Where the Heart is (Interracial with Baby) (BWWM) (7 page)

"Makes sense."

They ate their meals along with massive slices of apple pie and discussed the menu for Christmas dinner, and Simon was struck all over again by how much this place could seem like home sometimes.

Christmas Day was bitterly cold, but the sun was shining, illuminating the snow that had fallen in the night.

Jamie woke up in her bed, draped over the warmth of Simon with a blanket pulled up over her head. She already knew her hair was a mess and that she had probably drooled a little in the night, but she was so comfortable she didn't want to move. Unfortunately, she still had to go pick up the food for dinner and get dressed and then help her mother with everything.

She poked her head out of the tangle of blankets to see that Simon was already awake. He was texting and when her head appeared, he grinned down at her.

"I was worried you were going to suffocate down there," he said.

"Nope. No suffocation here, doctor. What time is it?"

"Quarter after nine," Simon replied, smothering a yawn with one hand. "I told Dad I would be over at eleven to help him start cooking for everything, and he says we should be at your mom's house by six."

Jamie nodded, stretching before rolling over to flop onto her back. "Okay that sounds good. I've gotta go over to mom's soon anyway and help her get the last of the decorations and stuff up. She's going a little overboard, but she's so happy about this that I'm not going to try and stop her."

Overboard was an understatement.

When Jamie had told her the plan for Christmas, her mother's entire face had lit up. She'd looked so excited at the prospect of a Christmas where it was more than just the two of them, and immediately had asked Jamie to help her get the decorations up from the basement.

It had taken a combination of Jamie and the afternoon nurse to keep Adelaide in her seat so they could take turns bringing things up while her mother kept leaping up and saying she wanted lights everywhere.

Jamie honestly didn't mind that she was about to spend the next few hours decorating only to have to take it all back down again. Having her mother be excited about something like this made her happy, and the joy on Adelaide's face took years off and made her look less weary.

So she was going to drag herself out of the warmth of the bed, grab a shower (because there was no reason for her mother to have to deal with her smelling like sex), and then head over to get the festivities started.

"Merry Christmas, by the way," Simon said, leaning over to kiss her on the lips.

"Merry Christmas," Jamie replied with a grin. "I don't think my mom has been this excited for a Christmas in years."

"Well, I'm glad we can help, then. She deserves a good Christmas. So do you."

Jamie rolled her eyes and sat up. "And enter Simon Blake, the handsome and charming hero to bring Christmas joy to the poor townspeople." She fluttered her eyelashes ridiculously. "How can we ever repay you, handsome hero?"

You forgot charming, and I can think of a couple of ways that you in particular can repay me."

She smirked. "I'm sure you can. Unfortunately for you, I have to go get in the shower right now."

Simon arched and eyebrow and pulled her closer before she could get up. "
Fortunately
for both of us, I'm also the hero of water conservation."

They were both laughing as they headed to the shower together.

An hour later, after finally kicking Simon out of her apartment, Jamie was pulling up in front of her mother's house. She was surprised to see Sal there already, on a ladder, stringing lights on the edges of the roof. When he saw her, he waved with a brilliant grin.

"Morning, Jamie girl!"

"Morning, Sal," she called back. "What are you doing here?"

"Came by to wish your mother a Merry Christmas and drop off some of my Christmas cookies for her and she asked if I would help. I can never say no to a woman in need."

Jamie snorted and shook her head. "Well, make sure you don't break your neck. That would put a damper on the Christmas spirit."

Sal's booming laugh followed her into the house, and Jamie unwound her scarf and took her coat off, hanging them in the closet before heading in search of her mother.

She found her in the kitchen, stirring a violently red liquid in a massive pitcher. "Christmas punch!" Adelaide said before Jamie could as. "My mother's recipe."

"Was Grandma always drunk?" Jamie asked. She could smell the alcohol from the doorway. "That stuff smells like it could take the paint off the walls."

Adelaide laughed. "It's strong, alright. I've been instructed that I can have no more than one glass today, so I thought I should make it count."

"I'm pretty sure one glass with the alcohol content of six glasses is still over the limit, Mom," Jamie put in mildly.

Her mother waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about me, Jamie, my dear. I am going to be just fine. Oh, this is going to be so
nice.
When are you picking up the food?"

"At four," Jamie replied. "Simon said he and Matthew will be here around six. We'll have to keep everything warm until then."

Declaring her punch done, Adelaide put the lid on the pitcher and put it into the refrigerator. "Shouldn't be a problem at all," she said, smiling. A coy look stole over her face then, and Jamie was already wary. "You saw Simon this morning, then?"

"Mom," Jamie said, trying to put as much warning as she could into her voice.

"I'm just
asking
," Adelaide insisted. "Did you meet for breakfast? Have a nice cup of coffee?" Her innocent expression and tone were not fooling Jamie.

"
Mom
. Do you really want to discuss this? Is this really a discussion you want to have right now?"

"A discussion about whether or not my daughter is happy? Of course I want to have that discussion. Are you? Happy?"

Jamie sighed. "I guess. It's not going to last, Mom. He's gonna go back to his life and then things will go right back to being the way they were before he got here. Everyone knows that." She tried to keep her voice light as she said it, but she wasn't entirely sure that she'd succeeded.

"Maybe he won't," Adelaide returned. "Maybe he'll realize what he feels for you."

"No, Mom. That's not going to happen. And it's fine. He has his own life and goals and stuff and I have mine. That's the way it's supposed to be."

