Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
MATTHEW
Of all the ways I expected my mom to meet Avery, this isn’t one of them.
My palms are sweaty as I hold on tightly to her hand, grasping for any amount of strength Avery is willing to give me at the moment.
When I told Mom about Avery this morning, it had gone worse than expected.
Well, I didn’t really know what to expect, exactly, but what happened wasn’t it.
In hindsight, I should have waited until after breakfast when there weren’t breakables around.
Possibly after I’d finished my cup of coffee to prepare for the full wrath of my mother, but I just wanted to get it over with.
“What do you mean you have a girlfriend, Matty? Why didn’t you tell me? Why are you just telling me now? You’ve been back home for a full eight hours!” Mom exclaims after dropping her butter knife, letting it clatter against her plate.
And I attempted to sleep for at least five of those hours…
Dad winces and glances over—likely making sure the plate didn’t break—before picking up his coffee and taking a sip.
“It’s still new, Mom. We didn’t want to say anything until we were sure it was going anywhere.”
“And is it? Are you going to marry this girl? Richard, are you hearing this?”
“I heard him,” Dad replies flatly, his attention back on his newspaper.
“I’m telling you now.” I try to keep the frustration out of my voice, needing to smooth the news over. “And she’s coming to the square this morning. You’ll meet her there.”
Which is exactly where I intended for my mom to meet Avery.
But now, here she is.
Did I think she would follow us into the well and interrupt our first kiss?
“Mrs. Roberts!” Avery says, jumping up. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
I’m stunned for a second, saddened at the loss of connection with her before I come to my senses and stand as well.
“I assume you’re Avery. You’ll have to forgive me, Matty here didn’t even tell me you existed until a few hours ago. I knew when I saw you two sneak in here from across the square, I had to come and introduce myself.”
Of course she did.
“We weren’t sneaking, Mom. I wanted to show her the garden.” I don’t even bother trying to hide how exasperated I am.
“Whatever you say, dear,” Mom replies in a tone that lets me know she’s anything other than sorry.
“Please don’t blame Matthew, Mrs. Roberts, it’s all my fault we didn’t tell anyone about us right away.
” My mom opens her mouth to answer, but Avery continues.
“See, I just got out of a not-so-great relationship. I was worried that if we said anything too quickly, we would jinx it. My family was a little too attached to my ex-boyfriend, you see. They didn’t understand that there was no way we were getting back together. ”
I grab Avery’s hand, lacing her fingers with mine, giving it a light squeeze.
I know she’s doing that thing where she rambles when she’s nervous.
I feel the need to rub my chest, feeling the uncomfortable pressure that I know all too well, wondering if she feels the same when she does this.
And then I realize that there’s a lot about her that I don’t know but want to.
Like, is what she’s saying true? She hasn’t talked much about her family, and she certainly hasn’t discussed what they thought of Maxwell.
Why didn’t I ask? Am I that selfish that I didn’t see past my own family problems to not even think about asking how all of this would affect hers?
“Is that true, Matty?”
I snap out of my thoughts to find both women looking at me. Lost in my selfish thoughts—again.
I must look as bewildered as I feel because Avery repeats herself.
Coming to my rescue.
Again.
“You were so sweet, making sure you gave me the time I needed. But you insisted on bringing me to meet your family for Christmas. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes. Christmas.”
Two words. She’s here saving me from the wrath of my mother, and I give her two words.
“He’s told me such wonderful things about Gingerbread Grove; I just couldn’t wait to see it for myself. It’s everything I hoped it would be,” Avery continues excitedly.
Mom’s face lights up at the mention of the town. “Yes, we Gingerbreadians have worked hard to create the utmost authenticity for the town. Santa himself would be proud.”
“I would say so,” Avery agrees.
“On that note, we should get going if we are going.” There. I found words.
Yay me.
“Of course. You wouldn’t want to miss the lantern lighting,” Mom says, eyeing me suspiciously. “Speaking of, I ran into Cal and McKenzie on the way in here. They mentioned that you two were joining the games. Yet another thing you neglected to tell me.”
I know I’ll be interrogated when I get back to the house tonight.
“The lantern lighting?” Avery asks, giving me a questioning look while keeping the smile on her face.
“Oh, yes. All the couples that are taking part in the games have a lantern with their names written on it. They will be lit tonight and as each couple gets eliminated from the games, their lantern gets blown out.”
