The Truth Is...

“Hey, guess what.” Claudia raised her eyebrow at James from where she sat at the desk in her office as he strolled in. As he sat down in one of the plush chairs across from her desk he asked her, “Well… aren’t you gonna guess?”

She thought about it for a moment before she glanced at the brown paper bag sitting on his lap and she asked him, “You brought me lunch?”

He rolled his eyes at her, “You already knew I was doing that.”

She smiled over at him and said, “Okay, well, in that case, I give up.”

James let out a laugh and he started to pull their lunches from the bag on his lap. He had made sure to leave the house with enough time to pick up their food and get to her office just at twelve so that waiting for him didn’t cut into her lunch hour. Despite having a flexible position and being one of the big bosses James could appreciate Claudia’s desire to be punctual because, after all, it wasn’t fair for her to do whatever she wanted when her own employees had to follow a schedule.

As he spread out burgers, fries, and milkshakes across her desk and handed her a handful of napkins she asked him, “Well aren’t you gonna tell me?”

“I figured I should get the food out before it gets cold. I know how you feel about cold In N Out.” James informed her with a grin that made her laugh gently. And so once everything was spread out he asked her, “So you’re really not gonna guess?”

“Can I have a hint?” She asked him curiously before she bit into her burger.

As she watched him do the same she had the thought that she might have been a bad influence on James, because they had eaten take out, and not good for you take out either, three times already that week. Sure, he ate out regularly in Nashville but it was almost always something at least somewhat healthy.

He told her, “It’s… exciting.”

“Yeah, because that narrows it down.” Claudia muttered and James let out a laugh.

As she bit off half of a French Fry James relented and told her, “Christmas is in three days.”

Claudia couldn’t help but let out a laugh at that, figures that was what had him so excited lately. She couldn’t help but point out, “You came all the way here for lunch just to tell me that Christmas is in three days?”

He shrugged his shoulders, an amused smile on his face as he informed her, “It’s our first Christmas together, you know.”

She raised her eyebrow, “We spend Christmas together almost every year.”

“Yeah, but this time it’s as a couple.” James told her, and when she smiled gently he added, “So it’s our first Christmas together.”

“And we don’t have anything planned.” Claudia told him and when his brow raised she explained, “I have no idea what we’re gonna eat, we have no traditions, nothing.”

“That’s not true.” He told her.

“Oh, it’s not?” She asked him with a light laugh.

He nodded and informed her, “We always watch The Grinch on Christmas Eve… and we’ve done steak and potatoes for Christmas dinner the last two years. Those could be plans and traditions.”

“That is true.” Claudia told him, and then she paused before she said, “I guess I should make a grocery list and go shopping this afternoon.”

“What time are you off again?” James asked her.

“Two.” She told him.

So in about an hour and a half. So he asked her curiously, “Would you mind if I stuck around, then? I’ll go grocery shopping with you.”

“You’re only offering so that you don’t have to come back out here to pick me up.” Claudia stated with a grin.

It was partially true since her vehicle had been in the body shop since yesterday James had been carting her back and forth and he was definitely regretting his decision to leave one vehicle behind in Nashville for the season. Though he would never tell Claudia that because she would tell him that she had told him so.

With a shrug of his shoulders, James told Claudia, “Well… that and I have nothing better to do.”

She laughed, “Yeah, alright. You’re lucky we technically closed at twelve and I’m the only one here.”

“Oh yeah, why’s that?” James asked her as he took a sip of his milkshake.

“Because I haven’t seen you since this morning.” Claudia told him, getting up to lean over her desk to kiss him quickly before she sat back down and she told him, “And I’ve been wanting to do that since you walked in.”

James grinned over at her, “Back at ya.”

Three hours later James was carting bag upon bag on his arms from his vehicle up the driveway and into the house while Claudia held the door for him. She followed him with the first load of groceries and got started with putting them away while James went back for the next load, hoping it was the last. Claudia glanced out to her right, out past the open doors to the backyard and she chuckled to herself at the sight of the dogs laying on their sides in the grass in the sun, still slightly shaded by the shadow that the house provided them.

“You sure you bought enough food?” James asked her as he made his way into the kitchen with another string of grocery bags on each arm.

As he heaved them up onto the kitchen island Claudia informed him, “I got extra just in case some of your teammates don’t have places to go for Christmas dinner, and you are going to text everyone to let them know that.”

He smiled as he leaned over and kissed her cheek, “You’re like the team mom, you know.”

She rolled her eyes, “Someone has got to take care of you boys.”

“Yeah, yeah.” James stated as he started helping her put groceries away, Claudia putting the refrigerated items in the fridge while James worked on the pantry.

She grinned over her shoulder at him and told him, “Like that Reilly kid, you should definitely invite him.”

James let out a laugh, and he told her, “Actually… I think he’s spending Christmas with Daphne.”

