Holiday in Holly Oaks

Chapter 11

A few hours slipped away as Tallie and her parents puzzled and Case kept them entertained with stories from school. He always had a piece in his hand and when they hit stretches of peaceful silence, he would even scan the table as if looking, but Tallie knew he was only doing it for her mom's benefit.

It wasn't long before her parents called it a night. She knew her dad loved having Case there, but the extra energy of even one more person wore him out.

"Merry Christmas," her parents said as they headed upstairs.

Tallie and Case watched them go. Once they reached the second floor, Tallie turned to Case. "We can stop puzzling now," she said.

"Thank goodness!" He dropped the puzzle piece in his hand and pushed back from the table. "I was hitting my limit," he said as he began to stretch.
"It's amazing that after all these years, even though I never practiced, I never got any better."

"Weird," Tallie laughed.

"It doesn't make sense," he joked. "Come on," he nodded towards the kitchen. "I'll help with dishes."

But by the time they reached the kitchen he had already come up with a different plan. "How about I do dishes and you make hot chocolate?"

"Sure," Tallie said, happy to have a break from dishes. There weren't that many dishes and Case was drying the last one as Tallie poured the hot chocolate into two mugs.

Case carried them both back into the family room and set them on the coffee table before he plopped down on the couch.

"Don't," he said when Tallie went to turn on the lights. "I like just having the Christmas tree lights on."

Tallie left the main lights off, agreeing that there was something magical about the low light of the Christmas tree. She joined him on the couch and grabbed her mug of hot chocolate.

"Thanks for coming over," she said as they looked at the tree. "It cheered up my parents."

"Of course," he said, looking at her. "You know how much I love puzzling."
She laughed and he smiled, pleased with himself. "But honestly, you know I love your parents," he added in a sincere tone.

"I do," she said and she truly did. He had faked doing a puzzle for a few hours to make her mom happy. "I wasn't sure how this Christmas was going to be without my brother and sister here, and we are a much slower speed nowadays..." She chuckled mid-sentence just comparing her time at Case's Open House earlier that day to the night puzzling with her parents. "...and lower energy. I was worried it was going to bring a sense of sadness to the day, you were just what we needed tonight."

She looked at him ready to say thanks again, but stopped, realizing the gratitude she had for him suddenly felt way too big to express in words. It wasn't just gratitude for what he had done that day but the whole time he had been home.

She had filled her time with Christmas activities hoping she could force the Christmas spirit on herself, then Case had arrived and nothing had to be forced. Being around him again and feeling like herself had brought all the joy and hope she had always loved about Christmas.

"Thank you," she said, even though it felt like the most insignificant thing to say.

"It was the least I could do, you did come to the Open House and save me from most of the college update conversations."

"I thought you had had all those conversations the night of the Cookie Exchange," she laughed.

He shook his head. "Turns out mom knows more people than just the ones who go to Grace Church."