Don't Jump

"Pattern"

... Wait... was that what I wanted...?

"–Thomas, Jr. and Noah." I barely heard the formal introductions and I shook the crazy thoughts out of my head. The two gave me a muted nod. They still looked like they wanted to tie me to a stake and burn me alive but with their father looming very close, the looks disappeared.

"Nice to finally meet you two. Your dad talks a lot about you." was it a lie? No, Thomas did talk about his sons but it was more on the lines of complaining because their mother kept them on a tight leash away from him.

I wasn't expecting dinner but there we were, having dinner, a very awkward one. I had a feeling that TJ and Noah were judging even the way I ate so I just kept my head down and ate. I hated it because Thomas was so enthused about what he'd been doing and if I showed my true feelings of actual interest, I would be met with a slight eye roll.

"So, are we still on for that vacation or have my boys scared you completely away from me?" Thomas asked after an uneasy silence. I couldn't help but look at him.

"O-Oh. Yeah, sure. I already put my time in for it."

"What vacation?" Noah eyed Thomas.

"Well, seeing that you asked that means your mother didn't tell you about it. It was supposed to be for the four of us, a winter vacation. But your mother put her foot down about it, which is probably how the bloody idea of me and Tamara together came about."

"So, you two will be alone on this vacation?" TJ huffed, playing with his food.

"If the other two don't bail on me then yes. Two adults alone in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, no phones. Just us and nature."

"Okay, now you sound like a serial killer and I think I changed my mind!" I joked and was shocked that the boys laughed. Thomas gave me a particular look and I eventually laughed along with them.

The boys had gone to bed, or at least gone to their rooms, leaving me and Thomas alone in the living room. There was nothing romantic about it, no matter how much I tried to make even the littlest gesture semi-romantic. But we sat there with our wine glasses, with me listening to him talk more about the things that he's been doing. When he got up to refill our glasses, my concentration went to the Christmas tree in the corner.

You could tell who had kids by the way their tree was decorated. The lights and ornaments were loud and bright, almost cartoony, and more often than not, the decorations were hung close together because, for some reason, that's what children do.

Thomas's tree showed that it was just him living in the house. I saw a few ornaments that I knew were meant for his boys, something that was possibly a tradition like many others: my parents let us pick out one special ornament every year until we basically moved out. Their tree still bore those ornaments.

But aside from those ornaments, the tree was modernly decorated with soft, blinking lights. I caught on to the pattern and just enjoyed the view, thinking how nice it would be to be there on Christmas, spending time with each other, drinking possibly spiked hot chocolate while listening to Christmas music.

Ugh, why couldn't I just tell him?

I was too much into beating myself for being so passive and shy, that I realized almost too late that a gift was being shoved into my face. "... what?" I blinked and looked into Thomas's smiling face.

"I'm not going to be here for Christmas, love. I wanted to give you your gift now."

"Oh! Oh, God: I don't have your gift yet." it really bothered me that the man went out of his way to get me a gift and I had no idea what to give him.

Thomas chuckled as I took the small box. "It's fine. I'm not that hard-pressed with people giving me gifts. I'd rather give them myself. I like the feeling I get when I see the expressions." he shrugged and sat down beside me.

I nodded. "Thank you, Thomas."

"You're not going to open it?" he quirked a brow.

"It's, it's not Christmas yet."

"Oh bloody hell; open it now!" he laughed and I blushed because I really was going to wait until Christmas day to open the gift.

Unwrapping the box revealed that this was possibly jewelry and my heart thumped a little harder at the idea of it. I glanced up at him and he still had that beautiful smile planted on his face. I opened the box and gasped at the bracelet inside. The beads were of different shapes and colors, the largest one was of a yellow-orange color. After studying it, I realized why that was: the beads represented our solar system.

This wasn't one of those cheap bracelets found through one of those social media ads. The beads looked delicately painted and were heavy. Even the twine was thick and durable, probably made from the best material known to man. I just looked at Thomas because it wasn't the fact that this wasn't a cheap bracelet: he showed that he knew me. I was a huge astronomy person: I just wasn't smart enough to get into the field.

"That's the reaction I like seeing," he chuckled and I blushed.

"It's beautiful." I finally found my words and that made him smile wider. Thomas put the bracelet on my wrist and it looked as though he was admiring it himself.

"You deserve the universe, and this is as close as anyone can get to giving it to you..." he surprised me even more when I felt his lips lightly on my hand.

I blushed so hard, I knew for sure that he could physically see it, and that was saying a lot given my skin tone. He really knew how to make a girl feel special.