24. Lilah #2
Or I could lie in bed all day—wallowing.
There was no tree, no presents, no one here. No Mason. He’d left a little after midnight with his family. Maybe he’d seen Santa in his predawn departure.
I wished he were here with me.
But I’d gotten Thanksgiving. I couldn’t expect him to save me from all my holiday loneliness.
It wasn’t like he was my boyfriend. At least, we hadn’t put those words on it, though what we’d been doing felt like what a girlfriend and boyfriend would do.
There were times I was afraid to say a word and ruin things.
With the pillow tight against my chest, I tried to force myself back to sleep.
What was the point of getting up early? It would only stretch the day out longer.
The race I’d been running to enact The Plan for as long as I could remember had hit a lull, a quiet moment where I wasn’t grinding myself to dust for the next goal, and it filled my chest with pangs I wanted to go away as soon as possible.
Since I was out of beads, a little embroidery would take my mind off a day where people were supposed to be surrounded by their family and loved ones. The ache in my chest pulsed like a living thing.
Rye was probably offering his mom a cup of coffee after they’d spent all night setting up a new gaming system for his brothers and cousins who slept over.
Maybe I should’ve taken him up on his offer to stay over there, but they had so many family members staying the night that I didn’t want them to have to find a place for me to sleep.
Plus, then I’d have an in-my-face reminder of what I didn’t have, what I was missing out on.
I took the pillow off my face.
A flicker of light from under the door caught my attention.
I stared at them. Flickering, colorful lights from the living room danced along the threshold and traced their way under the door and across the floor. I wriggled out of the blankets and crawled to the end of the bed.
Heart stuttering, I slid off the side. The lights blinked along the tips of my toes. I opened the door and froze.
An eight-foot-tall tree with a glittering star that scraped the ceiling sat in the living room. Multicolored lights twinkled beneath gold garland. Green, red and gold ornaments covered almost every branch. And underneath the tree with a fluffy red tree skirt were presents. At least ten.
Stunned, I moved toward the tree with tickles of giddy confusion radiating from every cell. There was too much to look at. A laugh escaped my mouth. With my hand over it, I circled the tree, careful not to step on any presents.
How had he done this without me knowing? If it were anyone other than Mason, I’d be losing my mind, but it wasn’t like we locked our door, so getting in had been easy.
Tiptoeing closer, I crouched down near the first present in shiny red wrapping paper. An oversized tag was attached to the box with string.
To: Lilah
From: Santa
Part of me had expected them all to dissolve the second I touched them, a lingering concussion hallucination or a dream. But they were all still here and there wasn’t a doubt where they came from.
My vision blurred, emotional for a completely different reason. I ran and grabbed my phone then stared at the time. It was still so early. Heart singing, happiness bubbling in my chest like a newly opened can of Sprite, I wiped at my watery eyes.
Even if all the boxes were empty, this was still the best Christmas I’d had since my mom died.
I picked up one box and shook it. A giddy laugh escaped at the gentle jingle. I squeezed it in a bear hug.
My phone pinged. I scrambled to pick it up.
Mason: Merry Christmas, Lilah
A little Christmas tree emoji followed the greeting.
Me: Merry Christmas, Mason! Thank you!
The phone rang in my grip.
I slid my finger across my screen. “How did you do all of this?”
“I have my ways,” he said, voice gravelly in a way that sent a tingle down my spine. It was almost like we were waking up next to each other.
I lay on the sofa bed I hadn’t bothered folding up with the phone against my cheek and stared at my tree.
“How did you get it done?”
“I recruited a little help. I’m sorry I can’t be there with you, but I wanted you to know I was thinking about you.”
“A ‘Merry Christmas’ text would’ve been enough.”
“Nah, you deserved more than that.”
“But all this? How long did it take you?”
“Not too long with the guys’ help. Did you open your presents yet?”
“Not yet, but I have one on my lap right now.” I petted the smooth blue satin bow.
Mason had a way of continually surprising me. With as bad as those surprises had been before, he seemed determined to make every surprise better than the last.
“Good. I can’t wait to hear what you think. I’ll be back in a couple days.”
“Then I can give you my present.” Which felt a little silly and stupid after looking at all this.
“You don’t have to get me anything.”
“Would you have listened if I said the same to you?”
His gruff laugh tiptoed warm, tingly pleasure down my spine. “No.”
“Ready?” A low voice spoke on the other end of the line.
“Ready,” he said off-phone. “I’ve got to go.”
“Where are you?”
“A rink.”
“You’re practicing barely past dawn on Christmas morning?”
“I’d rather be there with you.”
“I’d rather you were here too. Have a good practice.”
He made a grim noise. “I miss you already.”
“I miss you too.”
The call ended and I swung my legs off the edge of the couch.
Did his dad ever give him a break? It didn’t seem like Mason would choose to be up for a dawn practice on Christmas Day, but then again, I wasn’t on the cusp of being recruited to college on a full-ride scholarship.
But Rye never seemed to have as many extra practices as Mason did.
His father pushed him hard, even when he wasn’t there.
Whenever he talked hockey, that same hard look swept over his face like his father had.