Yule Know It When You See It: A standalone holiday rom-com. by Carly Spade

Author:Carly Spade [Spade, Carly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-29T16:00:00+00:00

Moments later, we’re back in the office. Everyone has long since gone home for the night, and the space is blissfully quiet. Darkness blankets every corner save for the tree lit up in the center, spilling multi-color bursts of warm light over our desks. I move for the light switches, ready to flick one on, but Theo’s tender hand rests on my forearm, stopping me.

“I love it like this. It makes me feel calm and all gooey on the inside.” Theo’s smiling but staring at the tree versus looking at me.

I can think of a few other things that would make her feel similarly.

“It does paint a certain level of serenity. Quiet space that’s normally bustling with activity and chatter.” I take her hand, leading us to my desk. where I sit with spread legs, guiding her between them. “This lighting is a million times better than the gaudy headache-inducing fluorescents.”

She rests her hands on my thighs, nodding and still stealing glances at the tree over my shoulder. “There’s also a bit of nostalgia attached to it for me, I guess.”

When I say nothing but quirk a brow, she continues.

“As a kid, before presents started taking up all the space on the tree skirt, I used to lie underneath it, staring up through the branches for way longer than should entertain a kid.” A bittersweet laugh bumbles from her throat, and she squeezes my leg. “It’s just so sparkly and glowing and a unique way to view it.”

Moving to America with my family’s traditions around the holidays held firmly in my heart made it difficult to connect with anyone else, truly click, when I couldn’t make it home to Norway. There were few I’d even dare to confess to for fear of insulting someone or causing some misunderstanding. But for whatever reason, I feel comfortable around Theo. Like she wouldn’t give a damn how I celebrated, she’d simply be elated that I enjoy this time of year as much as she did.

“What does Theo Hackett do normally around the holidays?” I slide my palms up her sides until my hands grip her hips. “Christmas Eve mass? Watch a Nativity scene play?”

“I did all that stuff when I was younger, sure.”

I drum my fingers on her waist. “But not anymore?”

“This is going to sound awful but once I moved out of my parents’ house and out on my own, started my writing career, we started seeing each other less and less. They were always afraid of bothering me or interrupting me and I became so consumed with work I’d honestly forget how long it’d been since I saw them.”

“Children change. We’re not supposed to be carbon copies of our parents. We’re meant to become our own people.” I graze the back of my hand over her cheek, frowning at the way her chin quivers with obvious guilt.

“But I’m an only child. I’m all they’ve got.”

“They have each other too, Theo. That’s why they said those vows.”

She sniffles and shrugs. “True. Hence why once they retired, they started to go to Fiji every year for Christmas.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.