𝐚 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫.

𝟐𝟒 | 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬.

ricky and nini haven't talked each other since the christmas dinner incident with their friends. the only time they kept in touch was when ricky wanted to take gracie out for the day and that was it. every time, they would have hangouts with their respective friends, ricky and nini would try to avoid the topic about their relationship.

it was a chilly christmas eve at salt lake city, everyone was celebrating at the comfort of their own homes. ricky was celebrating with his parents as well as their new spouses and todd's daughter from his first wife, also known as his teenage step-sister. meanwhile, nini was spending christmas eve with her moms, lola and of course, gracie.

ricky sighed as he watched his family laugh at the dinner table. he wasn't feeling the christmas spirit at all. sure, he was glad to spend it with family but he also longed to spend this fruitful event with the two girls he truly loved the most.

he wanted to help make dinner with nini and watch her laugh at him, every time he would read to recipe or do something wrong. he wanted to watch gracie giggle as they ate dinner together. he wanted to be the first person nini saw and wished her a merry christmas. he wanted to see gracie's reaction when she opens her presents. lastly, ricky was definitely looking forward to kissing nini under the mistletoe.

suddenly, his train of thought was cut when his mother, lynne asked to pass the potatoes. "ricky, honey, are you ok? i asked you to pass the potatoes like ten times."

"oh sorry, mom." ricky replied as she passed the wooden bowl. lynne gave a sad smile and took a scoop from the bowl and put it on ricky's plate. "here, ricky. eat up."

ricky looked up to his mom and gave her a slight smile as he tried to enjoy the food and company.

—

meanwhile, nini felt the same way. she didn't feel the christmas spirit as well. she missed ricky so much and the three of them together brought her genuine joy, although the whole night, she wanted to hide her true feelings to avoid worry from her moms.

dinner at the salazar-roberts home was lovely. carol and dana prepared amazing meals. the dinner table was filled with laughter as well, nini filling in about her life to her moms while lola malou was busy playing with gracie.

while carol and malou were settled in the living room with gracie, nini helped dana clean up, "hey nini, hon, are you alright?"

"yeah why wouldn't i be?" nini responded, putting the last dish in the dryer.

"you've been acting weird, ever since you told us that ricky was here for christmas." dana replied and nini was silent. "stop lying nina, we know when you're lying or not."

nini started to feel a tear come out of her eye and hugged her mom. "i miss him so much mom. i miss having the three of us together again, but i have to let everything go and move on since he's living another life in another state."

dana didn't know what to say and just pat her daughter's back. suddenly, nini felt a pair of arms wrap around her body, only to turn to see carol. "nini, honey, don't worry. me, mama c and lola malou will be here for you. no matter what."

the next day, she woke up to the slc sun streaming right through her childhood bedroom. she woke up to see gracie already standing on her crib that was displayed on the other side of her room. ever since ricky and nini broke up, nini had decided to stay with her moms for a while. she didn't want her and ricky's memories to continue playing in her head plus they were going to sell the house anyway.

she gave a small smile as she eargerly got out of bed and picked up gracie and swooped her through the air. she kissed the baby's cheeks, resulting her to give a loud giggle. "merry christmas, baby girl."

suddenly, gracie reached out for nini's nose and her heart just swelled by the gesture. "mama."

nini was surprised to hear those words come out of that little mouth of hers. she immediately felt tears running down and hugged the little baby. "yeah, honey. i'm your mommy."