Together by This Christmas Tree

cally mcgregor

John’s dad took the three boys out back to play the sport John had been so good at it high school, baseball, leaving me and Jenny in the kitchen. Jenny needed help with the turkey, both of us groaning and hauling our asses up into the oven, which was a double one in a cabinet. We were both trying hard, and finally got it inside. Jenny smiled, looking at me critically. “So, Cally, are you and my son actually together, or is he pulling that ‘let’s take this slow’ routine wool over your eyes?” Jenny asked, leaning against the counter as I set the timer. I bit my lip.

“He wants it to be different than his last girlfriend, Jenny, but I don’t know. I think I might love him, Jenny, but-” Jenny cut her off with a smile, grabbing her forearm up high and squeezing.

“If you love him, Cally, don’t let him slip away. He’ll try, he’ll get scared and more than anything else, he’s going to try and get out as soon as possible. If you really love him like I think he loves you, then hold on to him.” Jenny smiled, and I felt a tear prick behind my eyes. Jenny squeezed once more before letting go. “I’d love to have you to as a daughter, Cally. I like you, and I think you’re a great girl. Besides, you seem to be able to set John straight.” Jenny beamed, and I smiled, and when Jenny hugged me, she hugged me tight. “Shall we go watch the boys play baseball?” Jenny asked, wrapping her elbow up in mine as we walked towards the back porch, still warm and quaint. Ross was sitting behind a base with a glove, yelling something about a play, while John, swinging a bat around his shoulders, just laughed.

“How long did John play baseball?” I asked, and Jenny smiled, grabbing a notebook off the counter behind us, which was a scrapbook. She flipped around for a moment, humming, until she found a picture of a teenage John, his chin on the end of a bat, and looking drunk or high, but knowing his personality, was neither. I smiled, gently touching my fingers to the picture. Jenny smiled.

“He started when he was just a little boy, and he raised Shane and Ross to do exactly the same.” Jenny smiled as John hit the ball way past Mr. O’Callaghan, who ran quickly and tried to catch it, but instead laughed as his eldest son ran past him, laughing merrily. As John slid into home, he waved at me. “But really, it was his daddy who taught him more than anything else. It’s the only time they don’t fight, when they’re playing,” Jenny said with a sigh. The boys ran over, Mr. O’Callaghan giving Jenny a big kiss and smiling at me, while John wrapped his arms gently around my neck, his hands resting on my stomach, his chin on my head.

“Hey Mom, do you mind if I play you this new song I wrote?” I raised my brows, and John winked at me, and Jenny got very excited, clapping her hands. John ran to his van to grab his guitar, happily sitting down beside me and squeezing my hand before he started singing. “December first, I’m in a foreign state, I’m running late, I’m all alone, wishing I was home with you baby, she’s got her way of making things okay when she’s not around, when she’s not around, I’m going crazy, we like to talk about the plans we make and things we say, when we’re were together, I hope for better weather this year, but you my dear, need to know, this year I want you alone.”

And suddenly, the pieces all fit together. John and I met on December 1st, and suddenly, all things happen to come together. This song was about me. I felt tears prick behind my eyes, and my hands flew to my mouth as John played the last part, his hands working hard on his guitar, focusing on the floor. “And as a matter of fact, I know, I’m exactly where I need to be, together by this Christmas tree.”

John smiled, putting his guitar down next to him and standing slowly, and Jenny smiled, looking at me. I stood too, tears falling down my cheeks, and held him tightly, John whispering in my ear, “Cally, I love you.” John’s voice was quiet, and I laughed, standing on my tiptoes to whisper in his.

“I love you too, John,” I said, and I meant it, in the way that my heart leaped and my hands shook and my whole body seemed to convulse. John pulled away, pressing his forehead to mine. Ross and Shane stared at us, Jenny smiling brightly.

“Then, Cally, will you officially be my girlfriend?” John asked, and Jenny swooned loudly. I bit my lip, tears falling down my cheeks in pure emotion as I nodded, unable to speak with my breath caught in my throat, and wrapped my arms around John’s neck. John smirked, grabbing my legs and hoisting them around his waist as he spun around. Mr. O’Callaghan coughed, and John slowly put me down, but refused to keep his hands off me, wrapping his arm around my waist as we all filed back into the kitchen, the turkey almost ready. As Jenny began putting Shane and Ross to work, John coughed slightly, his arms still around my waist. “Mom? Do you mind if I show Cally my old room before dinner? There’s just something I want her to see,” John asked, and I bit my lip.

“As long as that something isn’t your bed, then of course.” I laughed, hiding my face in John’s chest, and John rolled his eyes. He wrapped his big hands around mine, mine feeling small and irrationally soft in his calloused ones. He led me up the padded staircase, where a small cat lay, stretching out slowly. He opened the last door down a hallway filled with pictures of him, Shane and Ross.

“This was my room when I still lived here,” John said, and I lay out across his bed, my feet up in the air as he dug around in his closet, pulling out a small shoebox. He lay beside me, snuggling close and going through pictures, showing me ones of him, Ross, Shane and his dad. They were bittersweet, and perfect. He was so young.

In reality, nothing changed. We were just official now, things changing and making things better. I wrapped my arms around his bicep as he came to the last one, a group picture taken at Garrett’s Christmas party before England. Before everything changed. I was standing between John and Pat, my arm wrapped around Pat’s, but John wasn’t looking at Sumner, his own date.

He was looking at me.