by Alex Bailey
Ray’s head snapped facing toward her, but he didn’t say a word.
“So if it’s not the villain tree, what was your favorite?” Ariel looked up at her aunt.
“The Tangled tree. I loved all the lanterns. And it was the last Disney movie I saw with your mom. After you were born.” She tapped Ariel’s nose with her index finger, something that always made Ariel giggle. “I told her since she had a kid, she could just take you to see Disney movies. I didn’t have to go anymore.” Sophie regretted saying that to her sister. She now wished she had seen every last one of them no matter how sappy they were. She could never get those moments back. But she wouldn’t make the same mistake with Natalie’s daughter. “Your mom cried when the lanterns flew at the end of the movie after the princess finally made it home. And of course, I thought your mom was being ridiculous. But I handed her the napkin I used for my popcorn anyway.”
WALKING INTO THE LOBBY, Sophie braced herself for the change she knew was about to take place. They made it past the Christmas tree before both families rushed toward them. Ariel ran to her dad and jumped into his arms.
Frank’s four-year-old twin daughters ran to Ray, and he squatted to their level and pulled them into a group hug. “My favorite nieces! Isabelle and Amelia, are you two excited for Christmas?” They giggled, each clamoring to wrap their arms around his neck.
“Heya, kiddo. Missed you!” Rick said, while holgging her, a term Natalie had invented for when Rick was holding and hugging Ariel at the same time.
“Missed you too, Dad.” Ariel squeezed her arms around Rick’s neck and kissed him on the cheek before he set her back down.
Ray stood and hugged his mom and dad, while Sophie hugged her parents. She was happy to see them again, it had been a while since she’d been back to Florida. They did fly out to L.A. once a month to visit but mostly spent time with Ariel when there. She searched around for Darren, who was hanging back from the group, reading his phone.
Ray started the introductions and said, “Sophie and Ariel, this is my family.” He turned to his family and said, “Family, this is Sophie and Ariel.”
Ariel smiled broadly and gave a little wave. “Hi.”
“Hi everyone.” Sophie thought she knew everyone’s name, but just to be sure, she ran through them aloud. “Let me guess,” she nodded to Ray’s dad, “Miguel,” then to Ray’s mom, “Cora,” his brother, “Frank,” and sister-in-law, “Maria.” Then she squatted and faced Frank’s twins, one wearing a pink Aurora T-shirt and matching shorts and the other, a blue Cinderella T-shirt and matching shorts. “And these two little princesses are Ray’s nieces. I know because Uncle Ray already gave away your names, Amelia and Isabelle. Though, I’m not sure which one of you is Amelia and which one is Isabelle.”
The girls hid behind their mom’s legs, and Maria said, “Don’t feel bad. Sometimes we can’t even tell.”
“I never have that problem,” Ray squatted again in front of the girls and tickled their sides. “This one is Amelia.” He pointed downward to the top of her head. “She squeals the loudest when I tickle her. And this one is Isabelle. She laughs harder at my jokes.”
After the families made introductions, Maria said, “It’s kind of late. And Santa’s coming tonight, so we better get these kids to bed.”
Sophie turned to Darren, who had finally put his phone away, and stared straight ahead with a strange-looking frown, one Sophie had never seen before. She followed his gaze to Ray. Darren suddenly pulled her into a protective embrace, and when he tried kissing Sophie on the lips, she turned her head slightly away and the kiss landed on her cheek. “Hi! You made it!”
Darren’s frown deepened. “Yeah. I made it. So this is the guy you’ve been hanging out with?”
“Yup. He’s the one.” Sophie bit her lip. She wanted to say much more. She wanted to tell him how much Ray had helped her throughout the difficult trip. She wanted to gush about how good Ray was with kids and how much fun she’d had with him but decided against it. She wasn’t quite sure what was on his mind, but she could guess it was not how happy he was to find his girlfriend stroll in with a brutally attractive man.
“Let’s go. I’m beat,” Darren grumbled.
