His dad sits in a recliner while his mom has her legs crossed, sitting on the floor. Both hold a hand of cards, but when his mom sees me, her face lights up.
“Is this her?” She tosses her cards to the side, getting up from the floor as quickly as possible. “Oh, Linc, she’s a looker!”
With her hand extended, she practically runs in my direction. “Hi! I’m Tina, Lincoln’s mom.”
“Hi, Tina. So nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me in your beautiful home.” Turning to his father, I close the distance between us and offer my hand. “Hi, I’m Holly.”
He takes my hand in his as he uses the arm of the recliner to push himself to a stand. “Tim,” he says. “Nice to meet you, darlin’.”
“We are so thrilled that you could spend Christmas Eve with us, Holly! Linc is our only son, and I’m not embarrassed to say that I have been hounding him to settle down. It’s so good to see he’s finally putting himself out there.”
“And I’ve been explaining to you for years, Mother, that I will get back in the dating pool, once I’m ready to shift some of my focus from my job.”
“Seems like the dating pool is ready to have you back, son.” His father chuckles.
“Come, come. Sit, sit.” Tina gestures to the couch. “Let's cut right to the cute stuff—tell me how you two met! Linc hasn’t told me anything, and I am dying to hear all about it.”
Panicked, I look over at Lincoln, begging him with my eyes to help. Thankfully, he takes the reins, because I’m certainly not prepared to bald-face lie to his parents within three minutes of entering their home.
“Holly manages a bookstore. I went in on my break one afternoon, and the rest was history.”
“Give an old lady a break!” his mom chastises. “Certainly there’s more to it than that.”
“Not really, Mom. I got into the checkout line, our eyes met, and I couldn’t leave without a date.”
A smile plays on his lips, and I mirror it. “It’s not hard to imagine why I said yes. You have raised a very kind man, Mr. and Mrs. Stokes.”
“Oh, please. Mr. and Mrs. Stokes were my father and mother, please call us Tina and Tim,” Lincoln’s father requests.
“Have you two been dating long?” Tina asks, with a million questions reflected in her chestnut brown eyes.
Lincoln meets my gaze again, but this time I play into the story. “Not too long—what’s it been? A month?”
“Hmm,” he hums. “A little less, but knowing Holly is like knowing an old friend. It’s like we’ve known each other forever.”
Tina scrunches her nose when he calls me a friend, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, she asks, “Are you two hungry? Thirsty? Dinner will be at five.”
“I’d love a drink.”
“Perfect! We have sodas and sparkling waters in the garage fridge. Or I can get you a glass of wine, eggnog, or cider.”
“Eggnog sounds delicious,” I respond excitedly. I love eggnog, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy any this year, knowing Miles wouldn’t be around to help me drink it.
“Linc?” Tina questions.
“I’ll have the same, Mom, thank you. Can I help?”
“No, no! Take over my game with your father, and I’ll be right back.”
Leaning into me, Linc presses his lips against the side of my hair so it looks like he’s giving me a kiss, and whispers, “This is going great, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I whisper back, smiling up at him.
The Stokes family is so welcoming, just like I had a feeling they would be, and I feel grateful to be spending my Christmas Eve with them. If I can’t spend it with my own family, at leastbeing in the presence of another family makes the holiday not feel so empty.
With a small gasp, I turn to Lincoln. “I bought gifts for your family, and left them in the car! I’ll be right back, I’m going to get them.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