“I didn’t know they were back together. You don’t tell me anything, you know.” Claudia informed him, making them both laugh.

He told her, “I don’t think they are.”

“Oooh…” Claudia stated with a soft smile, and she went on to tell him, “Well, either way. Extend the invite.”

“Yes ma’am.” James told her with a smile and Claudia narrowed her eyes at him.



“Hurry up slow poke!” Claudia called out from her spot on the couch, under a fluffy throw blanket. The Grinch was paused on the TV right at the start and James was still in the kitchen doing something. She waited for a response, even a sarcastic one but she got nothing and so she glanced at the dogs on the floor at her feet and asked them, “What is he doing in there, huh?”

They only looked at her, and so she laughed at herself as she shoved the blanket off of herself and got up from the couch, heading into the kitchen. James was standing at the counter with his back to her, there was something in front of him and he must have been concentrated because he didn’t even make any notion to say that he had heard her come in.

“Did you suddenly go deaf or something?” Claudia asked.

He jumped more than she had ever seen him jump, and then he cursed, “Damnit!”

Her brow raised as she approached him around the counter and she told him, “Sorry I scared you but I was starting to get bored waiting for you.”

His cheeks were red as he looked over at her, “It’s okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“What are you doing?” She asked him, noting the fact that his eyes kept flickering down to the cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows on top.

“Fuck it.” He muttered, reaching into the cup of scalding hot liquid with his fingers, scraping the bottom of the cup. He glanced at Claudia, who was watching him with both curiosity and concern, and his cheeks flushed even deeper when he pulled his hand from within the cup and immediately stuck his hand in the sink.

Claudia reached out and turned the cold water on from the faucet and grabbed his hand as she stuck it under the running water. That was when they both heard the sound; metal on metal. James reached down quickly to the bottom of the sink, clasping his hand around something again, and Claudia finally put a hand on her hip and asked him, “Okay, what the hell is going on?”

Looking up from his closed fist James asked her, “What do you mean?”

“You just burnt your hand sticking it into hot chocolate. You’re weird but not that weird babe.” Claudia informed him, hand still on her hip but this time she raised her eyebrow to match.

He sighed and opened his fist to reveal the silver band of a ring, which upon further inspection was covered around in long, rectangular shaped stones, though it was still flat on the surface. Claudia raised her eyes back up to James in surprise and with flushed cheeks, he told her, “I was trying to decide what to say when you scared me.”

“And you dropped it in the hot chocolate.” Claudia stated.

He nodded, “And I didn’t want you to take the cup and then like… choke on it or something. That would hardly be romantic.”

“So you stuck your hand into burning hot liquid for me?” She asked him with a slight giggle.

“Yeah, I guess I did.” James told her, and then he added, “I just didn’t want to give you this on Christmas.”

So Claudia asked him, “What exactly is it?”

“Well… that depends on what you want it to be.” James told her and when she raised her eyebrow he explained to her, “I bought it because when I saw it I just couldn’t leave the store without it… and I’d really like to call it a ‘we are gonna get married at some point’ ring but… if you’re not ready for that or okay with it then we can call it… something else.”

“Did you just… are you trying to ask me to marry you James?” Claudia asked him in surprise.

“But only if you want that.” James told her quickly, and when she smiled he added, “To be honest I was trying to figure out what to say earlier because I was scared that you would say no.”

“What?” Claudia asked him with surprise, and when he shrugged she asked, “Did you really think I would say no?”

“Well… we’ve only been together for like six months, I only just told you that I loved you like a month and a bit ago… it’s not really conventional.” James told her, trying to explain his point of view to her.

So Claudia simply reached out and grabbed his hands and she told him, “Yeah… but like we’ve always said before; six months for us isn’t six months for other people. I know you so well and I am so sure about you and I that six months feels like six years to me.”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” James asked her with surprise.

“Call me crazy.” Claudia told him and before she could give him an official ‘yes’ for an answer James pulled his hands from hers and placed them on either side of her face before he leaned down and kissed her square on the mouth with so much force Claudia had to take a step backward and James followed with a step forward, holding her upright as one of his hands slid down from her face, around to the middle of her back. When they pulled apart Claudia grinned up at him, “The answer was yes, since you didn’t technically wait for it.”

With pink cheeks, James leaned down and kissed her quickly again and then he asked her, “You really mean it? You actually want to spend the rest of your life with me?”

“Don’t sell yourself so short, you’re a pretty great guy and I count myself pretty lucky to get to say that I get you for the rest of your life.” Claudia informed him.

His brow quirked, “For the rest of my life, huh?”

She grinned, “Oh, yeah. I’m planning on you going first so that I can remarry at least twice before I go.”

James put his head on her shoulder, face against the side of her neck as he let out a chuckle and then, with muffled words, he asked, “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“The truth is…” Claudia started, and when he pulled away from her she smiled and told him, “Yeah, you got pretty lucky.”