Baby, It's Cold Outside

I'll Be Home for Christmas

We had been downstairs working for a few hours when Derek finally came down and joined us. The café was busy today, everyone who would come in, would talk about how much they had missed the baked goods, or the drinks.

I only had time to give him a quick smile before I had to start working again. I turned back to the table I was waiting at, and took their orders before taking it to the kitchen.

"Good afternoon. I see that the snow melted.." Derek said, taking the piece of paper with the order from my hands, glancing at me.

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek, "Yeah, grandpa found out this morning when he came down here."

Derek just nodded, starting to make the order for me.

"I guess that means you'll be heading home soon?" I asked, not really wanting to hear the answer, even though we knew it would happen eventually.

"Yeah.. I figured I'd head home later. No harm in waiting one more day, right? Is that okay with you? I mean, if you want me to go, I will. You want me to go, don't you? I'm sorry, I should've asked you first-" I carefully covered his mouth to stop his rambling, smiling at him.

"Derek. It's okay. I'd love it if you'd stay for the day. I've enjoyed getting to know you." I slowly moved my hand away, chuckling at how he rambled.

Derek grinned, "Yeah? Well, alright then. Let's get to work!"

So we did. We worked all day, we were laughing and having such a great time, that we didn't realize how late it had gotten. We helped everyone close and clean up before going upstairs to have dinner before everyone headed home.

Derek was the first to need to leave. "Thank you all so much for taking me in. I appreciate everything you've all done for me during this time, and it was so nice to meet you all and get to know you." Derek said, smiling and giving us all a hug.

"You're quite welcome, son. You're welcome here anytime, so don't be a stranger." Grandpa grinned and clapped Derek on the back.

After everyone said goodbye, I decided I'd walk him out.

"It really has been amazing getting to know you. I've had a blast with you, and I know my family has too." I said, smiling at him.

"I've enjoyed my time here as well. You and your family are such incredible people." He smiled and opened the café door for me, letting me out first.

"Well, if you ever want to visit or get snowed in again, you know where we are." We laughed and walked to his car before stopping.

"Definitely. I'll have to time it perfectly." He chuckled and got his keys out. "Will you be here tomorrow for Christmas? Or are you all going somewhere?" He asked, looking at me.

"We're actually going to the homeless shelter tomorrow, around 4 in the evening. We're making Christmas dinner for them in the morning to take and we'll be giving them some presents. You're more than welcome to join, if you'd like?" I explained, nodding my head.

"Wow, really? That's so nice of you all. That's such an incredible thing to do, I'd love to join. I'll try my best to. Thank you!" He grinned at me and explained he had to go, and that he'd hopefully see me tomorrow. So we waved our goodbyes and went our separate ways.