“Hey, HollyBear. How was your day?”
“Sogreat. Take your coats off and come see!”
As they all took off their coats, he smiled at Rachel’s ugly sweater. It was striped, but with a beach scene complete with palm trees and a flamingo, and she’d added little Christmas lights to the trees and around the neck that lit up, fading from one color to the next. He smiled. “They are going to love your sweater.”
She grinned. “Thanks! Yours is…” she moved her head around like she was either trying to take it all in or find words to say, “one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen.”
He chuckled and took a little bow. A friend from work had sent him the link just after Christmas last year and he’d bought it then, but this was his first time wearing it. It was also striped and looked like someone had tried to shove as many Christmas items on it as possible. A felt gingerbread man, embroidered snowflakes, a string of lights made from shiny colored fabric, tinsel was wrapped around the arms, puffy snow covered the bottom, and a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer flew across the sky. It was the most awful thing he’d ever seen and instantly knew it would be a hit.
“Mine, too?” Aiden said, puffing out his chest. His was a green sweater he’d decorated like a tree with ribbon and pompoms.
“Yours, too,” Nick said. “They will all love it.”
“I made it myself. Well, my mom did the glue gun part. But it’s just like the costume me and my uncle Jack made for Bailey for the pet costume parade last year.”
“Everyone loves mine,” Holly said. She was growing out of everything so fast that he’d had to get her a new sweater this year. They’d been searching online stores together, and Holly had nearly died of happiness when they’d found a pink one with a decorated tree on it, tipped over, with a dog that looked remarkably like Rosy sitting on top of the tree.
Aiden ran ahead with Holly toward the party where, hopefully, she would introduce him to the other kids. He never wanted to squash any of his daughter’s competitiveness, but he did talk to her about being nice and showing Aiden around.
“Come on,” he said, putting his hand at the small of Rachel’s back. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”
They walked through the opening that led to his in-laws’ kitchen, dining area, and family room which was fully decked out for Christmas. They’d clearly been baking all day because the place smelled of cinnamon, baked goods, and some kind of savory something that made his stomach growl.
Since they’d arrived a bit late, the place was already filled with people—most were Clara’s relatives—standing and chatting, holding little plates of appetizers.
When Tanner spotted them walking into the room, he walked toward him as he called out, “May all your sweaters be ugly and bright! Hey, like yours!” He chuckled and slapped Nick on the back. “Hi, Nick. Good to see you.”
“You, too.” Nick turned to Rachel. “That’s Tanner. He’s a cousin.”
Then his uncle Roger shouted, “‘Tis the season for leftovers and stretchy pants!”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s… kind of a thing at this party—the random Christmas clichés turned on their sides.”
He’d barely finished the sentence when Uncle Ken said loudly, “May your merry be large and your bills be small.”
He led Rachel straight over to Ben and Linda for introductions, since they’d been dying to meet her. Just like he’d guessed, they were very welcoming to Rachel. His father-in-law started telling her about how he’d gotten a company to install permanent Christmas lights on his home that could stay there year round and that he could change the colors to match the holiday with his phone, right when Aunt Beverly leaned into his other side and whispered, “Is it appropriate to bring someone newhere? At a get-together with Clara’s family?”
He winced.
“Yes, it is,” Linda said in her firm voice that always sounded like a decision was final. “This is exactly where it’s appropriate to bring her.”
Uncle Ken was at Aunt Beverly’s other side and said, “Don’t get your tinsel in a twist, honey.”
Linda gave Nick a reassuring smile and he glanced at Rachel, hoping she didn’t hear the exchange.
As they walked away from his in-laws, Rachel said, “They’re so nice!”
They were. He was relieved that she’d only been hearing what Ben and Linda were saying and not what Aunt Beverly said.
The noise level in the room seemed to rise just then, and Grandpa Hudson said in a loud voice, “Whoever wrote ‘All is calm, all is bright,’ clearly hasn’t been here.”
Nick, along with everyone else in the room, held up their drink or their plate of appetizers if they didn’t have a drink, and shouted, “Ayy!” Then he turned to Rachel. “We do this every time grandpa quotes any lines fromSilent Night. It’s… kind of like a drinking game, I guess.” He remembered the first time he was introduced to this group—Rachel probably thought they were as weird and eccentric as he had. She just chuckled, though.
“Who is this?” Uncle Pete said as he walked up to Rachel and Nick.
“This is Rachel Meadows, the woman I’ve been dating. Rachel, this is Uncle Pete.”
Uncle Pete pulled his head back a little. “Oh. I didn’t think you’d be starting to date again already.” Then, in a hesitant voice that conveyed how much he didn’t mean what he said, he added, “Good job.”
