“Trust me, Nate. It’s better not to assume things when it comes to decorations. I get the feeling we are on opposite sides of the spectrum.”
“I know I’m going to regret asking this, but which spectrum?”
“The spectrum of how much Christmas shit you want your house to be buried under after I’m done with it.”
“Uh, medium?”
Maddy was already nodding her head in thought. “Okay, I can do medium. We have a lot of spare decorations that didn’t make the cut this year so I’ll bring them over.”
“Okay, but nothing too crazy, Mads.” Nate squeezed her nape in warning.
“Of course,” she scoffed.
***
In her defense, they had vastly different opinions on what constituted crazy.
And if Maddy had been left to her own devices, she may have gone a bit overboard.
Thankfully, Nate was always close by to pull the breaks whenever she was sure she was starting to get a crazy glint in her eye that meant nothing good.
Their Saturday afternoon was spent rummaging through everything, picking what looked best for Nate’s wonderful, cozy home, and decorating the tree and all the nooks and crannies of the living room.
Nate’s brother, Cole, exited his room briefly to look around, bored as ever, and nod to them, before dragging his feet back to his room. His mom, Beth, was an absolute sweetheart, baking them cookies, chipping in here and there on decorating ideas and quietly humming to the Christmas music that Maddy had brought with her. Beth looked like she was happy to participate, and Maddy felt warmth at the sight of that. Nate seemed to notice it too, glancing at his mom with a wistful expression.
There were also a couple of incidents where Nate’s help was required. Like when at one point, Maddy had been practically trapped in the clutches of a cluster of evil twinkling lights, swearing under her breath for even bothering to untangle them. They could as well be sentient for all the trouble they were giving her.
Nate’s face was twitching like crazy in an effort not to laugh as he released her with an ease that made her eye twitch for a completely different reason.
But none of that mattered to Maddy.
What mattered was Nate’s whispered “thank you” against her temple as his lips brushed the fine hairs there and his arm came to rest around her waist.
What mattered was the way his eyes always seemed to track where she was as if reassuring himself of something.
What mattered was that, for all the bad memories these days seem to bring Nate and his family, he looked calm and at peace.
And that was all that mattered.
***
As the dreaded part of the evening slowly inched forward, Maddy wondered if there was any way to plead temporary insanity for agreeing to watch something that would scare the bejesus out of her. Not that scaring her was difficult to achieve. She got scared if a bug flew at her, for crying out loud.
She sighed. She knew it wasn’t fair. They’d made a deal and she was nothing if not fair.
With an air that she was sure suited someone who was marching towards the guillotine better, Maddy went looking for Nate who was putting some things away in the kitchen.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she murmured in a dejected tone.
Nate turned to look at her, an undecipherable expression on his face.
“Ready for what exactly?”
“For the movie you have chosen.” Maddy looked around for the DVD box. “Where is it? I need to see what I’m preparing myself for.”
“Oh, we’re not watching it here,” he said while not looking at her. “We’re leaving in a bit for the movie theater.”
Maddy blinked at him.