waits for him to continue.

"I visited her in New York while she was working, because I, well I missed her. And then we visited Tom, Sienna and Marlowe. Oh, Sienna's pregnant, by the way!" Rob announces, smiling at his mum.

"She is? How lovely for them! You two could learn from them, a wedding this June, a child, and a baby on the way."

"Mum," Rob scolds her. She holds up her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying that I really want a grandchild and Kristen to be my daughter-in-law, and if all you two are doing is hang out in New York, then..."

"That's not all we do," Rob tells her, cutting her off. She looks up at him, her interest piquing.

"Oh?"

"Uhm, no, before I left New York, we, uhm, we-we sorta kissed."

"You kissed?" his mum asks, awe in her eyes.

"Yeah, we did. And uhm, I'm in love with her," he tells his mum smiling, looking at her to catch her reaction.

She stops dead in her tracks. "You're in love with her?"

"I am, Mum. I really am." He's beaming, but he doesn't care. He's never been this happy.

"Since you're smiling like that, I assume she's in love with you too," his mum comments, her son's grin rubbing off on her.

"She is," Rob confirms smiling even wider as he thinks back to their texts yesterday.

Clare walks over to him and wraps her arms around him, happy for her son.

"I'm so glad you're back together, you've-" She starts but Rob cuts her off.

"We're not back together."

"But you just said-"

"I know, but we're not... official yet, we're taking things slow."

Clare smirks. "Right," she says, full knowing that her son and Kristen will be all over each other within the next week.

Letting go of him, she gets back to decorating the Christmas tree.

"Talking about Kristen, there's something I want to ask you, Mum..." Rob says, feeling like he's fifteen years old and about to ask his parents if he can go to a party thrown by a girl from his class.

His mum looks up at him, showing him that she's listening.

"Well, I was just wondering if it's okay, if, uh, if-if Kristen spends Christmas with us this year."

His mum is silent for a short second, then she smiles up at him and says, "sure." He smiles back at her. "That's great, 'cause I already asked her and she's coming tomorrow."

His mum chuckles at him. "Oh okay."

Lizzy walks into the living room and greets her mum and brother. When she sees that they're decorating the Christmas tree, she lets out an excited squeal and starts finding ornaments in the boxes.

"Guess who's joining us for Christmas this year," Clare challenges her daughter. Rob tries to hold back his smile.

"Who?" Lizzy asks, furrowing her brow a little in confusion.

"Kristen," Clare says and watches her daughter's mouth open slightly in shock.

"Are you guys back together?" Lizzy asks her brother with wide eyes.

"No," Rob answers.

"Yes," Clare replies.

Rob sends his mum a dirty look.

"They've kissed," Clare tells Lizzy.

"Mum!" Rob whines like a twelve year old.

"What?!" Lizzy exclaims, her thick British accent making it sound even more ridiculous.

"And Rob's in love with her," Clare continues. Lizzy's eyes are almost bugging out of her head at this point.

"Shut up, Mum!"

"Someone has to fill me in since you won't apparently," Lizzy snarls at her brother.

"I just don't want to make such a big deal out of it," Rob explains.

"But it is a big deal! You've finally realised that you're happier together than apart and that you love each other, that is a bloody big deal if you ask me!" Lizzy argues. Rob doesn't say anything, he knows his sister is right.

He's in love with Kristen and she's in love with him, and it's a big deal, because not only is he in love with her, for the first time in his life he knows – every piece, every cell of him knows – that Kristen is the woman he'll be spending the rest of his life with.

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