Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Aaron
I frown at the text on my phone.
Amelia
What do you think about all of us having dinner together tomorrow?
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asks, curled up against my side.
It’s Tuesday evening, and we’ve spent the last few nights together and have settled into a comfortable routine.
I talk to Colin on video chat for a little bit during the day, bum around the house taking care of projects or reading or watching shows I’ve heard people talk about but don’t get to watch with Colin around, and then I meet Jenna at her place after she’s done at ChristmasFest. I’ve brought dinner the last few times too, either takeout or something I’ve cooked.
Tonight I brought the stew I made for our truck picnic since she liked it so much.
I even busted out my mom’s old bread machine and made fresh bread, which Jenna gushed over.
She’s so easy to please, which I really like. While it’s been years since I’ve had a girlfriend, I had a few in high school and college who had big expectations that were impossible to meet and eventually led to the end of our relationship.
Jenna, by contrast, is almost too grateful for what I see as the normal level of care and consideration in a relationship.
I want to take care of her like this when I know she’s exhausted after working the ChristmasFest nonstop for weeks now, and that’s not even counting all the work she did in the months leading up to it.
I’ve always known it’s a big undertaking, but having seen her office and the things she’s brought home, it’s even bigger than I realized.
So many moving parts that I didn’t really think about or take into account.
No wonder she gets frustrated when people act like she’s trying to ruin things.
She works her ass off to make sure the event runs as smoothly as possible.
“Oh, nothing,” I say, deciding I’ll respond to Amelia later.
I don’t want to taint my evening with Jenna with talk of Colin’s mom.
She’s been acting strange lately, hopping on the calls that are supposed to be for Colin and me.
Yesterday she grilled me about Jenna, even taking over the call for a while and sending Colin away after he and I’d talked for about ten minutes, saying that Colin mentioned he’d seen us kissing.
“We need to establish rules about relationships,” she said, and I’d just shaken my head.
“Amelia, we decided at the beginning that we’d trust each other’s judgment with regard to introducing our son to new partners when the time comes.”
“That was before my son came home telling me he’d seen Daddy kissing someone.”
My eyebrows had jumped at that. “Number one, it was a peck in a public setting. Nothing inappropriate. And number two, Jenna’s my girlfriend. This is a small town. Him meeting her this early isn’t an indication of … anything, really. She bumped into us at a town event. We talked.”
“You kissed,” she hissed.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. Really.”
I’d thought that was the end of it. But between that, her earlier invite to stay for dinner a couple weeks ago, and now this?
I’m confused about what she thinks is, or should be, happening here.
“Seriously,” Jenna says. “You’re usually relaxed and smiley in the evenings.
Now you’re all tense and frowning. What’s wrong?
” She sits up, pulling away, and that just makes my frown deepen, and she freezes.
“Okay, now I’m really confused. I thought maybe I was hurting you and you were too nice to say something, but I sat up, and your frown got worse. ”
“I don’t want you moving away,” I grumble.
She stifles a laugh, settling against me again. “Okay. I won’t move away. But you’re all stiff, and it’s weird. Did something terrible happen?”
Sighing, I shake my head. “No. Amelia just texted me about Christmas stuff. I thought everything was settled, but she’s asking more questions. I’ll deal with it later.”
“You can deal with it now if that’ll make you feel better. If you want, you can go in the other room and call her. I don’t want you upset.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “No. I’m not. More confused about why she’s deciding there’s an issue.”
Something flits across Jenna’s face before she smooths it away, asking blandly, “What’s she having an issue with?”
Grunting, I shake my head, not wanting to add fuel to whatever caused that look of, what? Concern? Worry? I don’t want her worried about Amelia.
I never considered that Amelia would be a source of problems in a new relationship.
I wanted to be cautious for Colin’s sake, not wanting him to get too attached too quickly to someone who wouldn’t be around long term, and also not wanting to bring someone into the picture that would be mean to him.
From what I’ve seen, I don’t think I have to worry about the second one, and I’m not sure how much control I have over the first anyway.
He’s a sweet kid, and he likes meeting new people.
I shouldn’t be surprised he mentioned seeing Jenna and I kiss to Amelia.
I am curious what the context of that conversation was, though.
Did she quiz him like she quizzed me? She was trying to when she caught up to us in line at the North Pole on Sunday, asking me how long I’d known Jenna, asking if we were dating, though she spelled it so Colin wouldn’t know what she was asking.
I’d confirmed we were, of course, and left them to their Santa visit shortly after that, despite Amelia’s assurances that she wouldn’t mind me staying with them.
I don’t get why she’s suddenly trying to get me to come around more.
I know she’s been a little nostalgic for when Colin was a baby since school started, realizing how quickly he’s growing up.
But I’m not sure why she thinks that needs to include dinners with the three of us or all of us doing Christmas traditions together when we never have before.
Even when Colin was a baby, we alternated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Those have never been combined events, and I think trying that now would just send mixed messages to Colin.
