Cole sat up and dragged a hand through his hair. “Shit. What time is it? I must’ve fallen asleep on the couch while I was working last night. Sorry about that.”
“No problem. And it’s almost nine. You were really out cold. I came downstairs and made coffee, took a shower, and even unloaded the dishwasher. You didn’t move a muscle.”
I shook my head. “Nine o’clock? Wow. I can’t remember the last time I slept past six.”
“How late did you work last night?”
“I’m not sure. But I got a lot done.”
“I’m glad. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Cole stood. He lifted his hands over his head to stretch, and his sweater rode up, revealing some pretty impressive abs and a sexy line of hair that ran from his navel down into his pants. Damn, he wasn’t just a pretty face; he had a body to match. I thought he might’ve caught me ogling him, so I pretended I’d been looking down at my shoe and quickly knelt to tie my sneaker, even though it wasn’t untied.
“No, I’m good,” he said. “I don’t want to trouble you. I’ve already put you out enough. I’ll make a pot when I get home.”
“Umm…no, you won’t. We still don’t have any power.”
“Shit…right.” He looked around. “I forgot since it’s light out now, and you have a generator. I’ll run out and grab some at Dunkin’ Donuts. I don’t want to make you late.”
I waved him off. “It’s fine. I can show up anytime today to enter my grades. I’m not in a rush.”
“Alright. Well, if you have it made, I’ll take a cup, please.”
In the kitchen, I poured two mugs of coffee. I added a little half and half to mine and held up the carton to Cole. “Do you take cream or sugar?”
“No. Just black, please.”
I passed him his coffee. “You know, I could have guessed that. You seem like a black coffee kind of guy.”
“Oh yeah?” He leaned his hip against the kitchen counter and sipped. “What exactly are the characteristics of a black coffee kind of guy?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know… I guess they’re sort of…like you.”
He chuckled. “So maybe like a neighbor who backs over those flower beds you have at the end of the driveway and doesn’t say anything?”
“Actually, you’d probably say something. You’d tell me it was my fault.”
Cole hung his head and laughed. “I can see I made a really good impression on you.”
I waved him off. “Eh, it’s okay. Some of the best men I know come across as stoic and grumpy, but deep down they have a heart of gold. My dad and brother are that way, so I don’t give up easily on people. I keep looking until I find something redeeming.”
Cole smiled. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”
“By the way,” I said. “I finally got through to the electric company this morning. There’s a twenty-block power outage. There was a fire in the main transformer or something like that—so it wasn’t my fault after all. But they said it could be two or three days before we get full power restored.”
Cole sighed. “Great. I guess I’ll pick up a generator today.” He finished drinking his coffee and rinsed his mug in the sink. “Thank you again for letting me use your electricity last night. And again, I apologize for overstaying my welcome.”
I set my coffee mug in the sink. “Actually, it works out well that you stayed. Now when I call my mother this weekend and she asks how things are going on the man front, I can tell her I had a man stay over the other night, and I won’t be lying.”
Cole’s eyes did a quick sweep over my body, and he flashed a sexy grin. “You better tell her I was good.”
“Oh, no worries. You were fantastic.”
He nodded with a smile. “Thank you. I aim to please.”
For some reason—the same way I’d known he would take his coffee black—I was certain Cole was indeed a man who would aim to please in bed. As I walked him to the door, I stole a glance at his firm ass. His jeans hugged him nicely, and I imagined his naked derrière matched his muscular abs.
He turned around unexpectedly, and my eyes jumped to meet his.
“Well, if you can’t find a generator for some reason,” I said, “you’re welcome to come back and work here again tonight or charge your laptop or whatever you need.” I wrote down my phone number on a piece of paper. “Just text me first so I know you’re coming over.”
Cole smiled as he took the number. “Thanks, Josie. Have a good day.”
“You, too.”
After work, I stopped and ran some errands. So when I pulled into my driveway, it was already starting to get dark. I took two bags of groceries out of the trunk of my car and looked over at my neighbor’s house. There weren’t any lights on, but there was a ladder set up out front. And were those Christmas lights strung over the windows? Why yes, yes, they were. My sexy scrooge neighbor was hanging holiday decorations?
I set the bags in my arms back down in the trunk and strolled across the street. Cole walked out his front door just as I reached the top of his driveway.
“Scrooge hung up Christmas lights?” I asked. “Am I seeing things?”
He smiled. “I figured it was the least I could do since you let me borrow your generator and crash on your couch. I thought you might like the entire block lit up better than a bottle of wine or something to say thank you.”
“I do! I love that you did all that for me.”
“Good.” Cole held up one finger. “Hang on a sec.” He disappeared into his house and came back out carrying a brown paper bag. Extending it to me, he said, “I also bought you wine, in case the lights weren’t enough.”
I felt warmth in my belly, even though it was cold outside. “Thank you. That was very thoughtful.”
“No problem. But confession…I might also have bought it because I need to butter you up. The store was sold out of generators. My laptop is almost out of juice again. If you don’t mind, it would be great if I could plug in and charge it later.”
