Christmas is the time of year where you spread joy and happiness everywhere you go. You put up your Christmas tree, wrap presents for your loved ones and make holiday treats. You send out your Christmas cards, make your yearly donations to your favo...
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I had a wonderful time in Wisconsin with Mae and her family but now she was quiet and I wasn't sure if I did something wrong.
Anytime I would ask her what was bothering her, she would say everything was fine but I know her well enough to know something was on her mind.
Maybe she was just nervous about meeting my family. I understood it because I was nervous meeting hers too but she had nothing to worry about because I knew my family was going to love her.
I looked over at her and smiled as her eyes lit up the closer we got to Chicago. One thing I learned on my own about Mae was her love for big cities.
"Do your parents live right in the city?" She asked, turning to look back out the window.
"No. Just outside of it."
"Did you like growing up here? I loved my small hometown but everybody knew everybody and the dating pool was not so great."
I started laughing. "Yes I did. I guess I was just used to it here, so this was normal for me. I had a large class. I didn't even know everyone that I graduated with."
"I don't know why that sounds silly to me. I know how big it is here but I only had forty one kids that I graduated with."
"Wow."
"Right."
She seemed more relaxed now and I hoped this didn't come back to bite me but I needed to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. "Mae, what was wrong earlier?"
She paused for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "I didn't want to tell you. I don't want you feeling bad because I could have told you no. I'm just emotional when I leave my family. I love New York and my life there but I still miss them, you know?"
"And I messed up this whole vacation for you. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Hey, this was the first time they didn't beg me to move back home, so that's a plus."
"Yeah."
She placed her hand on top of mine, making my heart flutter. "See, this is why I didn't say anything. Hudson, it's fine."
"I want you to know how much I really do appreciate you doing this for me. How about I add a paid one week bonus this coming year so you can go back home again, anytime you want."
She shook her head. "You don't have to do that."
"Mae, I want to"
She smiled. "Well that would be very nice. Thank you."
An hour later I pulled up to the curb in front of my parents house. Getting out of the car, I started grabbing our bags from the trunk. "This bag can stay in the trunk." Mae said as she tried grabbing her heavy one out.
"Let me get that one. You take this lighter one."
After grabbing what we needed, we walked side by side up to the door together.
