Read It And Weep (Anthony Rizzo)

Fifty Six~ Mistletoe

Anthony

It comes Christmas Day and let me tell you, I was more excited than I should be. Mostly because all my favorite people would be in the same place for the first time. Partially because this is the first Christmas I've had with snow on the ground. And I got Hannah a pretty great Christmas present so I was excited about that too.

We all arrive at the Warren/Anderson household early Christmas morning. My parents warm right up to the grandparents as they share their precious Christmas stories. My dad loves to talk to anyone about baseball and Hannah's grandpa really likes to talk about it too. It's different eras of baseball but my dad knew his stuff, I trusted he was okay. So they stand around and talk almost all morning as we try to figure out how to get everything done.

I decide to get my gifts all situated and hope we open them soon. "Hey Manny" I call and he comes over. "Do you think you can get everyone into the living room to open gifts. I know it's early but I don't think I can wait much longer" I insist.

"Oh! Oh yeah. Let me get everyone in there and we can get started" he assures me.

So I bring in gifts but keep my gift for Hannah by my side. As soon as she sits down I place the box in her lap. "Please open it" I beg. 

"Wow, someone is really excited to open presents" she notices.

I don't say anything as she takes the top off the box. A little "meow" escapes and I smile because that means the little one is still alive.

"Oh my god... Anthony you did not" she almost screams.

She reaches in the box and pulls out a little black kitten. It meows again and I'm kinda jealous that she gets to keep it because it was starting to grow on me.

"Her name is Shadow and she is just a few weeks old. But she has her shots and she's all yours" I explain.

"Oh she's perfect" she claims as she sets the cat on her chest. It curls up and it was honestly the cutest sight there ever was. "I love her so much, thank you" she smiles up at me.

"Of course" I wink.

The rest of us open our gifts and after making a huge mess we let Shadow play in the wrapping paper. I sit on the floor with Hannah as we play with her and take a bunch of pictures.

"What made you want to get me a kitten" she wonders.

"A lot of things really" I shrug. "I know that this job can feel lonely and I don't want you to come home and have nothing to look forward to. I figured that if I gave you something to look forward to then this job would be a little less stressful.

And a dog would have been good too but you're gonna be gone lot and can't take it out. At least a cat can be left alone for a few days and if you can't leave it you can always sneak her in your carry on" I tease.

She laughs as she looks at the cat. "It's a pretty cute distraction" she admits.

"Hey, that's my job" I tease. She playfully pushes me as I laugh along with her.

Silence falls over us as she looks up at me. She had a million dollar smile on her face as she lets out a sigh. "Thank you for everything Anthony. This really has been the best Christmas ever. I'm so thankful I got to spend it with people I love" she claims.

Her eyes get big once she realized what she said. I know that doesn't mean what she thinks it does but even saying it like that scares her. "It's okay Hannah" I assure her.

"Is it" she asks.

"Yes, because I already know" I say.

She looks at me weird as she tried to figure it out. "Are you sure it's okay" she questions again and I smile.

"Yeah" I assure her.

"Oh" she gasps jumping up. She scares the cats a little as it scurried away. "I almost forgot to give you your gift" she claims.

"It's no big deal" I insist.

"Oh come on, you got me a forever friend. I have to give you you're gift. let's go" she cheers.

She grabs my hand and pulls me with her. We go under the doorframe and I see the mistletoe hanging there teasing me. I think about stopping her but she seemed pretty determined. Plus I don't want her to feel like she has to kiss me. If we do kiss I want it to be because she wants to kiss me.

We end up in her grandparents bedroom where there was a big red bag sitting there. I turn to her with a questionable look before turning back to the bad. I reluctantly take out the stuffing paper until I felt what was inside.

I pull out a big piece of glass with a picture in the middle. The picture was of me and her and my family at the walk off for cancer event in November. Around it was signatures of the kids at the children's hospital from the Christmas visit and a picture of me with each kid by the signature.

I cover my mouth as I look at each picture and signature. I don't have anything like this, I mean I have shirts and other foundation things. But I don't have anything this nice, something like this will never get old and always mean something to me.

"Hannah... I don't know what to say" I whisper. "This is precious. The greatest thing I can call mine."

"It's nothing, really. I just want you to see the lives you touched and how what you're doing means the world to the people around you" she says.

"It's perfect, thank you" I say.

I pull her into my embrace and wrap my arms around her. She rests her head on my chest as I run my fingers through her hair. For a moment I forgot it's Christmas, it felt like it was years in the future when we had been together for a while and gone amazing places. But the best place I could ever be is with her.

Once we break apart we head back to join everyone else as we got ready for dinner. We walk back through the door but stop under the mistletoe. "Wait" I say as I grab her wrist.

"What's up" she wonders.

I smile as I point up at the mistletoe hanging above us. She just shakes her head once she realizes what it is. "Let me guess, mamaw made you put that up" she accuses.

"How did you know" I ask.

"Because grandpa is the only one in our family tall enough to reach and he stopped hanging that stuff up years ago because grandma made him kiss her every single time they passed it" she giggles.

"So it does work" I tease.

"In some cases" she claims.

"What about our case" I wonder.

She steps closer to me as she looks up at it. I can smell her perfume as she turns to me. "I don't know, don't you think it's a bit cheesy" she asks.

"I think Christmas miracles can happen" I smirk.

She smiles up at me as she wraps her arms around my back. She pulls me closer and suddenly I was very nervous. "Don't do this if you don't mean it" I warn.

"I won't know what it means until it happens" she defends. She had a point.

"But-" I start before she places her pointer finger on my lips. I stop talking as soon as her skin meets mine. I melt in her eyes as she moves in closer.

I could feel my heart beating against my chest. I could feel every hair on my body stand on end as she inches closer and closer to me. I reach down as slip my fingers in her hair. Her lips pull tighter as her eyes fall from mine to my lips. I could hear my mind going a mile a minute as I try to keep up with the emotions that were flooding over me. But I've been waiting for this moment for eight months, I don't think there would be enough time for me to take this in.

Suddenly she stands tall causing her lips to crash onto mine like waves on a beach. I felt like my heart was going to burst as my fingers slip deeper into her hair. She keeps me close not letting me pull away, not that I wanted to.

For the first time in my life I felt like I was living. I felt like I could fly. I felt like my heart was full and I never wanted things to go back to the way they were.