In Love Before Christmas (5 page)

She looked at him sitting across from her. If she were going to marry anybody he would be her first pick. That thought swooshed around in her mind until a nice old lady with the wrinkles of her age gracing her skin and the years of wisdom shining in her silver hair came up to their table.

“What a lovely couple,” she smiled.

“Oh we’re not…no,” Lani laughed and Matt chuckled nervously which told her he was not thinking of her in that regards anyway so friends is where they should be and stay.

“Lovely couple,” she nodded as she smiled and walked away.

“I think maybe she’s deaf or something,” Lani twisted her mouth and Matt nodded.

“Or something,” he grinned. “Lani, how did I end up with the bigger half of the muffin?”

She laughed. “You paid.” He frowned and she giggled even more.

“We usually do a fifty-fifty split.”

“I know, but well…usually you’re the one who does the cutting remember.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

She shook her head. “To be my best friend you surely don’t notice much about me sometimes.” She picked up the butter knife. “I’m going to cut my piece in half,” she said as she sliced into the soft, moist muffin.

“Um…you said half. That’s like…butchered.”

“Exactly,” she nodded. “I can’t cut straight, Matt. Haven’t you ever noticed that I never cut the cake, the pie, the bread or anything else at any of the holiday parties?”

She noticed when the light went on in his head and he realized she was right. Nobody in their right mind put a knife in her hand and asked her to cut anything at a party—not unless they didn’t care what the cut looked like.

“What’s so hard about cutting straight?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I start off just fine, but then I go…” she waved her hand around and made a “whoosh,” sound as she did it. “I try, Matt. I really do, but I just can’t.”

He laughed. “Well then I’ll be the knife barer so you don’t butcher the muffin, cake, pie…”

“I get the point,” she wrinkled her nose and tried to feign anger with him, but she couldn’t. She could never be angry with him. “After we finish do you want to walk down Lake and see the Christmas lights, maybe go past the outdoor ice rink too?”

“That sounds nice.”

“And the shops on Pine…we could do that unless you have something else to do.”

“I don’t have anything else to do, Lani. Let’s do Pine first and then Lake.”

“Sounds like a plan to me my good man.” She patted his hand before picking up her oversized cup of hot chocolate. That drink had to be a good eight, maybe nine, hundred calories. She wondered how many, but at the same time she didn’t care. She ate relatively healthy and she worked out, plus she walked almost everywhere so in her mind a cup of high calorie cocoa with a mountain of whipped cream atop it was perfectly okay.

By the time they finished at Noel’s the sun was already setting. She loved this time of day because the lights brightened the streets, the people of the town came out and merrily shopped, walked, and interacted with each other, and on top of that, the chill in the night air was heavy but somehow invigorating. “Maybe we’ll get snow this year,” she said.

“Maybe. Last year was a bust.”

“I know. People were so not happy. The ski resorts to the north suffered too. That was the mildest winter we have ever had. Being born and raised here I think it’s safe for me to say that with full truthfulness.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m a transplant from Cleveland so I can’t say for sure.”

“Oh please. You know you’re a native,” she nudged him. “You have been here long enough to just blend. Just look at how everybody smiles and speaks to you. Everybody knows you’re one of us.” She winked and he laughed.

“One of you pod people,” he said in his eerie science fiction movie voice that made her laugh so often.

“Oh please my big strong man, save me; save me.” She slapped the back of her hand to her forehead and faked fainting. She knew he would catch her because he always did.

“You are too silly.” He chuckled as he pushed her back up to stand on her own feet.

“Gosh, how long has it been since we spent the night with a science fiction b-movie from the black and white film era?”

“Three months,” he said so swiftly she thought he had it on file in his memory bank for quick retrieval.

“That long?”

“Yep.”

“We used to do it at least once a week.”

“I know.”

“Oh,” she moaned. “I know what happened.”

“Our boss decided we were too chummy and he decided to bust us up,” Matt said. She had been thinking the same thing herself. Three months ago is when her office suddenly had to move two floors up even though she liked being right next to Matt’s office. She also had the shift in her schedule, and he the shift in his, so that he started an hour earlier and she an hour later and their lunch hours no longer corresponded. She hadn’t pieced it together, but he was right; Derek had done everything possible to rip them apart in the office. They used to have lunch together every day. Now they saw each other on Sunday’s and sometimes Saturdays, but never did they have time during the workday to just hang out and have fun like they used to.