“I need to get my things from the room,” Sophie said, “I’m all packed so it will only take a second. And our room is a connecting room with my family’s room.”
Ray pulled away from his family and approached Sophie, “Hey, okay if I come get my things now?” He turned to Ariel and smiled. “Just a toothbrush and jammies.”
Darren’s mouth flew open, but before he could respond, Sophie explained, “His room had a little problem with a water leakage. And so we let him sleep in ours last night.”
Ariel chimed in, “There’s bunk beds. And I had the top bunk. And we let Ray have the best one on the bottom!”
Darren gave Sophie a bewildered look. “I don’t believe this!”
“Come on, Ray,” Ariel grabbed his hand. “You can come up with us and get your stuff. We can do another add-on story.”
Ray glanced at Darren. “Don’t think we’ll have time for that tonight, Ariel. But maybe we’ll try again tomorrow. We have a lot more people with us now, so it could get quite interesting. Don’t ya think?”
Ariel jumped up and down. “Yeah!”
Sophie hooked her arm through Darren’s and pulled him behind Ariel and Ray. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, “It was really no big deal. He needed a place to sleep. We had an extra bunk bed.”
The two families followed behind, chatting away. Sophie leaned over to whisper in Darren’s ear again. She wanted to explain what the add-on story was, but he pulled away from her.
“That’s so interesting that you were on the plane with Rick and Darren,” Nellie told Cora. “It truly is a small world!”
“Hey Ray,” his brother, Frank said, “missed your Disney trivia cards on the bus ride over. That always kept the kids occupied.”
“That was you too?” Sophie said in amazement. “Wow, you really are Professor Disney, aren’t you!”
She could see Darren glaring at her out of the corner of her eye, but she dared not look at him full-on.
When they stopped at the elevator, Cora said, “Are we all meeting down here in the lobby in the morning?”
“Yeah!” Ariel said.
“You want to?” Sophie thought it was a little odd that strangers would want to hang out with her family. Though, isn’t that exactly what Ray was when he had offered to show them around?
Nellie said, “We’ve been chatting while waiting for you. Getting to know one another, dear. And since we’re staying there tonight with Rick and Ariel, we had already planned to meet up tomorrow to go to the Magic Kingdom together.”
“Besides,” Miguel, who looked like an older version of Ray but clean-shaven with gray hair, said, “Ray texted us and said we didn’t have a choice.” Miguel laughed heartily.
Ray turned around, his face the color of fire. It was the first time Sophie had seen him blush, and thought it was endearing. She had a strong urge to reach up and pinch his cheek but controlled the impulse. If Darren was as perturbed as she guessed he was, it would not bode well.
“What time shall we meet?” Maria said, holding one of her twins. Frank held the other girl, who was just nodding off.
“Better not be too early,” Darren said with a scowl.
“But it has to be early,” Ariel said with an angrier scowl. “It’s Christmas and I don’t want to miss anything.”
The last thing Sophie wanted on Christmas Eve was a fight between her boyfriend and her niece, so she narrowly targeted her question to “Is eight-thirty too early for you?” Sophie directed her question to Frank and Maria, because they were the ones most affected since they had young children.
“Sounds good to me too,” Frank said, turning to Maria to get a nod from her. “This right here,” he pointed to his protruding belly, “can’t wait for any late-comers to the party. We’ll grab something to eat a
t the food court before we meet you all.”
“Sounds good to me,” Rick said. “We’ll do the same.”
“And Darren, we all know how you need your coffee in the morning, so you might want to jump in the food court too,” Nellie said.
Darren grumbled something under his breath and when the elevator door opened, they all jumped in.
Sophie both anticipated and dreaded the next day.
Chapter 14
Sophie tapped her gray MagicBand to its reader to get into the room she had occupied with Ariel for the last few days. She needed to get her things and move them next door. She had asked for connecting rooms when she and Hyun had planned the trip and was just lucky enough to get them.
Darren waited in the hall while Rick and Ariel scooted around him to get into the room.
