Dreaming of Christmas with You

I sighed as I looked down at the postcard sized piece of paper in my hands. I had decided to take a break from going through the accounting papers, but was now wishing I hadn’t thanks to the opened cream colored envelope that had my name written in calligraphy.

Upon opening the envelope, I found myself looking at the wedding invitation of Benjamin McCall and Elizabeth Hudson. Ben and Liz. Even their names seemed to flow perfectly together, just like their white-picket fence and 2.5 kids “American Dream” lives would.

I glanced at the smiling face of Liz on the invitation once more and then looked up at my reflection in display case. We were about as opposite as could be. She had a tiny waist with curves in all the right places, skin I knew never burned and instead tanned, and long dark hair that fell in perfect waves down her back. In other words, she was gorgeous. On the other hand, I had more of a boyish figure with almost no visible curves, skin so pale it burned if I even thought about the sun, and straight, dirty blond hair.

I continued the comparison until I heard footsteps approaching from the backroom which signaled that Lily was coming towards where I was.

“Hey, Vera…” Lily started but stopped when she saw me scrambling to hide the invitation under the stack of finance papers. She raised her eyebrow at me and smirked. “What have you got there?”

“What? Oh, uh nothing. I’m just looking over the finances,” I smiled in hopes that she would believe me. Having known me for almost twenty years though, she didn’t.

“Mhm,” Lily said as she quickly reached over to grab whatever I was hiding. I tried to grab it before she could, but was too slow.

She looked at it for a couple seconds and then gave me a knowing look. “Ahh, the one who got away is getting married.”

“He’s not the one who got away. He’s just some guy I dated.”

“Vee, he’s the only serious relationship you’ve had besides Joel. In fact, I’m pretty sure you thought you were going to marry Ben at one time. It’s only natural to have second thoughts over everything.”

“I’m not having second thoughts,” I tried to argue, but I was sure I was doing a poor job at lying. “I was just surprised that he invited me.”

“Maybe this is his idea of a peace treaty,” Lily suggested.

“Doesn’t a wedding invitation seem like a weird peace treaty?”

Lily shrugged. “Guys are weird. I will admit that he still looks damn fine though.”

“I hadn’t really noticed.”

“I’m sure,” Lily once again smirked.

“So, how are things going back in the office?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Good. We just booked a six-year-old’s birthday party for next Saturday.”

I quickly grabbed a pen and paper to write down everything I needed to know. Lily and I had started our own company six months ago. We owned Sweets and Sparkles, a bakery in downtown Tempe. I was the baker and Lily took care of all the office things including orders, marketing, and the accounting which I occasionally helped with. The two of us had been best friends since meeting in our kindergarten class at Phoenix Valley Preparatory Academy. We had been dreaming of opening our own bakery for nearly as long. Lily had attended Arizona State Arizona and majored in marketing while I attended the Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale to help make our dream come true. We’d both taken different jobs after graduation, but after a year and a half of being unhappy at our jobs, we realized that it was time to open our own place. Soon, Sweets and Sparkles was born. Owning our own bakery was extremely time consuming and was eating up a lot of our money, but things were starting to come together. Many people had warned us that opening your own business was risky, but we were determined. Business continued to grow, we had some regulars, and we had recently been featured as one of the best new businesses of the year in Phoenix monthly.

“So, what do they want?” I asked with my pen poised over the wiring pad.

“It’s a party for a little girl. There will be fifteen kids in attendance and it has a female superheroes theme.”

“Female superheroes?” I asked and Lily nodded. “That’s awesome. This has to be the coolest little girl ever.”

“That’s exactly what I thought when her mom told me the theme,” Lily exclaimed. “Oh yeah, they want two dozen cupcakes.”

“Ok, I’ll do a chocolate cake with red-colored vanilla frosting for Black Widow and then a red and blue tie-dye vanilla cake with buttercream frosting for Wonder Woman,” I muttered to myself as I made notes on the paper.

“Coolest birthday party ever.”

I was about to respond but was interrupted by the bell above our door ringing signaling someone walking into the store.

“Vee-Uh!” A child’s voice exclaimed.

I looked up and instantly smiled when I saw my favorite two-year-old being carried by my favorite Arizona boy. No matter what kind of mood I was in, I could count on one of these two to bring a smile to my face.

“Hi Kadyn. Are you hanging out with Uncle Joel today?”

“Yes,” She grinned as she reached her arms out to me. I happily obliged and took her in my arms.

“Hey sweetie,” Joel said as he leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “How are my favorite bakery girls doing?”

“We better be the only bakery you’re going to, Mr. Kanitz,” Lily jokingly threatened.

“I would never dream of going anywhere else. Best vegan cupcakes in Phoenix.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Lily laughed.

“So what are you and Kadyn doing today?” I asked as I searched for a vegan cupcake for Joel and a strawberry cupcake for Kadyn while making sure I kept a firm grip on the wiggling little girl in my arms.

“Well, I’m on babysitting duty so we went to the park, watched some Dora the Explorer, took a nap, and now we’re here.”

“Sounds like a good day. I wish I could have gone to the park and taken a nap,” I teased. “So, are you packed and ready to go?”

“Well…”

“Joel, you guys are leaving in two days,” I slightly scolded.

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll get packed.”

“You mean you’ll have me pack for you.”

“Exactly,” Joel smiled while I rolled my eyes. “So there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Uh-oh,” I sighed. “Hey Kadyn, do you want eat your strawberry cupcake with Lily?”

“Cake cake. Ily.” Kadyn babbled as I handed her over to Lily so Joel and I could talk.

“So, what’s up?”

“We added more dates to our tour so it got extended,” Joel started. “You know how we were supposed to wrap up the first week of December? Well now we’re out on the road until Christmas Eve.”

“Oh,” I softly said.

“You’re upset.”

“I’m not upset, I’m just…” I trailed off.

“Disappointed?” Joel finished for me.

“Yeah, disappointed. I mean of course I’m happy for you. I mean it’s awesome that tour got extended and you’re playing more dates, but it’s the holidays.”

“We’ll be home for all of them. We’re playing in California the day before Thanksgiving so we’ll drive all night and be here for Thanksgiving.”

“But you’re heading back out about 6 pm that night,” I cut in.

“Ok, we’ll be here for most of Thanksgiving and then we’ll get back Christmas Eve morning.”

“Ok,” I said as I got up and began cleaning up the counter.

Joel stood up and followed me. “Please don’t be upset with me, Vee.

I sighed. “I’m sorry, J. I don’t want to be that girlfriend that complains about her boyfriend going out and living his dreams. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for you. It just sucks that I won’t get to spend very much of the holiday season with my boyfriend, especially since it’s my favorite time of year.

“I know, and I do feel bad about being away during this time of year. We just couldn’t pass up this opportunity though.”

“I understand.”

“Thanks,” Joel said as he leaned over and gave me a quick peck. “Now, I better get that little monster back to Mark and Bradene.”

“You may need to give her a bath first,” Lily laughed as she handed an icing covered Kadyn back over to him.

“Come on little girl, let’s get you cleaned up,” Joel said. “So Vera, want to come over and help me pack tonight?”

“I knew that was coming,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Sure, I’ll come over and help.”

“Great, see you later,” Joel said with one last quick kiss before heading out the door.

“A wedding invitation from an ex and finding out my boyfriend will barely be around for the holidays? Happy Thursday to me,” I muttered. “It’s only the first day of November and it already sucks.”

“Cheer up buttercup,” Lily threw her arm around me. “It can only go up from here.”

I wasn’t so sure anymore.