“Oh, sure. No problem.” I nodded toward the house. “Do you like tortellini alfredo? That’s what I’m making for dinner. We could share this bottle and eat while your laptop charges. Think of how excited my mom will be if I tell her a man slept over and he came for dinner the very next night?”
Cole smiled. “Well, when you put it like that… I wouldn’t want to disappoint Mom.”
“Great. I’ll let you finish putting up your beautiful lights, and I’ll get started cooking. Come over around seven?”
“I’ll be there.”
I had ninety minutes before Cole would arrive. After putting all of my groceries away, I was just about to start preparing dinner when the lights in my dining room suddenly turned on. Then I heard random beeping throughout the house—the sound of various electronics coming back to life.
Oh my God! The power is back!
As lucky as I was to have the generator, there was nothing like fully functioning power. Relief washed over me. I’d been truly worried they’d never get things fixed, and that Christmas—which was only a week away—was going to be ruined.
Within minutes, my phone rang. It was Cole.
I picked up. “Hey! Did you get your power back?”
“Yup. Wasn’t expecting that—way sooner than they estimated. Christmas came early, I guess.”
I exhaled. “What a relief. I was just about to start dinner when the lights came on.”
There was a pause. Then he said, “You haven’t started cooking yet?”
“No.”
“Good. Because I, uh, probably won’t be coming by. I appreciate the offer, but I should go to the store instead—reload my fridge, take care of some things around here now that the power is back.”
Disappointment filled me. “Oh…okay. Are you sure you don’t just want to eat and run? I’m cooking anyway.”
There was a moment of silence. Then he said, “I probably shouldn’t.”
I felt a little sad—and stupid. I thought Cole and I
had hit it off pretty well. Maybe it was delusional to think there was something there. He apparently didn’t want to hang out with me. He’d just been using me for electricity.
“Okay, well, I hope you get a lot done,” I said in a short tone.
“Thank you. And thanks again for being so awesome through all this.”
Before I hung up, I felt compelled to ask him a question. “Cole?”
“Yeah?”
“I know Christmas isn’t your favorite holiday, so I was wondering… Which Christmas song is your least favorite?”
“Least favorite?”
“Yes. Least.”
“Hmm…” He laughed. “Probably ‘All I Want For Christmas is You.’ It’s overplayed.”
“Ah. I actually love that one. But okay. Fair answer based on the overplayed part.”
“Why did you want to know my least favorite and not my favorite?”
“I found that to be the more interesting question.”
“I do have a favorite,” he said. “Wanna know what it is?”
“What?”
“It’s ‘Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.’”
I rolled my eyes. “Why does that not surprise me?”
Cole
I blinked my eyes open after waking from a nightmare. I hadn’t even remembered nodding off. Once again, writer’s block had bitten me in the ass, and I’d fallen asleep with my computer on my lap in the middle of the damn afternoon. That wasn’t a surprise, considering I’d been up almost the entire night before.
It had been a few days since power was restored, but my life felt no brighter. I’d chickened out about going over to Josie’s the other night because my feelings for her scare me. When the power came back, I suddenly had an out, so I took it.
And now, here I was with drool on my face after waking up from a dream where the words on my screen turned into snakes that crawled out of the computer to strangle me. All this while the Happy Days theme song played in the background. If that wasn’t fucked up, I didn’t know what was.
I looked at the clock. It was 7PM.
Outside, Josie’s spectacular lights display was in full swing. It was just a few days before Christmas now, and people were gathered across the street, taking it all in.
Josie held some kind of tray. It looked like she was passing out hot apple cider or eggnog. Maybe cocoa. My stomach felt tight. I longed to be over there. Not necessarily with all of those people—but with her. Only with her. I just hadn’t been willing to explore the possibility that she was different from my lying, cheating ex. And why? She’d given me no reason to believe she was anything like Jessica. But fear was a bitch. A bigger bitch than Jessica. And I’d let fear rule my decisions. That went against everything I’d ever preached about when it came to positive thinking. But in order to get past nagging fears, you have to accept uncertainty. That’s the basis for most tactics to reduce worry; yet I’d been unable to do it.
The crowd of people began to line up in front of Josie’s house. I soon realized they were singing. It was a choir of some kind. And it wasn’t just any song they were belting out. Cold air billowed into my house as I opened the window to better hear the sound of freaking “All I Want For Christmas is You.”
Is she kidding me?
Nice, Josie. Nice.
I burst into laughter.
It was no coincidence. That had to have been meant for me. Maybe it wasn’t. Either way, it was funny.
After a couple of minutes, I shut the window and attempted to get work done with the muffled sounds of Christmas chaos outside.
At least the lame lights I’d put up out front were better than the total darkness I’d originally planned. Now instead of Scrooge, I was just the lonely writer across the street, afraid to go all the way at anything in life, a fear accurately reflected through my measly, half-assed holiday display.
After several minutes of being unable to focus, I shut my laptop, deciding to go downstairs and make myself something to eat.
