Love Thy Neighbor

Chapter 20

I wake up early on Christmas morning. I look at my phone and see it is 5:00 AM. I get out of bed, stretch, and go to the bathroom. I shower and change into a pair of plaid flannel pajamas that I feel were probably Christmas morning appropriate. I quietly walk downstairs with my presents and set them in front of the tree. I then get on the couch and enjoy the quiet of the morning as I look at stuff on my phone.

Karen is the first one up. She walks into the room and smiles at me.

"Santa presents," she says nodding to the bags of gifts in both hands.

I get up and help her distribute them around the tree. This is all new to me, and I find it pretty neat.

Within an hour, everyone else is up. Coffee and hot cocoa are made and we all gather in the family room.

Manny sits by the tree and hands out gifts, one by one. Shawn's gifts to everyone are unsurprisingly generous. His parents told him he shouldn't have spent so much, but you can tell he gets so much joy from giving.

I give Shawn's parents a hand woven blanket I'd bought at a craft gallery. I'd bought my parents a similar one. They were made with soft alpaca wool.

"This is lovely, Jessica! Thank you so much, love," Karen tells me.

The Mendes family got me a beautiful leather bound photo album.

"I thought maybe you could put together a special album with pictures of your Nana," Karen explains.

I tear up a bit as I thank them.

I got Aaliyah a basket full of my favorite beauty products. She loved it and said she'd try everything out that day

I'd considered getting Shawn a gift card as a joke but decided against that. Instead I got him two tickets to do the edge walk at the CN Tower. It was usually very expensive, but I was able to get the tickets at 50% off because of my connections at work.

"Oh my god, Jess. I've always wanted to try this! I can't wait for us to do it!" he says excitedly.

"No! Not me! I figured you had at least one friend crazy enough to do it with you," I tell him, shaking my head back and forth.

He laughs. "All my friends are crazy."

I don't expect a gift in return since he'd given me two gifts for Hanukkah, but once everyone else is done opening presents, Shawn reaches behind the tree and pulls out something for me. It's a small box with a delicate silver bow tied around it.

I carefully untie the ribbon and open the box. Inside is a pendant with a large pear cut aquamarine stone.

"Oh Shawn, it is beautiful," I gush.

"I bought it because it matches your eyes," he explains. "May I?"

He stands and takes the necklace out of the box and holds it up. I gather up my hair and he carefully puts it around my neck. After he closes the clasp, he kisses my neck softly.

"Thank you," I tell him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Karen and Manny exchange a look. I couldn't say exactly what the look was, but if I gave someone that look, it would mean 'I knew it!'

After a delicious breakfast of assorted pastries, we have a fairly relaxed morning. Around noon, various family members arrive. The atmosphere becomes lively and I'm entertained with dozens of hilarious stories about Shawn. He pretends he's not amused but I secretly think he enjoys my reaction to hearing them.

Dinner is at 2:00 PM. Everyone has to be divided up between the kitchen and the dining room. Shawn guides me towards the kitchen.

"The kids' table will be way more fun," he explains. "Plus my cousins are less likely to bug us with questions about our relationship."

The Christmas meal is a traditional turkey dinner. Everything is delicious and I am stuffed before dessert, which is fine since I have to head back to Toronto.

"I wish you could stay," Shawn whispers in my ear as we stand in the foyer saying our goodbyes.

"Same," I whisper back.

He turns and looks around to see if anyone is watching. Apparently no one is, because he pulls he closer and leans down to give me a very passionate kiss.

I hear a cough and pull back. Karen is standing there with a plastic container.

"You can't miss dessert. Here's a sampling of what we're having."

She hands it to me and turns towards the back of the house, "Jessica is leaving!"

Everyone hurries to the door and I go through over a dozen goodbyes. Shawn then walks me out to my car.

"Text me when you get home," he says.

"Yes, dad," I say with a laugh.

He gives me another kiss and sends me on my way.

Not surprisingly, there's no one on the road on Christmas afternoon. My trip is quick and uneventful.

I get in and unpack. I then go through the ritual with the candles. The whole time I am thinking about how tomorrow my family will be here with me and how good it will be to see them.

I hear my phone ding.

Shawn: Are you ok?

Oops. I forgot to text him.

Me: Yes! Sorry! I got home 45 mins ago.

Shawn: I was worried, Jess

Me: :(

Me: Sorry

Me: When are you coming back?

Shawn: Tomorrow night

Me: Late?

Shawn: Probably

Shawn: Why?

Me: I'd like you to meet my family since I know yours. Maybe dinner the day after tomorrow?

Shawn: I was wondering when you'd ask ;)

Shawn: Of course I want to meet them

I smile. I really should have invited him sooner. We're just kind of in a weird place. I don't really know what we are. It feels like a relationship, but he's never used any kind of label. I guess we're just dating.

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