Twenty-Four
Alex
“I’m really glad you’re feeling better.” I smile at my brother.
Jacob’s finally up and about. He’s gotten some color back in his cheeks, and thankfully, the wicked cough has gone.
“I never want to feel like that again,” he admits.
I’m not sure how he’s going to take this, but considering how sick he’s been from stress and burnout, I’m hoping he’ll take the suggestion I’m about to make seriously.
“About that… I’ve been doing some thinking…
” I rub the back of my neck nervously, hoping he doesn’t immediately veto my idea.
“I think it’d be a good idea to close the shop one day a week.
It’s not healthy to work the hours you’ve been doing seven days a week.
It’s not sustainable, and I don’t wanna see you get sick again. ”
Jacob sighs, wrapping his hands around the hot cup of tea I made.
“We’ve been so busy this past week that I think we’ll be able to manage without losing too much income. We’re pretty much booked up for custom orders until after Valentine’s, and the demand’s been insane since Blaine helped out.”
A small smile plays on his lips. “I still can’t believe he stepped up like that.”
I laugh.
I’m still in disbelief that he didn’t hesitate to throw on an apron and jump around the counter.
“I know! That was some seriously good marketing, even if it was unplanned.”
He smiles, and I can tell he’s mulling my suggestion over as he takes a sip of tea.
“You need a rest, Jake, or you’ll burn yourself out again, and I don’t think I’d cope with seeing you hospitalized.”
“I know, you’re right.” He sighs, “I do think it would be a good idea; maybe we could do a Sunday or something?”
“That would work, plus it’s always the quietest day of the week.”
He nods. “Thank you for everything, for holding the fort while I was out. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
I take his hand across the table, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I love you. You mean the world to me, and I wanna take care of you. I know we’ve got shit to deal with, but we’ve got this, I promise. Your health comes first.”
Jacob’s smile is sad, but I know he means it wholeheartedly when he says, “I love you too, Alex.”
“Good, because I’ve offered to bake a cake to bring with us for Christmas.”
“You didn’t.” He rolls his eyes lovingly. “How many are going?”
“Um, Blaine mentioned it was him, Elliot, his parents, Zach, and the two of us.”
When I told Jacob that Blaine had invited us both to his place for Christmas day, I could tell he was hesitant.
“They’re good guys,” I say reassuringly.
“I believe you; I just… I still get a bit nervous.”
A couple of guys from the football and hockey teams made Jacob’s life miserable in high school.
Years of bullying had left their mark on him, even a decade later, so I understood his natural reluctance around jocks, but I knew he’d eventually see these guys are different from those douchebags from school.
When the timer pings, alerting me that dinner’s ready, I serve up the chicken alfredo and hand a bowl over to Jacob.
“How are things going with Blaine?”
“Good, really good,” I say between mouthfuls. “I ended up telling him about our situation the other day, and he wanted to help us out.”
Mirroring my own reaction, Jacob shakes his head. “We couldn’t ask that of him.”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
“It’s kind of him to suggest it, but it’s too much.”
I nod in agreement, waving my fork around as I finish chewing.
“I don’t think he realizes the incredible impact he’s had just by showing his face in the shop.
He’s been mentioning us on Instagram, and Zach’s been posting photos of his orders.
It’s brought in a lot of new customers, so that in itself is a big help. ”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, it’s been crazy, but I have a good feeling about it.”
Not just about the shop but about the developing relationship with Blaine, too.
I’m still nervous as fuck because Christmas is only a few days away, but I find myself counting down the minutes until I get to spend time with him.
This isn’t how I envisioned my life, but they always say sometimes the best things in life are unexpected.
* * *
A couple days later, Christmas Eve is upon us, and my nerves are running wild. Blaine offered to pick us up, and since he’s arrived, he’s been checking every photo in the living room, and asking questions.
“Is this you?” Blaine asks, pointing to a framed photo on the wall of me with my grandfather.
I walk over to stand next to him, a smile appearing on my face at the memory.
“Yeah, I was in ninth grade, and it was ‘come as your hero’ day, so I went as my grandpa.”
I chuckle to myself, remembering his face when I came down the stairs in stone khakis and a sweater vest. My grandma even managed to find some glasses similar to his, and he was rendered speechless for possibly the first time in his life.
Blaine’s face softens. “Will you tell me more about him?”
“He was such a prankster. Always telling jokes and pulling pranks on people. There was this time he installed this small speaker thing in the cupboard, like the kind you get out of greeting cards where you record your own message. Anyway, he recorded himself saying, ‘Margaret, bring me more snacks’, so whenever my grandma would open the cupboard door, that message would play out and she couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.
” I laugh, remembering how mad she would get.
“You would hear her shouting, ‘Ernie, get off of your ass and get your own damn snacks!’”
Blaine laughs. “Ha! I’d never have thought to do something like that.”
“Me neither.” I walk over to the couch and sit down, tucking my feet under me.
“When I was about five years old, he blew up his vegetable patch. I’d come here during summer break while my parents were at work, and one day we were playing in the yard with this science experiment kit I'd gotten for my birthday, but he decided to take it a step further. I can’t remember what he used exactly, but cabbage ended up all over the yard.