“Nice!” Rick surveyed the room, laid his shoulder bag down on the bottom bunk, next to the one Ray had left that morning, and then headed for the balcony. Ariel followed.
Sophie hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and grabbed the handle of her suitcase when Ray walked in. She set the bag back on the bed, while Darren shot a villainous look of disdain from the doorway.
“Sorry, folks”—Ray half-cringed, half-chuckled—“I’ll be out of your way in three”—he grabbed his bag—“two, one.” When he reached the door and was eye-to-eye with Darren, he turned and beamed at Sophie. “See you on Christmas morning!”
Darren stormed into the room, leaving his bags in the hall. “What was that all about? You let a complete stranger sleep with you?”
Sophie again picked up her bag and clutched the handle to her luggage. “He didn’t sleep with me. He slept in that bed.” She pointed to the bottom bunk that now held Rick’s luggage.
Sophie’s parents walked in, seemingly oblivious to the argument, because Nellie said, “Sorry. You know how your dad is; had to stop and get a soda from the machine on the way to the room. I told him to put the bags down first, but he didn’t want to make a second trip down the hall.”
Ignoring her mom’s chatter, Sophie said, “And I slept in that one.” She nodded in the direction of the queen size bed.
“Are you talking about our sleepover?” Ariel and Rick walked into the middle of the spat. “We had fun. Ray is so nice. We told fun stories.”
Darren turned away from the group and Sophie followed him out of the room. Next door, she tapped her MagicBand to the reader and opened the door. Darren followed her into the room.
“Sophie, why did that guy sleep in there last night? And I don’t want to hear about his leaky toilet.” Darren sounded more than irritated while he tossed his carry-on bag onto the bed.
The room was decorated in much the same way with an African-themed design to the furnishings. Two queen-size beds sat side-by-side in the middle of the room, and they also had a spacious balcony. A connecting door separated the two rooms and there was no way Sophie would open it with an argument on this side of the door. Sophie threw her bags on the bed closest to the balcony, the bed opposite the one Darren had just thrown his bag onto.
“I already told you why.” Her voice was louder than she wanted and worried her family might be able to hear her. But she could only calm it so much, since she was angry with Darren’s accusation. “What are you really asking, Darren? Seriously, do you think anything happened when Ariel was right there? His room was flooded and there were no other rooms in the hotel. Instead of making him move out of the building for a single night, we had an extra bed, so we let him stay. It’s no big deal.” Sophie sat on the side of the bed and crossed her arms. After a moment’s pause, she said, “I guess you just don’t trust me. Do you?”
Darren sat next to her and remained quiet for a few minutes. Sophie fumed and the silence between them fueled her anger. She had always been the one to give in and say she was sorry. But not this time. She had done nothing wrong. And if he didn’t trust her, then they had a serious problem. When he finally broke the silence, he said, “Sorry. You’re right.” He tried putting his arm around her shoulders but she shook it off. “It’s just...I don’t know. You two looked so happy together when you walked into the lobby.”
“How would you know? Your nose was stuck in your phone the entire time.” She breathed in slowly and heavily, trying to calm herself.
“I saw you, Soph. I saw you walk in, smiling. You almost looked like a giddy little schoolgirl.”
Schoolgirl? Giddy? Me? Sophie wondered why she wasn’t angry at Darren’s accusation. But it actually made her happy to think she looked as happy as she felt.
“And then when I heard he was in there...” Darren swished his hand toward the connecting door.
“I am happy, Darren. Ray’s been an enormous help this week. Do you have any idea how hard it’s been to be here? I think you’ve forgotten that this was not my Christmas wish. This was my niece’s wish—to honor her mom. And as difficult as it was for me, I helped grant it. I wasn’t thrilled to come here, but with Ray’s help”—she didn’t even bother to look at the grimace Darren probably had and didn’t care one bit if it was there—“we pulled it off. We gave Ariel the time of her life. And I could not have done it without him.” She was beginning to wonder if Darren was the man she thought he was. Maybe Ariel was right all along. Maybe he wasn’t right for her. And too bad if you don’t like the fact that Ray’s good with kids. Or that he’s a happy person, or that I’m happy. But I am. In spite of everything.
