Mistakes

Growing up, my mother had always been everyone's mother. With three kids that all had different interests, she always found herself with her hands in everything. It was no surprise that the annual Christmas party took place at the Martin household.

"Hey, mom. I have all the wine in the wine cooler and the crock pot is on and ready to go," I said, coming in from the garage. My mother was seated at the island in the kitchen, papers spread around her. She had her reading glasses perched on the bridge of her nose.

"Thank you very much, baby. You've been a great help today," she said, smiling over her shoulder at me.

"Is that the guest list?" I asked, peeking over her shoulder.

"Mhm. Just double checking the RSVP's. I'm pretty sure I have enough food ready, but you know how paranoid I get."

I noticed a few new names on her list. "We're having new guests?"

She nodded. "Yes. I've invited Mrs. Patterson from the library. Anais' friend Wendy Westinghouse and her father. The Sweeney's. Oh! And the Schmitt's are due to pop in as well."

"What! The Schmitt's!" I exclaimed, a little louder than I'd meant to, making my mother look up at me in surprise.

"Yes, Kalel. I invited them," she said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "I thought you got along with their oldest? What's his name? David?"

Get along with him, have a major schoolgirl crush on him, I thought, feeling my face heat up. "O-Oh, yeah. We get along great."

"Then there's no problem. Now go find something to do. It's almost party time!"

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Being back in Denver was amazing, especially since these circumstances were much different. Both mine and David's family had been told that we'd gotten back together, so it wasn't exactly too much of a surprise. Our Christmas holiday really worked out, because my mother still did her annual dinner party on Christmas Eve and David's family did Christmas Day brunch and then a white elephant gift exchange afterwards. We were lucky in that we never had to divide our time between our families on Christmas.

David's parents were incredibly sweet and surprised us with tickets to the Nutcracker downtown. It was my favorite Christmastime thing, and David must have tipped them off that I tried to go each year on Christmas. We'd visited with David's family after we'd got back from the performance and lost track of time so much that we were actually a little late arriving to my parents' dinner party, which earned me a look from my mother.

"Finally I can come and give you both a hug!" my mother exclaimed, first clutching me into a warm hug and then David.

"It's so nice to see you again, Gia," David said sweetly, smiling when my mother kissed his cheek.

"You, too, sweetheart. I'm so glad you all could make it!" she said happily, moving on to give hugs to David's parents and his sister, Danielle.

"Ellie and David are here!" two little voices shouted.

I knelt down and caught Liza and Leo in my arms, kissing them both. The twins were my older brother Soren's kids and had just recently turned six. God, they were so big! I handed them off to David when they decided they were done with me and smiled when Soren's wife, Olivia, came over to give me a hug, with their youngest, Michael, on her hip.

"Merry Christmas, Liv," I said, giving her a squeeze.

"Merry Christmas, El, Dave," she said, giving David a hug as well.

Everything was so nice. The twins played nicely with Danielle's little girl, who looked so pretty in her Christmas dress. My brother Soren was here, with his wife Olivia and their kids. My little sister Anais was here with her fiance. David's sister Danielle was here with her beau. Both of our parents were here, as well as all of my parents' guests. It was a really lovely party.

Once the dinner dishes were put in the kitchen, the guests left and both families retired to the living room for the gift exchange. Both my parents and David's parents exchanged gifts. It was very sweet and romantic and David's fingers found mine instantly, smiling at me when he caught my eye.

"I love you," I said quietly against his ear, smiling when his lips brushed my cheek.

"I love you," he responded, just as quiet.

"Why don't David and I give you guys your gifts now?" I said, pulling two crisp white envelopes from my purse, handing one to David's mother and one to my own. "We know how you all want to go on trips, so we bought you plane tickets. They can be used to go anywhere. We wanted you guys to be able to choose."

"Thank you, kids! That's so sweet!"

We both received our hugs from our parents and each other's parents. We'd definitely done the right thing, and I was really proud of what we'd done for them. I liked thoughtful gifts. From my parents, they'd gotten us collectively a new set of cushions for our kitchen chairs. I'd mentioned to my mother weeks ago that I was thinking about getting our cushions reupholstered, but I hadn't gotten around to it. My parents were always so practical, and I felt like an adult receiving a gift that was more for our house rather than us, but it was much appreciated and incredibly needed, so it wasn't too bad.

From David's parents, they'd gotten me a lot of crafty things, because I confessed my newest addiction of Pintrest to them and I really enjoyed having things to do whilst David was away on tour. Being crafty kept my mind and my hands busy, and I was always looking for fun things to decorate our apartment with, especially handmade things that made it our own space. For David, they had gotten him a brand new Broncos jersey and some new kitchen supplies, because David was actually quite the masterful chef. Collectively, though, they'd gotten us a whole new set of beautiful stemware.

"All right, kids. Your turn," my father said, smiling affectionately at me.

I gave David a little smile and produced his gift. He was grinning excitedly like a little boy and tore into the paper like a wild animal. His hand hovered nervously over the top of the box and then flipped it open, displaying the beautiful white gold watch inside. "Oh, my God, Kalel," he said, sounding out of breath. "This is..."

"I saw you staring at it when we were at the mall," I said simply. "Do you like it?"

"I love this, baby!" David said excitedly and then wrapped his free arm around my shoulders, kissing me hard. "Thank you so much. I love you."

I smiled. "I love you, too, David. You're welcome."

He pushed up the sleeve of his hoodie to put the watch on and took a few seconds to admire it on his wrist before he handed me his wrapped gift. "Merry Christmas, beautiful."

Beaming at him, I slipped my nail under the flap and tore into my gift. I was shocked into silence. It was a hardcover of The Catcher in the Rye, which was my favorite book. We read it in high school and I wrote my senior thesis on it. I turned it over in my hands. "David..."

"It's a first edition, too. I went to fourteen different bookstores in L.A. to find it," David told me, looking quite proud of himself.

I peeked in the front cover and found that it was, indeed, a first edition. "David, this must have cost you a fortune," I said finally, looking up at him.

"I wore down the guy selling it. Don't worry about it, baby," he said easily.

My cheeks were wet instantly and I reached for him. "This is the sweetest gift, David. Thank you so much."

It was very late when David and I finally escaped our families and headed upstairs for bed. Our parents were still talking in the living room. I went into the bedroom first, eager to just fall into bed and sleep. David closed the door behind us and caught my hand, pulling me into him gently.

"I had the best night tonight, you know," he said quietly, his face pressed against the curve of my neck, sliding his fingers between mine.

I smiled and leaned against his chest. "I had a great night, too, Dave. I love you so much."

His mouth moved up from my neck to kiss my cheek and then my lips. "I love you, too, Kalel," he said and kissed me again. "And I don't know about you but I'm fucking beat."

David took a step back, probably headed to the bathroom, when my shot out and gripped his hoodie. My eyes lifted to meet his and my mouth curved into a smile. "You didn't really think we were just going to go to bed, did you?" I asked quietly.

That definitely got his attention and he moved back to stand in front of me, his hands sliding home on my hips. "What did you have in mind, beautiful?" he asked, even though my fingers were all ready unzipping his hoodie, shivering when I slipped my hands under his shirt, cool fingertips against his chest.

I pulled him back down to me and kissed him hard, which he returned completely. He moved me back towards the bed and I lost myself completely to him. When the fire between us simmered back down and we lay together on the bed, my back against his chest, his arm thrown across my waist.

"You really do keep my ass in line, Kalel. I don't know what I'd do without you. Merry Christmas, beautiful. I love you," David said, his breath tickling the back of my neck.

I squeezed his hand. "I love you, too, David. Merry Christmas."