He claimed it was an accident, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing. ”
Blaine’s eyes are wide, a matching smile on his face. “Wow, he sounds like a really fun guy.”
I nod. My grandfather was an incredible man.
“He was so much fun, but he was so caring, too. He was besotted with my grandma. Every Thursday, without fail, he’d go to the store and bring home a bouquet of flowers, and Sunday was the day they always had a dance.”
“A dance?”
“Yeah, he loved Elvis. He used to say to me, ‘Alex, if there’s only one thing I can teach you, it’s that the King is the King of music, not just rock and roll, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.
’” I shake my head to ward off my emotions as my heart starts to feel heavy in my chest. “I still have all of his vinyl. We’d sit and listen to them together, and we’d both sing along as I did a jigsaw or some coloring.
He and my grandma would dance to ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ every Sunday after dinner, and he’d sing along to the words to her. They used to say it was their song.”
Jacob and I used to stand by the door and watch.
Even as kids, we knew their love was special.
We were so lucky to have them in our lives, helping us through the grief of losing our parents and grow into our identities as we became teenagers and into adulthood.
Giving us the space to be who we wanted to be with no limitations.
We owe them everything, and it still hurts, even after two years, to know that I’ll never get to hear my grandfather’s cackle when he pulled another prank or my grandma complaining when he’d leave his dirty socks on the stairs.
A lump forms in my throat, and I blink away the tears forming in my eyes. I miss them so fucking much.
Fingers gently tip my chin up, and my heart clenches. Blaine’s face is filled with so much love that a stray tear falls down my cheek.
“He sounds like an incredible man. I’m sorry that I won’t get to thank him for raising such an amazing guy.” He presses a soft kiss against my lips.
“He would have loved you,” I admit.
Blaine’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. “Really?”
“When you were drafted, he was all, ‘This Blaine Olsen kid is going to be great for Thunder; he’s fast, he’s nimble, he’s got a killer wrist shot. I have a really good feeling about this.’ He was in awe of you, thought you were incredible.”
He gives me an aw-shucks grin, tucking his chin to his chest, fiddling with the strings on his sweatpants.
“He would have been so honored to meet you. He might have talked your ear off and given you some pointers from his armchair, but he would’ve loved you.
” I smile. The last game he watched before he passed away was the night Blaine scored his very first NHL hat trick.
He jumped from his chair, pumping his fists into the air with joy.
It feels like kismet to be sitting here in this living room with Blaine, talking about my grandpa, when he was the one who spoke so highly of him for years at this exact place.
He sits down next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into him. I rest my head on his chest, listening to the soft thud of his heartbeat, and wrap my arms around his waist.
“Thank you for sharing him with me,” he murmurs into my hair.
I press a gentle kiss to his pec through his t-shirt.
“Will you tell me about Christmas with your family? Is there anything I should be prepared for?”
I feel his laugh vibrate through his chest. “Christmas has always been pretty chaotic. We’d have both my grandparents over, my mom’s sister, and my cousin.
Usually, Elliot and I would be running around the house with our new hockey sticks, and most of the time we’d be wearing full gear, too.
You could guarantee that we’d end up breaking something, no matter how much my mom yelled at us to be careful. ”
I look up at him. The image of a young Blaine and Elliot dressed head to toe in hockey gear, surrounded by broken vases and ornaments, runs through my mind. I can’t help but laugh.
“Didn’t you go to the same college, too? What did your parents do then? You weren’t able to travel with hockey, right?”
He nods. “My parents would visit us on campus for Christmas; they would rent a house or stay in a hotel, but once we went pro, Elliot was in Vancouver and I was here in Chicago, so they would alternate… One year they would visit El and the next they’d visit me.
We usually get a couple of days off for Christmas, but we’d be exhausted, so we settled for FaceTime. ”
“That sounds tough on your parents... I bet they’re excited to be able to spend it with the both of you for the first time in a few years.”
“Yeah it was. They often felt guilty about whichever one of us was on their own, but we would spend it with our teammates or something. Like with Zach—his parents do the same with his brother, Brody, so they’ll alternate between New Jersey and here, but he’s lucky that his parents live in Chicago, so it’s not as bad.
He’ll be coming tomorrow because his parents have gone to Jersey, but yeah, being able to spend Christmas with both my parents and my brother for the first time in like, six years, is pretty cool. ”
We both look up when Jacob walks in holding his overnight bag. He’s dressed in navy chinos and a light gray knit sweater decorated with white snowflakes.
“I’m ready.” His smile is shaky from nerves.
I peel myself away from Blaine’s warm embrace and walk over to my brother, giving his elbow a gentle squeeze in reassurance.
We’re staying at Blaine’s apartment tonight and tomorrow night—at Blaine’s request—so we can have a few drinks and not have to worry about anything.
It took some convincing, but as soon as Blaine mentioned that his apartment building has a spa, Jacob quickly agreed.
I pass by him to slip on my shoes and collect my own bag, and when I turn to face the door, Blaine’s standing there with a wide grin and rubbing his hands together.
“Are you ready for a crazy Olsen Christmas?”