Before I opened the fridge, I grabbed the stack of mail sitting on the counter and began to sift through it. Among the bills were a couple of Christmas cards. I opened the first one to find it was from my brother—a shot of my two-year-old nephew, Benjamin, dressed as an elf. It made my cold heart happy for a couple of seconds before I tossed it aside to open the next envelope.
Inside was a small card and a photo of someone I didn’t recognize: a boy in a wheelchair. Next to him was a beautiful brunette I did recognize: Josie. I realized this card wasn’t meant for me. It had been mistakenly delivered here.
But I’d already opened it, and I remembered the story she’d told me about her former student, William—her inspiration for the Christmas display. So I read the message inside.
Dear Josie,
We know this Christmas will be the best one yet. But we say that every year when it comes to your extravaganza of lights. We thought you’d enjoy this old photo we found of you and our guy. Can you believe William would have been graduating high school this year? Thank you for helping his memory to live on. We will see you soon.
Love,
The Testinos
I stared at the photo of the smiling boy, who seemed so filled with joy and hope. He hadn’t had it easy. He’d had to accept a lot of uncertainty every day of his life. But he’d still managed to find happiness. He wasn’t supposed to die on that operating table. I shook my head, feeling myself tear up. I didn’t even know the kid. I couldn’t imagine how Josie felt. Life is so damn fleeting. And here I was, obsessing over my past—a past that held no significance over my present. I was here in this lonely house when I really wanted to be across the street. Not because of the lights, but because of the single ray of light responsible for it all.
I spoke to the photo in my hand. “William, thank you for the reminder that I’ve been a complete and utter idiot. Pretty sure this card was meant for me after all.”
The following day, I went shopping.
“Excuse me, are there any other decorations in the back?”
The sales clerk shook her head. “Just what you see here. We put the Christmas stuff out before Halloween these days, so we’re pretty much sold out by the first week in December.”
This was the third store I’d gone to. The only crap left was…well, crap. Nothing more than a bunch of lights and some of those dumb blow-ups—and even those were picked over. My choices were a six-foot-tall inflatable menorah, a polar bear hugging an ornament, or palm trees.
I sighed. “Thanks.”
After an hour and a half of going store to store, I started to think my brilliant idea might be over before it even began. But on my way out, I walked by the toy department. As I passed, I noticed a life-size figure down one of the aisles. Backing up a few steps, I lifted my chin to the kid stocking the shelf next to the display.
“You got any more of those?”
“Chewbacca?” His brow wrinkled. “They’re right here.”
“No, I meant any other big characters like that?”
“Oh, yeah. Next aisle over. I think there’s, like, eight different ones or something. It’s part of an anniversary of one of the movies.”
“Can they go outside?”
The kid looked at the giant action figure next to him and shrugged. “I guess so. They don’t have electronics or anything. That’s probably why they didn’t sell. They just kind of sit there.”
The wheels in my head started to turn. “Is there a Yoda?”
“Yeah, but he’s not as big.”
Well, of course not. Chewbacca isn’t the same size as Yoda. “Do you think he’d fit in a bassinet?”
“Who?”
“Yoda.”
“Oh. What’s a bassinet?”
Seriously? “It’s like a small crib. Sort of like the manger they put baby Jesus in.”
The kid shrugged. “Check aisle nine.”
A half hour later, I had three carts at the checkout line. The silver-haired woman ringing me up smiled. “Your k
ids are Star Wars fans, huh?”
“Uhh…yeah.”
“I bet these put a big smile on someone’s face.”
I held out my credit card and grinned. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
After I finished at Target, I stopped at the local farm supply store a few miles away.
“Can I help you with something?” the guy behind the register said.
“Yeah, I need some hay.”
“We keep the hay around back. There’s a fenced area with a green awning. You pay here and pull your car around the rear of the building. Give your receipt to the kid at the gate. How many bales do you need?”
“I think one should do it.”
The guy nodded and punched some keys on his register. “Anything else I can get you today?”
“No, I think I’m good.” I glanced around the store and saw one of those plastic owls that people use to scare away birds. “Actually…” I nodded toward the owl. “Would you happen to have any other plastic animals?”
“I think we have a doe and fawn set somewhere around here. People put ’em out more as a decoration than a deterrent though.”
“Can I see them?”
He walked out from behind the counter and pointed toward the back of the store. “Follow me.”
As I trailed behind the guy, I started to get a vision of what my creation was going to look like on the front lawn. Either this was going to be funny as hell, or Josie was going to think I was nuts.
“Here we go.” The clerk pointed to two brown plastic deer with white Bambi spots. One was lying down and the other standing. “Is this the type of thing you’re looking for?”
“This is exactly what I need. Any chance you also have one of those things a shepherd holds in his hand.”
The guy’s bushy eyebrows drew together, almost forming a straight line. “You mean a crook?”
“Yeah, I think that’s what it’s called.”
He shook his head. “Sorry. We don’t get a lot of sheep around here. But we’ve got a ketch-all.”
All I Want For Christmas Is You Page 3
