Saint Nick

10. December

"A no-strings-attached deal? Are you serious with me?"

Camille glared at her with a split between disbelief and confusion. When Hazel nodded and laughed at her sister's miffed expression, she added to her explanation.

"He lives up north and runs a big company or something. He's not looking for anything serious and neither am I. We just have good chemistry and see no reason to stop what we're doing, for the time being at least."

"That's what I thought about Jim and me," Her sister said and raised her left hand, flashing her ring finger. "I'll tell you how that ends right now, spoiler alert."

Hazel rolled her eyes when she showed where her wedding band now sat. "It's not going to end like that. It's just sex," When her sister kept smirking and wiggling her diamond encrusted finger, she slapped her hand away. "Stop that and give me your index finger instead. Hold this."

Camille laughed and let her finger drop to the center of the ribbon Hazel was tying nicely around a wrapped Christmas present. A new little Play-Doh set for her favorite niece.

"You still haven't given me any details," Camille pointedly reminded her. Hazel blushed and pretended to primp the ribbons as her sister looked smugly at her. "Was he that good?"

"He was... fine," Hazel quickly pulled out the next little present she had bought for her tiny nephew, a block set in bright red and blue colors.

"Yeah?" Her sister grabbed the tape as Hazel got done measuring the wrapping paper for the square-shaped box. "Was he big? Actually, don't tell me. Just tell me when to stop."

She slowly started pulling on the scotch tape. Hazel's eyes widened and Camille burst into a fit of laughter as Hazel threw a name tag after her. "You are unbelievable!"

"And you still haven't said stop," Camille laughed when the tape piece was getting beyond six inches. "Am I going to run out of tape here?"

Hazel's cheeks were flaming red, but she couldn't stop grinning either. Shaking her head, she ripped the tape and the dispenser from her sister's hand. "That's enough. It's a waste of rubber."

– She regretted her words the second they were out.

"Is that so? I bet you know all about that," Camille taunted her. Hazel cupped her face to mask her own amusement. It wasn't until they heard a shuffle from the kitchen, the laughter was broken up.

"What's that sound? Are you making my wife laugh or is she choking?" Jim called. He cast a glance out of the doorway and both sisters shooed him away. He shook his head and went back to his cooking.

"So as I was saying," Hazel finally composed herself. "He's coming over again tonight, since I told him I was going to need a break after yesterday. There's only so much strain the ole' downstairs unit can take."

"You're telling me," Camille deadpanned – the woman who had given two natural births to two beautiful, melon-headed children. Hazel laughed.

"Yes, I am. He's working at the mall today and I had some pictures I wanted to take before the weather forecast changed." Today had been another blue sky day, but tomorrow—actually starting tonight, they were promising heavy snowfall. "And then I had these presents I had to wrap up for my two favorite munchkins before a certain day."

"And about that day," Camille voiced. Hazel sighed when she knew what was coming again. "Have you thought more about it?"

Hazel looked down at the presents she had just wrapped up. The last couple of Christmases she had spent at home and only joined Camille and the rest of gang the next morning. Their whole family always came by for Christmas Eve, but due to the circumstances, Hazel hadn't been eager to attend. Not after the first Christmas after everything came out... it had just been too tense.