Page 20 of Checked Out by the Grinch

“Hello,” a soft voice calls from the front of the truck. It’s Grayson’s Aunt Vera, my most consistent buyer, though that was true even before the business. “I’m here to pick up my order.”

“Hey!” I smile toward her and grab her bag filled with bread before hopping down out of the back of the truck. We greet some folks with hugs around here. “How are you?”

“Oh, things are much better now that I’ve got all this bread to give to my party guests. Too bad I can’t pass it off as my own anymore. Everyone in town knows exactly what your bread tastes like.”

I wink toward her playfully as Grayson and Kade wander up toward the truck from the playground where they’ve been building a snowman. “I put a special loaf in there no one’s heard of. Feel free to take all the credit.”

She smiles sweetly and pats the bag of bread at her side as though it’s precious cargo. “I don’t think I’d be pulling the wool anymore. You’re too popular.”

“She is!” Grayson says, kissing my forehead before hugging his aunt hello. “My guys all put in another order this morning. I think she’s making some of their wives jealous with all the strange baked goods.”

“Oh stop!” My cheeks turn red with all the praise. “It’s just bread.”

“It’s not just bread, Mommy,” Kade says, throwing himself onto a hill that the plow pushed forward. “It’s magic.”

“See… magic.” Aunt Vera nods. “I need to get back to the house before the party tonight. You guys are stopping by, right?”

“We wouldn’t miss your annual Christmas party for anything.” Grayson tugs me into his side and kisses me again. He’s always like this, holding me close, making sure I feel loved and safe. “We’ve already got our ugly sweaters laid out.”

His aunt glares at me. “You got the Grinch to wear a Christmas sweater? That’s life-altering madness right there.”

I smile and lean into Grayson’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of pine that seems to linger on his skin. “He’s not that grumpy. Maybe a little stubborn but… we like him that way. Pretty sure our baby girl will too.” I rub my hand over my expanding stomach as we wave goodbye to Aunt Vera.

She nods and climbs up into her SUV a few parking spots down, and Kade goes back to tossing himself in the snowbank over and over again. I may have more kids on the way, but Kade will always have a special spot in my heart. We struggled together, we learned together, and he’s watched me grow too. There’s a thread between us no one else can see. He’s the one that made me a mother, and the one who caught my tears when he was too young to understand what he was catching. Still, I think somehow, he knew.

“You sure you’re ready for more kids?” I hold my hand over the top of Grayson’s as he rubs my stomach. “When we tell everyone there are two little girls in here, folks are going to worry for our sanity. I know Evie will.”

Grayson leans in and kisses my stomach. “I know everyone will wonder how this old guy keeps up with you and all these kids, but I’ve got this secret, bread-making weapon. She somehow makes all the chaos look easy.”

I laugh, swatting his arm. “Umm, you keep me… satisfied. I think that helps.”

He kisses my temple. “I love you, little plum.”

“Love you more. Always,” I say, holding his hand as the snow falls heavier over the wreath-lined streets of Main Street.

I used to think that Christmas magic was in the past, that I’d never be able to capture the wonder I felt as a child for Kade. Now I know the magic never left. It just changed shape.

It’s the scent of cinnamon and pine in the kitchen as we bake. It’s the smile on Kade’s face as he throws himself into piles of snow. It’s an invite to Aunt Vera’s ugly sweater party year after year. But most of all, it’s a quiet promise of love and chaos for years to come.

And as the snow falls and Kade tucks in between Grayson and I with a smile, I know the memories we’re creating will live on in Christmases to come. Maybe someday, my boy will take his own kids out to jump in piles of snow at this very park. Or maybe, he’ll bake them all a loaf of his mom’s famous chocolate streusel banana bread and it’ll remind him of this moment, of this feeling, of the joy that comes from a small little mountain town at Christmas, no matter where life takes him.