“My girl, are you ready for Christmas?” Pops asks, looking back towards Presley.

“Of course! I’m spending it with you two.”

“You are?” Dad looks over at me, a faint smile on his lips.

“Surprise, Pops! Smarty decided to bless us with her presence this year.”

He grunts a little when he turns in his seat to look at Presley. “That’s the best Christmas present I’ve had in awhile, but is your family okay with this?” Dad doesn’t know much about the situation, but I have offered a few details. Enough for him to know that it’s rocky.

“I’m just happy to spend it with you, Victor.” I see her smile in the rearview, but it’s one that’s hiding something.

“What about me?” I ask to lighten the too serious mood.

Smarty laughs. “You too, I guess.”

We pull up at the house and Presley ushers my dad inside while I get our things. I hurry because I don’t want to miss too much of their reaction. It was exhausting to go back and forth between the hospital, school, and here, but I know that it’ll be worth it. I step into the house five seconds after them and hear Presley gasp softly.

“It’s just like when your mother was here,” Pops says quietly, looking around the room at all the Christmas decorations.

Clearing my throat, I tell him, “Yeah. I still have to do the outside, but I thought it would be a nice surprise.” I take a deep breath. “It’s, uh, been awhile since we’ve put up more than just a tree. Thought it might be time.”

Two pairs of emotional eyes land on me. When Pops swallows hard, I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have done this. The past few years, all we’ve done is put up a tree, decorating it together as we’ve always done. This year, I decorated the entire house, every room having something Christmas-y in it.

“Thank you, Levi. It looks great,” Pops finally comments, his eyes wandering around the room again.

There’s the undecorated tree in the corner, a wreath on one of the walls, and Mom’s little village of houses with the fake snow. There’s garland over the doorways and so much more. It looks like Christmas exploded in this house. It’s overwhelming, really, but that’s the way Mom liked it. She used to say that there should be no mistake as to what time of year it is.

“I’m going to go put these up.” I exit the room with our bags. This Christmas is going to be different. It’s not going to be just me and Pops with me waiting for the time when I can get back to campus. It’s not going to be awkward and suffocating because Mom’s not here and the house lacks all her holiday decor. This Christmas, we have Presley with us and things are better between me and her and me and my dad. I’m better. We’re going to have a really great time this year.

“Levi?”

Turning on my heels, I find Smarty in the doorway of my room.

“Everything okay? You were staring at the wall.”

I look over my shoulder and realize that I was staring at all my hockey stuff that my mom fixed for me. Shaking my head, I face Presley and cross the room. “Yeah, everything’s good.” I kiss her forehead. “I’m glad you’re here with us this year.”

She wraps her arms tightly around my waist. “Glad to be here,” she whispers into my chest.

“Are we going to decorate this tree or are we going to let it look bare and pathetic?” Pops yells up the stairs.

“Don’t yell at us, you old man!” Smarty shouts back, looking at me with a smile. “C’mon.” She takes my hand, dragging me back into the living room.

“Did you call me old? That wasn’t very nice, little girl.” Pops frowns and Presley laughs, causing him to smirk.

After I finished decorating the house, I left the tubs with all the ornaments in the living room. “Are we going to decorate this tree or are y’all going to call each other names?” I grin.

Chapter Three

Presley

I never had so much fun putting up a tree before. With my parents and Trevor, it’s so different. Mom usually picks whatever color is in style and hires someone to decorate. Then we would just stare at it. Most of the time, it looked like it was suppose to be in a storefront window and not in someone’s home.

With Victor and Levi, they have ornaments from Levi’s childhood and some that Victor had with his wife from when they first got married. The one I love the most is the one Victor gave Amanda on their first Christmas. It brought tears to my eyes. Levi looks just like his dad, but has Amanda’s eyes. You can see their love for each other in their eyes from the homemade frame and bad handwriting that said, “Our First Christmas”.

Levi is unusually quiet, and Victor helps until he gets tired. When the tree is done, I make everyone lunch. Victor and Levi are arguing about their

NHL teams and who will make it to the playoffs. Of course, I have to agree with Levi, but that is because we both love our Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tags: Lindsay Paige Penalty Kill Romance
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