“This is starting to sound less like a Christmas event and more like some type of winter Survivor,” Avery mutters to me.
“You’re telling me. This is the first I’ve heard of this,” I whisper back, not taking my eyes off my mom, who’s looking at us with an odd expression on her face. I don’t know if she’s about to jump for joy or burst into an angry tirade. With her, either is likely.
“Avery, you must join us for dinner tomorrow,” she says suddenly, her smile shifting from a little sinister to something resembling a genuine smile.
“No, Mom,” I say at the same time Avery says, “I’d love to.”
Avery shoots me a side gaze that I know very well is telling me to keep quiet. So I do.
“Perfect. Matty will close the store at six, so how about six-thirty?”
“We have the sledding competition, remember?” I add, thankful that we have a way to get out of the dinner. I’m not ready for Avery to be inundated with my parents. Not yet. If there’s anything I can do to save her from this, I will.
“Oh, well, another night, then.” She shoots me a glare that lets me know that I’ll be hearing about this later, too. “Let’s get off to the lantern lighting, shall we? I’ll see you two out there.” Mom gives me another appraising look before disappearing through the cedar hedges.
“So that was your mom,” Avery says, still looking at where Mom disappeared from.
“That’s my mom…” I say, still struggling to find words. When my brain manages to catch up with what happened, I turn to Avery and cup her cheek, bringing her attention to me. “Thank you.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Thwarting parental conflicts. Saving the Christmas spirit. I’m a regular ol’ holiday superhero.”
“You are to me,” I whisper.
I hold her gaze for a moment longer, reliving the moment before we were interrupted. I hadn’t planned on kissing her when I brought her to the garden. I’d only wanted to show it to her, and give us a moment after the run in with McKenzie and Cal.
“I mean it, Avery. Thank you. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I didn’t mean to freeze like that.”
“You’re overwhelmed. You’re back in your hometown, which doesn’t feel like home, and you’re forced to deal with the things you left behind. At Christmas. Which you don’t like.”
“I don’t not like Christmas…” I try to protest, but she rolls her eyes.
“Fine, forced to face all of this during a holiday that isn’t your favourite,” she jokes.
I look over her shoulder, envisioning the scene that’s going to welcome us on the other side of the hedges. The crowd of people as the whole town descends on the square to watch the lanterns being lit.
“Hey,” she whispers, covering my hand on her cheek with her own while still clasping mine in the other. “You’re doing great. Everyone believes us so far.”
Yeah, maybe because I’m not entirely pretending.
Clearing my throat, I break away, dropping my hands and physical contact with her. The more I touch her, the more real this feels, and I can’t have it become any more real than it already has.
“We should get going. The lantern ceremony is going to happen any minute.”
“Of course, wouldn’t want to miss that.”
I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but there’s a sadness to her tone that guts me, knowing I put it there.
Turning to the hedges, I see her back straighten and shoulders drop, as if putting on a brave face for whatever we are about to encounter.
“So, do you need a magic password to get through these? Do I have to hold hands with a Gingerbreadian? Or does the old-fashioned ‘just believe’ work?”
I chuckle, in awe at how quickly she can recover from the moment we just had while still being able to crack a joke.
“I think it’s just the ‘I believe.’ Although if that was the case, I’m not sure how it still lets me in here.”
Facing me with her hands on her hips, she tilts her head and narrows her eyes.
“I think you believe more than you let on, Mr. Roberts. Now come on and show me this Gingerbread Grove ceremony. If we make it through, you also still have bath bombs to show me, and my payment now includes a gingerbread cookie. Whatever it is the town has planned with lanterns sounds ominous, and I’m not sure we’re actually going to make it through the evening.
There’s hope to land on a true crime podcast yet,” she chuckles.
“This town may be quirky, but I don’t think there’s anything to fear from what they have planned,” I chuckle. “And I will, of course, still take you for bath bombs and a cookie.”
Three bags of Christmas-scented bath bombs, two cookies, and one reindeer knitted hat later; we are standing with the crowd in front of the tree.
“The tree is…”
“Ridiculous? Over-the-top?” I finish for her.
“Wonderful,” she says as she turns to me, her face lit up brighter than the tree in the centre of the square.
Looking at it again, I try to see what she sees. To me, it’s a sixty-foot fir splattered in red, white, and green with wooden gingerbread people and mismatched lights scattered throughout. It’s nothing but a chaotic North Pole explosion.
There has to be more to it than that.