Her mother frowned at her, but Jamie avoided the look, instead moving over to the tin of cookies that Sal brought over every year. They were always massive and delicious, an assortment of shapes and flavors, and Jamie busied herself with trying one of each and then going to start decorating the tree in the living room, avoiding her mother's knowing gaze.

By the time Simon and his father arrived, the house had been transformed. It was dark outside, and Sal's hard work had the house sparkling with light. A wreath was on the door, and the living room was hung with lights and garland. The Christmas tree presided over the room, decorated with more soft lights and candy canes, and the food was on the table that had been moved in since the kitchen was not big enough (or festive enough) for all of them.

The lights were low, and Jamie was already cradling a glass of her mother's punch, which was spicy and definitely making her eyes water from how boozy it was.

For some reason, she was nervous. It had been years since they'd done a get together like this, and the last time it had happened, she'd been much younger. But now there was history and drama and all that in the background, and her stomach wouldn't stop churning.

But then Simon and Matthew breezed through the door, each carrying two covered dishes and looking windswept.

"Jamie, it's so good to see you. The house looks beautiful, Adelaide," Matthew said, letting Jamie take his dishes and leaning in to kiss Adelaide on the cheek. "Thank you so much for having us."

"Oh, it's completely my pleasure, Matt. I've missed doing this so much."

While their parents talked, Jamie moved over to Simon. He looked amazing in a red button down shirt and pressed black pants, and when he smiled at her with heat in his eyes, she had to hope that she looked half as nice in her gold dress.

"You look beautiful. Much prettier than the house," Simon said. He glanced over to make sure the parents were sufficiently distracted and then leaned down to kiss her. "Good grief, have you been chugging straight from a bottle?" he asked, amused.

Jamie rolled her eyes. "
No.
Idiot. It's mom's punch." She offered him the glass, and his eyebrows disappeared into his hair when he caught a whiff of how strong it was.

"I'll take some of that, if it's on offer," he said, grinning.

"Come on."

She took him through to the the kitchen and poured him a glass of the punch before finishing off her own. "May as well take this out anyway. Do me a favor and help me keep an eye on Mom? She's only supposed to have one glass of this stuff, and not even that. But I wouldn't put it past her to try and be sneaky about it."

Simon laughed, sipping his drink. "Will do. And Dad doesn't drink anymore, so he'll at least be sober enough to pay attention. Probably more than me." And he winked at her and drank more.

"You're so useless," Jamie teased, leaning up for another kiss before they went back out.

Soon enough the small house was filled with the smells of food. Jamie had gotten a ham and a roast chicken catered, along with asparagus and potatoes and Simon and Matthew had brought mac and cheese, fresh rolls, green bean casserole and a cake with them.

There was so much to eat, and Jamie filled her plate up, pouring gravy over the meat and dipping her bread in it, relaxing and just letting everything wash over her. Her mother had started playing Christmas music on the radio, so the low sounds of carols were welcome background noise as they ate and chattered to each other.

Simon was sitting next to her, and he kept whispering jokes in her ear, making her laugh as she refilled her glass from the punch pitcher again and again. Eventually, Simon pressed a glass of water into her hand and she drank that.

It was a good time. Her mother looked radiant in her red dress, and she hadn't stopped smiling all day.

"You know," Adelaide said suddenly. "I used to think that we'd be having dinner like this for a different reason."

Jamie's head snapped up, and she already knew that this was going to be the part of the dinner where things got awkward. She and Simon exchanged glances and she sighed. "What do you mean, Mom?"

"Oh, you know. You and Simon were always so close as children."

"And teenagers," Matthew pointed out. "Couldn't pry one of you away from the other."

"Do you remember the first time Jamie had to go to the dentist so she had to miss school?" Adelaide asked, grinning.

Matthew laughed. "Yes. And Simon cried for an hour straight because I told him he couldn't go with her."

"I was like six, Dad, and I spent all my time with her. Of course I cried."

"Aww," Jamie teased. "I didn't know I meant that much to you."

"Oh, but what about the time when they both ate all the cupcakes you had made for that bake sale." Matthew said. "And then were sick for a day. I never did find out why you two thought that was a good idea."

They exchanged glances and then burst out laughing. "Because we had a bet," Jamie explained. "To see who could eat the most."

"And neither of us wanted to back down."

The stories started flying then. Some of them were things Jamie had forgotten about like the time Simon climbed the tree behind the house and got stuck but was too proud to ask for help so he stayed up there until Matthew had to come and get him.

Both Adelaide and Matthew seemed to have an endless supply of stories about what rambunctious and mischievous kids they had been, and with the punch and the good humor, Jamie spent most of the time cracking up.

She had lost count of how many times she had topped off her glass with the punch, but it was looking dangerously empty, so she poured more in, shaking her head as her mother detailed the time when she'd tried to hide Simon in her closet so he wouldn't have to go home.

"Always so inseparable," Adelaide said fondly. "I think that's why everyone's been so abuzz about Simon being back and you two being out and about together. Because it's a sight that no one has seen in years."

That made some of the good humor melt a little bit, and Jamie looked into her glass with a sigh. At her side, Simon took her hand and squeezed it, and she gave him a tiny smile.

"Everyone always commented on how strange it was to see her on her own," Simon's father said. "I always told them that Simon was probably just as strange looking where he was even though no one there would know that he was missing his other half."

The words 'other half' made Jamie have to blink against the sudden stinging in her eyes. She was not going to cry at the middle of the table on Christmas. That was too pathetic, and anyway, she'd had plenty of time to get used to the fact that she wasn't actually going to be Simon's other half. Maybe they could go back to being friends now that they had seen each other, but that was it. There wasn't going to be anything more. How could there be when their lives were so different.