“I’m sorry, Soph. I really am. Can you forgive me? I don’t know what I was thinking.” He laid a hand on her shoulder and this time she didn’t shake it off. “I’m being a jerk.”
That was one thing they could agree on. Since Sophie had always been a sucker for anyone asking for forgiveness, she gave him a quick side hug and one second into it, Darren hopped up and grabbed his bag.
“Let’s get unpacked. I’ve got a lot of work to do before I can get to bed.”
Work? On Christmas Eve? When I haven’t seen him all week? Furious, Sophie flew off the bed and opened the connecting door. “Go right ahead. I’m going to say goodnight to Ariel.”
CHRISTMAS MORNING, Sophie awoke before dawn to the sound of Darren’s snores. It grated on her nerves, sounding much like gravel rolling around in a ceramic pot. This must be the sound stone soup makes! The noise reverberated through her ear drum. When she could stand the cacophony no longer, Sophie showered and dressed in a red, for Christmas, slightly below-the knee sundress and sat in a chair on the balcony to wait for the sunrise.
The morning was clear, breezy and warm, and she could make out the movement of animals in the distance but couldn’t quite see which ones were out and about.
Her favorite Christmas came to mind. She was ten, and Natalie was thirteen. She felt so grown up because her mom had given her nail polish and allowed her to apply it herself. Natalie, her mom, and even her dad let her practice on them first. By the time she painted her own nails, she was a pro. They looked perfect. Of course, when she’d seen the pictures years later, she saw the imperfections. The streaks, smears, thin and thick lines, the polish on her cuticles. But at the time, her sister had praised her for her artistic skill. And Natalie hadn’t removed the streaky mess from her nails, instead she let the polish wear off naturally. Over time. Until no evidence remained of Sophie’s unsteady, inexperienced hand.
A tear trickled down her cheek. This was the day she had dreaded the most. The day she was to board Natalie’s favorite ride. As anguished as she was, she knew there was no choice. She would do it for the girl who left her nail polish on. The one she had loved and still loved. And she would do it right. The way Natalie would do it. Not just with a smile, but with the most joyous beam of light emanating from her heart. And she would sing. Very loud.
WHEN EIGHT-THIRTY CAME and went with Darren still boiling his pebble soup in the back of his throat, Sophie texted her mom and apologized for being late. She told her to proceed without her and she would meet the group on Main Street by the Christmas tree. Without
Darren.
She jotted a note for Darren to call her when he woke up and dashed to the Magic Kingdom.
NEVER IN HER WILDEST dreams had Sophie ever imagined she would be rushing to get into the Magic Kingdom. But so many things had changed for her during this trip and she was now more aware of her feelings and what she needed to do. When she stepped into the Magic Kingdom, it had already been overtaken by holiday goers and Sophie couldn’t see her group from the entrance, but heard the whistle of the train on the platform above her. She passed the popcorn cart, with its fragrant but too-early-for-popcorn familiar aroma. She made her way around the huge Christmas tree, hoping they were on the other side.
She walked so fast that she almost tripped on a passing stroller. She balanced herself and continued until she made it to the other side of the base of the tree. Ray stood in front of a large group, that looked like a family taking photos with a cell phone. But it wasn’t his family. He wore his signature khaki shorts with a white T-shirt. An enormous Mickey head silhouette with a string of colorful Christmas lights entwined around its ears appliqued on the front.
Sneaking up behind him, Sophie decided to have a little fun, the “Ray” way. She was in a playful mood, something she hadn’t felt in quite a while. She placed her hands over Ray’s eyes and said, “Guess who.”
He grabbed her hands. “Merry Christmas, Sleeping Beauty.” Then turned around and beamed. When he smiled, Sophie couldn’t help but smile back, the whole world was joyful when Ray was happy. “Where’s Prince Charming?” He returned to his photo session and faced the group.
