I groggily wake up and reach for Liz when I feel Bella beside me laughing softly to something on her iPad. I look over her to see if Liz is in bed, but she’s not.
“Hey, Princess, where’s your mommy?”
“She said she had to run out.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“Nope, she just kissed me goodbye and left.”
I grab my phone off the nightstand and see we’ve only been asleep for a couple hours. I look to see if there are any texts from Liz, but there isn’t, so I shoot her a text asking what time she’ll be back and what she wants to do for lunch.
She replies back almost instantly letting me know she’ll be home soon and we can order something in. I repeat the mantra in my head, I will not assume shit. I trust her and we’re not my parents.
She gets back a couple hours later and joins Bella and me on the couch. We’re watching some crazy movie where everything is made out of Legos and they run around singing some weird ass song about everything being awesome.
“Hey baby,” Liz says. “I was thinking we could take Bella to see Santa today since he’s at the mall.”
Bella jumps up like she wasn’t just in a trance watching these weird fuckers building and tearing shit down Lego-style. “Yes, please! I want to go see Santa. I know what I want for Christmas.”
She runs to her room to get dressed, leaving Liz and me alone. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.” She gives me nothing more except a kiss on the cheek, before she heads upstairs to help Bella get dressed. I will not assume shit.
We get to the mall and you can tell Christmas is around the corner. The mall is packed with people and Christmas music is playing through the speakers. We head straight for Santa, and once we get through the line, Bella sits right on his lap, telling him exactly what she wants. “My daddy already said he’s going to give me a baby and a puppy, so from you, all I want is a swing set for the back yard. I would like for it to be pink and purple please. I would also like for it to have benches with a table where I can have tea and cookies with my daddy and mommy and my dolls. I’ve been really good, well… except for when I don’t want to go to bed, but I’m trying really, really hard.”
Damn, this girl is so sweet, and honest to a fault. She’ll be getting that swing-set and puppy. Now, the baby on the other hand, that’s going to take a little bit of work. I smirk at Liz and she hits my arm. “Are you thinking about sex?” she whisper-yells.
“What? No! I was thinking we needed to work on Bella’s Christmas gifts.” She laughs at me and when she’s done, her smile still lingers. I love her smile and will do anything in my power to keep it there.
“And what do you want for Christmas?” she teases.
“Not a damn thing. I have everything I could want right here.” Her smile widens and I can’t help but kiss it.
We join Bella for pictures with Santa and I insist on buying them all, including the frames, so we can put them out around the house. We decide to do a little shopping, but when Bella sees the giant Christmas tree in the department store she begs for us to go get ours.
After picking one out for the living room and a mini tree for Bella’s bedroom, we head to Target to get the decorations. Liz lost all hers in the fire, and I’ve never had a tree since living on my own, so we’re buying all new stuff. I think the last time my mom got us a tree I was twelve and it was right before my parents split up.
“I think this one is perfect.” Bella holds up a cute pink princess crown ornament. When I nod my okay, she places it into the basket.
“How about this one?” Liz holds up an ornament that reads First Family Christmas.
“That one is absolutely perfect.”
This goes on for the next hour. The girls pick out ornaments, while I push the cart through the store. We eventually move on to lights, and while we’re in that section they convince me to get lights for the outside along with some huge blowup snowman. I don’t know why they even ask. We all know I have a problem with saying no to anything they ask for.
On our way home, I call my mom to join us for dinner and to help decorate the tree. Liz insists on getting break-n-bake cookies and eggnog on the way home as well.
And that’s how we spend the night. Sipping eggnog, eating cookies, listening to Christmas music, and decorating our first family tree. Today will definitely go down as one of the best days of my life.