When I finally turned my attention toward Kacey, she was already watching me. “That’s really sweet,” she said softly.
I took a few steps closer to her, then reached out and grabbed her hand, both of us smiling like idiots as we continued to keep our eyes glued to each other. “It’s true. I’m so excited to help. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.” Excitement bubbled through my chest, my eyes refusing to move from Kacey’s, wanting to prolong this feeling for as long as possible.
Bailey cleared her throat, causing our eye contact to falter. I looked down to where she had her hands on her hips. “Can you two just hug already so we can start decorating?”
I laughed at the little girl’s intuitiveness but wasted no time wrapping my arms around Kacey and pulling her in tight. Her hands instinctively moved to my hips as she anchored herself against me. I let my head rest on her shoulder for the briefest moment and breathed her in. All too soon, we released each other.
Bailey gave us a satisfied grin and pointed toward their family room. “Christmas decorating time! Let’s do this!”
Boxes filled the family room and a tall tree stood in the corner. “Where do we start?” I asked.
Bailey skipped to a box marked pictures and started pulling frames out of it. “We always start by putting our pictures with Santa up first.” She moved her head from side to side as she scanned the room. “Where do you think we should put them?”
“Since those seem to be extra special, what do you think about putting them above the fireplace?” I suggested.
Bailey’s already wide grin grew even wider. “I love that idea! And we can hang the stockings right in the middle of the pictures.”
Kacey put an arm around Bailey and smiled down at her. “I think that’s a great idea. What do you say you start unwrapping the ornaments while Kari and I get these set up on the mantel?”
I picked the pictures up one at a time, studying each one before setting it down. Kacey and Bailey had gotten pictures together every year since she was born. The Kacey in the first few pictures was the girl I remembered from college, while the last few years were the woman I knew now. Both felt so similar yet worlds apart, the lines between our past and our future blurred. As I stared at the line of pictures now all set up, I felt arms wrap around me from behind as a chin came to rest on my shoulder. I felt goosebumps form on my neck as Kacey spoke into my skin.
“I started doing the Santa pictures because they were the only professional pictures I could afford to get. Then it just became one of our traditions.” She sighed and her breath on my skin caused my own breathing to stop momentarily. “I’m already dreading the day when she tells me she’s too cool to get Santa pictures with her mom.”
I leaned into Kacey and shut my eyes as I let the moment wash over me. “She’s a good kid. Maybe she’ll keep doing it just to make you happy.”
Kacey hummed. “I can only hope.”
Bailey joined us beside the fireplace leaned into me from the side, wrapping an arm around my waist. “Maybe someday you can get a Christmas picture with us, Kari.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, sweetheart. That’s a tradition with you and your mom. It’s special.”
“You’re special to us, though,” Bailey said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I know you’re special to me, and I can tell by the way my mom looks at you that you’re very special to her, too.” She put her hand over her mouth and giggled as if she had just revealed a big secret.
Kacey let go of me to move over toward Bailey. She took the little girl in her arms and began to tickle her as she held her upside down. “You think you’re funny, don’t you?” Bailey tried to wiggle out of Kacey’s arms while she held onto her tightly. As they laughed together, I watched in awe and marveled over the two people who were quickly becoming my world.
I didn’t have time to overthink it, because Kacey put Bailey back down, then whispered something in her ear and soon the two of them were attacking me. Kacey tickled me to the ground, where Bailey went after any free inch of skin she could find. “Uncle! Uncle!” I cried. “You guys win. I give up.”
We all wiped the happy tears from our eyes and got back to decorating. We set up most of the decorations they had around the family room, then got started on the tree. Bailey explained every ornament to me before we hung them up, telling me about trips they took, shows they saw, and the people they met along the way. One ornament in particular, Bailey unwrapped really slowly. “This is my mom’s favorite ornament, so I have to be very careful with it,” she explained.
“Oh, I don’t think we need to show her that—”
Kacey’s words came too late, and my breath hitched when I saw the very familiar Bellman University ornament dangling from her fingers. “Could I see that?” I saw Kacey close her eyes in embarrassment as I took the ornament in my hand and turned it over. I ran my hand over the engraving that read K2 Forever, then brought my eyes to Kacey’s which were now open. “I always wondered what happened to this.”
Bailey looked between the two of us in wonder. “You know what this ornament is?” she asked.
“I do. This ornament isn’t just your mom’s favorite. It’s also very special to me.”
Kacey led me to the bed in her dorm room and asked me to sit down. It was just a month into the second semester of our freshman year, and the way her hand was shaking when she took mine had my mind racing. Was she going to break up with me? I thought things were going really well between us, but now I was questioning everything that had happened since we got back. Did I say something wrong? Was she already sick of driving my drunk ass home from parties? I was ready to promise to change. Beg her to give me one last chance. We hadn’t reached the six-month mark in our relationship yet. Hell, we hadn’t even known each other for six months, but I felt a connection to Kacey I never felt before. There was also a certain something that I felt but hadn’t found the courage to say yet. Were things really going to end before I had the chance to say it? Before she even met my family?
“Are you okay?” Kacey asked, interrupting my internal dialogue. “You look like you’re going to be sick.”
I laughed nervously. “I’m just going off your energy. Your hand is shaking.”
Kacey looked to her hand and flexed her fingers. “Sorry. I’m just nervous about what I want to say.”
“If you’re going to break up with me, could you at least make it quick? I don’t think I could stand to have it drawn out.”
Kacey’s head snapped up in response to my question. “Break up with you? God, Kari, it’s not like that at all. It’s the complete opposite of that.” She let go of my hand and stood from the bed, picking up a bag that was sitting on her desk. “I got you a late Christmas present.”
A slight smile came to my face. “But you already got me an on-time Christmas present.”
“This one’s… Umm… different.” She held the bag out to me and nodded toward it. “Open it.”