“He really is a jerk.” She sighed.

“He has always hated our friendship.”

“Whatever…let’s forget about him. We can’t let another weeknight go without our weekly dose of bad sci-fi movies.”

He laughed. “They’re so bad they’re…”

“Good,” they said in unison.

“Um…how about Wednesdays? Is that good for you?”

“Perfect. Now that our date nights are back on…do you mind if I come by right from work without changing first? If I go home to change then we’ll start late and you’ll be too sleepy for work in the morning.” She would always go home and put on a pair of jeans and her comfy sweater or a shirt so she could snuggle up to him on the couch while they watched a movie. She wasn’t sure how she planned to do that in the pencil skirts she wore to work, but she would figure it out.

“Not at all,” he said.

“Such a lovely couple.” The little old lady from the café came up to them again with a big grin on her face as she looked up at them.

“Oh we’re not,” Lani shook her head.

“Lovely couple,” she smiled and nodded as she walked away.

“Isn’t that the same old lady?” Lani watched the little old lady weave her way through the crowd of pedestrians shopping for Christmas presents.

“Yeah,” Matt stared after her.
 
“She gets around.”

Lani laughed. “She left the restaurant before us.”

“True, but she’s moving kind of fast for an old lady.”

Lani shook her head. “You take care of that body of yours my friend and you, too, can move as swiftly in your elder years.”

He chuckled. “I take great care of my body already.”

She couldn’t deny that. He was definitely a nicely shaped man. He wasn’t a bodybuilder, but the muscles he did have were solid. He was more runner than weight lifter and his shape was definitely appealing. He had hard abs and she knew that because she had seen them when she showed up early one day for their movie night and he had just gotten out the shower. He also had broad shoulders and nicely defined biceps. A woman would love to be wrapped in those arms, lying on that chest and listening to his heart beat.

She mentally slapped herself. These were not thoughts she should be having about her best friend.

“Are you okay, Lani?” He looked at her as if he had a sneaky suspicion that she was thinking about his body…or maybe she just felt so guilty for doing it that she was imagining that he knew.

“Yeah, of course.” She shook the thoughts from her head. “Do you know that old lady? I mean, have you seen her around here before because she doesn’t look familiar and I thought I knew almost everybody.”

He laughed. “Almost everybody does not mean everybody. Maybe she’s new in town. Maybe she lives the next town over. You know people love coming here for the Christmas lights.”

She nodded. “And the Christmas spirit. I hear we have the state’s best picture perfect holiday town.”

He wrapped his arm around her as he often did while they were walking, but tonight it just felt different. It felt perfect, and sweet and romantic. Walking along the busy street, the night chill in the air and the sound of laughter permeating her ears, Lani thought this had to be the most romantic moment of her life—and she was having it with her best friend. How on earth was she going to fall in love before Christmas if she kept having thoughts like these?

Instead of pulling away she wrapped her arm around his waist and pulled closer to him. This was too perfect not to cherish.

As they walked down Pine, looking at the shops and enjoying the environment she thought about all the times they had done this before. Every memory that came to mind gave her the same sense of warmth. Maybe it was all the lights, she told herself as she tried to put her thoughts back into the realm of friendship.

She thought she was doing just fine at thinking of Matt as a friend—relatively anyway—until the same little old lady approached them while they stood on Lake Street not too far from the ice rink. This time she had a little boy beside her and Lani wondered if that was her grandson with her.

“Lovely couple,” she smiled at them.

Lani was ready to tell her they weren’t a couple when the little red haired boy looked up and said, “Oh look; you’re under the mistletoe.”

She looked up. “We are,” she smiled and started to take a step back when Matt caught hold of her arm and pulled her flush against his body. He smiled sweetly before brushing his lips against hers, almost hesitantly until she responded kissing him back softly and passionately. When he broke the kiss and pulled back just enough to look in her eyes he smiled at her sheepishly.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” he said.

They had never kissed like that before. They had never exchanged anything more than a slight peck on the lips when they brought in the New Year together—when they lasted that long because sometimes she fell asleep in his arms right there on the couch at his place.

“I liked it. I’m glad you did it,” she whispered. He pulled her into his arms, her hands resting against his chest and he kissed her forehead so sweetly she wanted to cry.

“I’ve loved you forever, Lani. I’m in love with you still,” he said.