Holiday Gifts by Elena Aitken

Author:Elena Aitken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ink Blot Communications

6

Christmas Eve was one of Julie’s favorite days. It always had been, but this year was especially different. The night before and the sleigh ride with Ryan had been absolutely perfect. Even the slip in the mud. Maybe even because of the slip in the mud. She giggled like a schoolgirl and pulled the pillow up over her head to stifle the noise.

It was ridiculous and cold and of course—muddy.

It had been perfect.

When a moment that had the potential to turn into a disaster actually turned into a good thing—no, an amazing thing—it was moments like that that mattered.

She felt like a teenager. Again. Every day she woke up feeling a little bit giddier, sillier, like a girl in love. Not that she could be in love. That was ridiculous.

Or was it?

There was a knock on the door and before she could respond, it opened and her daughter ran in and jumped on her bed.

“Good morning, Mom. It’s about time you woke up.” Shay rolled to her side and stared at Julie.

“You must be the only teenager in history who wakes up at the crack of dawn,” Julie moaned. “It’s not normal. Shouldn’t you be sleeping? At least until noon.” She protested, but Julie was happy to have Shay exactly the way she was. Especially considering she was still willing to crawl into bed with her mother. Julie always had and always would cherish these special moments.

She lifted the covers. “Get in here and cuddle with your mom.”

As she knew she would, Shay obliged and crawled in next to Julie, pulling her own pillow under her head. “So,” she said. “Are you going to tell me about your day yesterday? You were out late again last night.”

“And again, how exactly would you know what time I came home when you were supposed to be in bed?”

Shay rolled her eyes in response.

“Besides, how was your day with Jeffery? I think that’s the real question.”

Shay blushed and tucked her head into the pillow. “No big deal. We spent most of the day in the pool and there was another movie last night. It was okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Yup,” she said. “Just okay. I mean, he lives in Vancouver—it’s not like it’s ever going to be anything.”

“You’re sixteen,” Julie said. “It’s not like it’s going to be anything anyway.”

Not like with Ryan.

The thought popped into her head so quickly and unexpectedly, it took her off guard. Would it be anything with Ryan? And was it anything anyway?

“Tell me about your night.” Shay propped herself up on her elbow and stared down at her mother. “How’s Ryan?”

“You really want to know?” Julie didn’t make it a habit of talking about her love life with her daughter—of course, it’s not as if she ever really had a love life to speak of until recently. If that’s what it even was. A love life?

She definitely had feelings for him, that much was certain. There was really no harm in telling her daughter anything. Besides that, it’s not as though she was a baby.

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