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Alice

A lice stretched in bed. It was still dark out, but it was Christmas. The clock told her it was only five. Even as a grown-up, she still woke up with the same joy for Christmas morning.

Turning in bed, she saw Taylor was still with her. Last night was incredible. It was perfect. A bit unconventional maybe... no prom night or whispered I-love-yous, but it was perfect. He had made her feel special and desired, and that was more than enough. If she only had three more days with this man, she would make the most of it.

As she lay there watching him sleep, in a sweet way, she wished she could give him something. It was Christmas, after all. Then she thought about earlier, when they talked about their favorite Christmas as a kid. He had gotten a Playcube and Monsters of the Realm. Alice was very familiar with that game because her brother had played it incessantly and then she remembered. The old Playcube was here. So, the games might be, too.

She quickly and quietly got out of bed. Maybe she could surprise him with something.

To her own surprise, the living room was clean. He was so good at taking care of her. This alone drove her to want to do this even more.

She kneeled before the TV cabinet, opened the door, and dug around. After she pulled out a row of DVDs, she found the Playcube and set it up. Now to find the game and make sure it worked before Taylor woke up.

In search of the video games, she pulled out more DVDs. They weren’t there. A chest in the corner held the board games, but she remembered that, when she was looking through the games earlier, there were some DVDs in there as well.

She walked across the room, lifted the top of the chest, and moved the games, unsure why they still had Monopoly. They weren’t even allowed to play it anymore. After one too many fights and one too many board flips between her brother and sister, her mother had banned it.

But when she moved the game, she saw a whole row of video games. Jackpot! Her finger traced along the titles until she found the one she was looking for. Monster of the Realm. She pulled it out. On the cover was a knight, front and center, and behind him were orcs and elves and vampires.

She remembered actually enjoying watching her brother play this one. Video games were never really her thing, but this one always interested her.

And if she remembered properly, there would be some wrapping paper in her mom’s closet. Considering they always did Christmas here, it had everything she needed.

She walked across the room to the downstairs bedroom her parents always used, then headed to the huge walk-in closet. Spotting the roll, she snatched it, then sat right there in the closet. After wrapping the present, she took a big red bow from the tote. Before she made her way back up to bed, she stopped and put the bow on the Playcube.

As she walked by the window, the sun was just starting to rise. Everything had a pink glow to it, and it warmed something deep inside her when the snowman greeted her like an old friend.

These past two days had been the best of her life, and she still had him for a few more. That might be it. But having Taylor for a few days would be enough to get her through her life.

She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing away the thoughts of the future, and just relaxed into the moment. And those thoughts beckoned her to bed with her handsome hockey player.

She crawled back in bed, and Taylor reached for her, melting her heart. He wrapped his body around her, spooning her. This was the only Christmas miracle she needed this year.

After another couple hours of sleep, Alice woke with a stretch and turned to see Taylor awake and watching her.

“Are you watching me sleep?” she asked with a barely contained smile.

“Maybe . . . but not in a creepy way.”

She squinted at him.

“I was just looking at your hair.”

Instinctively, she pushed it behind her ear.

But Taylor took those same strands and ran his hands through them. He held it up and watched it fall from his hold. “I love it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, how long did it take you to get it done?”

“It didn’t take long. I had actually just finished it before you got here. I’ve had color before, but this was the first time I decided to do a rainbow.”

“You did this yourself?”

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “It’s not too hard, just like painting, but you’re painting your own head.”

“Well, I’m impressed it looks so good,” he said, running his hands through it.

“I’m surprised you like it,” she said, enjoying every second.

“Why are you surprised?”

“I don’t know... I guess I just didn’t think colorful hair would be your thing.”

He gave a small chuckle. “It’s not my thing, but it’s your thing, and it suits you.”

When he kissed her forehead, her heart fell even deeper in love.

He pulled back and looked at her, and she gave him a sleepy smile. “Merry Christmas.”

Then she sat up. “Yes, Merry Christmas! Let’s go make some cinnamon rolls and drink some coffee!”

He sat up and kissed her before getting out of bed. “Let’s do this,” he said, slipping on his shirt. “I’m just going to use the bathroom really quickly.”

She put on her cute Christmas pj’s, and they met in the hallway, heading for the living room. By looking at the glint in his eye, she felt maybe he liked Christmas just as much as she did, excited to see what he thought of his surprise.

Once they were there, they just stood awkwardly, looking at each other. She was waiting for him to look at the TV and see the Playcube with the big red bow on it.

She couldn’t take it anymore.

“I have a surprise for you,” she blurted.

He cocked his head. “You do?”

“Yeah.” She pointed to the TV.

Taylor went over and scoped. “I remember you said that your favorite Christmas was when you got the Playcube and you played Monsters of the Realm. I just thought...”

She walked to the tree to get the other part of his present but stopped because, in the light of the morning, she could see it wasn’t the only present under the tree.

“Is this an original Playcube?”

“Yeah, my brother’s old one was here, so I dug it out. There’s something else for you under the tree.”

He turned to her with a big smile. “You have something under the tree, too.”

Taylor was usually so reserved, so seeing him quite literally like a kid on Christmas morning made her heart so damn happy.

“Come sit down,” he said as he got both presents from under the tree.

“You go first.” She watched contentedly as he unwrapped Monsters of the Realm.

“This is amazing. I can’t wait to pop it in. I haven’t played in years. How did you do this?”

She shrugged. “I just remembered you talking about it, and I woke up in the night and decided to be Santa.”

“You’re the hottest Santa I’ve ever seen,” he said, giving her a kiss.

“Your turn,” he said, pointing to the gift on the coffee table.

“When did you do this?” she asked as she opened the perfect wrapping. As she pulled the silver-and-green paper off, a nice sketch book came into view. Next, she unwrapped the colored pencils. “This is amazing. When did you have time for this?”

“Well... it was supposed to be for my little sister, but I’ll send her something else. I just wanted you to have a present under the tree, and after you said what you got your first Christmas here, I thought it was fitting.”

She flung herself off the couch and onto his lap and hugged him.

He oofed with surprise but then wrapped his arms around her and hugged her right back. His hands ran up and down her back as he gave a soft chuckle. “I’m glad you like it.”

“I really, really do!” she said, giving him a kiss. “I’m sorry. I get a little carried away sometimes.”

“No need to apologize. I like your exuberance,” he said as he booped her nose.

A wave of emotion swept over her. How could he like that about her? She seemed to annoy most people.

“Now,” he said, pulling her out of her head. “Did you say something about cinnamon rolls? I wanna play my game, eat some cinnamon rolls... and then maybe practice what we did last night,” he said, tracing the side of her neck with his nose.

“God bless us, everyone,” she said on a laugh.

He cupped her face and kissed her again.