“I don’t need to call her,” I say, pulling Jenna close and kissing her head.
“I’ll text her back later. Let’s finish our movie.
” We started a marathon of The Santa Clause movies last night, watching the first one then and the second one tonight.
And after the movie’s over, I once again have plans to take her to bed.
But my plan to ignore Amelia’s text until I’m ready to deal with it goes out the window when I get another text a few minutes later, but this one’s from my mom.
Mom
Why is Colin’s mother texting me to ask if she can come to dinner tomorrow night?
I thought the plan was for it to be you, me, Colin, and your new girlfriend.
I thought you were dating that new woman who moved here to run ChristmasFest. Did something change?
Did I miss a memo? Is Amelia the girlfriend after all this time?
This time, I don’t bother hiding my irritation, taking my arm from around Jenna so I can text my mom back.
No, you didn’t miss anything. Jenna, the event planner for ChristmasFest and the other town events, is my girlfriend. I’m not sure why Amelia’s suddenly so interested in joining me for Christmas Eve, but no, that’s not the plan. I’ll handle her
After hitting send on that, I text Amelia back.
I think we should stick to the plan. We’ve always alternated, and I’m looking forward to getting to see Colin for Christmas Eve.
I know you’re excited to spend so much time with him this year, and I’m glad he gets this time with you too.
Do you want me to pick him up tomorrow to make it easier for you?
After sending that, I mute her texts because I don’t want her ruining my night even more.
Jenna looks at me, frowning with concern, the remote in her hand. She’s paused the movie. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”
I nod. “Yeah. It’s fine. I’m sorry about that. I’m not sure what Amelia’s deal is lately.” Another inscrutable look crosses Jenna’s face, and I frown at her. “What? Do you know something?”
She shakes her head, her lips pressed together.
“No. I just …” She sighs. “She was kind of hostile toward me on Sunday at ChristmasFest. Maybe …” She chews on her lip for a second, looking at the TV.
“Maybe she sees me as some kind of threat. I know you said you haven’t dated since Colin was born, so you being in a relationship with someone else is new for her too. ”
“Did she say something to you?” I ask, still frowning.
She shrugs, which isn’t a no. “Nothing much. Just that Colin doesn’t need a new mom.”
“Well, I mean, yeah.”
Her eyebrows lift. “I know, right? I’m not sure why she’d think I was trying to do that from a high five and talking about Magna Tiles, but …” She spreads her hands, palms up, in a gesture of helpless ignorance over the inner workings of Amelia’s mind.
I grunt, considering her point. Amelia has been acting strange, it’s true, but it started before she knew about Jenna. Still, Jenna probably has a point.
Shaking my head, I decide to set all that aside for now.
Right now, I have Jenna here with me. And we both know that our time together like this is limited.
Once Colin’s home again, our lives will go back to normal.
This time is a gift. And if I can’t be with my son, this is the perfect gift to make up for it.
Sure, we’ll likely get time like this again in the future, but it’ll be different.
It’ll feel different, without the magic of the Christmas trees and twinkle lights and snow covering the ground.
And we’ll be more established, which will bring its own set of joys and challenges that I’m looking forward to discovering together.
“I’ll make sure Amelia knows that you’re not a threat to her or to her relationship with Colin,” I tell Jenna, reaching for her and pulling her close.
She comes to me willingly, seeming reassured by my words. “Thank you. I don’t want to cause problems—”
“You couldn’t possibly cause problems,” I tell her, kissing her to show her that as far as I’m concerned, she’s the solution to my problems. One very specific problem in particular …
I drag her into my lap, and she giggles, her arms circling my shoulders, clinging to me as we kiss deeply. She squirms, rubbing my hard dick with her ass, and I can’t take any more.
Scooping her up, I carry her to her room, and having done this a few times now, she just giggles instead of shouting in surprise, holding onto me to make the journey easier.
I take my sweet time kissing her and removing her clothes one piece at a time—not that she’s wearing much.
She changed into a thin T-shirt and lounge pants after she got home, only a pair of panties underneath.
Her nipples are hard, poking through the fabric, and I can’t help biting them, wondering if the shirt—pink as it is—would show her skin if I got it wet enough.
The fuzz of the fabric dissuades me from pursuing that idea. Maybe we can try out a wet T-shirt contest when the weather’s warmer. We could do it in my backyard when we’re alone some summer night …
For now, I strip the shirt off her, making her gasp when I suck her nipples into my mouth.
I make love to her, soft and slow and tender, wanting to dispel any doubts Amelia might’ve planted in her mind about how much I want her—Jenna—here with me, in my life.
Yes, it’ll take time for us to work our way into the kind of permanence I hope for, but I’m fairly confident we’re on the same page, and these few nights have shown me that we don’t have any obvious incompatibilities that would cause our relationship to end.
And so I don’t have any qualms about letting myself sink into my burgeoning feelings, falling slowly, one kiss, one dinner, one smile at a time.
When she shudders beneath me, I follow her into bliss, sated and happy.