Hardin's head is heavy on my stomach when the sound of phone vibrating on the table wakes me up. I lift him gently, as gently as I can and retrieve the annoying object. The screen flashes with my mother's name and I groan before answering it.
"Theresa?" She chimes through the receiver.
"Yes."
"Where are you and what time will you be here?" She asks.
"I'm not coming there." I tell her.
"It's Christmas Eve Tessa, I know you are upset over this thing with your father but you need to come home and spend Christmas with me. You don't need to be at some hotel alone."
"I am not driving all the way there mother, it's snowing out and I don't want to be there." I feel slightly guilty for not spending the holidays with my mother. She isn't the nicest woman, but I am all she has.
Hardin stirs and lifts his head up, just as I am about to tell him not to speak he opens his mouth.
"What's wrong?" He says and I hear my mother gasps.
"Theresa Young! What are you thinking?" She shouts.
"I'm not doing this right now."
"That's him isn't it? I know it is by that voice!"
"I am getting off the phone now."
This is a terrible way to wake up. I sit up and move Hardin off of me, covering my naked body with the blanket.
"Don't you dare hang.." She yells and I hang up the phone.
I knew she would find out sooner of later, I was just hoping it would be later.
"What was that about?" Hardin asks, wiping his sleepy eyes.
"She was calling because she thought that I was going to come over for Christmas."
"Oh.." He says.
"Then she heard you and now she is ..she is just freaking out." I say and hold my phone up to him to show the two calls from her in the past minute.
"You knew she would, so really it's almost better that she found out this way."
"Not really. I could have told her instead of her just hearing you in the background."
"It's the same thing, she would have been pissed of either way." He shrugs.
"Still." I am slightly annoyed by his reaction. I know he doesn't care for her but she is still my mother and I didn't want her to find out like this.
"Well what do you want to do invite her over for a nice Christmas dinner?"
"Really?" I snap.
"Just saying."
"Well you could be a little nicer about the whole thing."
"Sorry." He says.
I expected him to have a rude comeback but I am glad he didn't.
"Would you like me to make you some breakfast Daisy?" Hardin smiles.
"Daisy?" I raise my brow.
"It's early and I am not at my best to quote literature but you're grumpy so I called you Daisy."
"Daisy wasn't grumpy. Neither am I." I can't help my smile.
"Yes you are, and how do you know which Daisy I am talking about?"
"There are only a few Daisy's and I know you well enough to know which one you were referring to."
"Is that so?"
Yes, and your attempt at insulting me failed miserably" I tease.
"Yea..Yea..Mrs. Bennet." He fires back.
"I assume since you said Mrs. you are talking about the mother not Elizabeth which means you are trying to call me obnoxious."
"Then again, you have been off this morning so maybe you are saying I am charming? I just don't know with you anymore." I smile.
"Alright.. alright.. Christ. A man makes one bad joke around here and is condemned." He laughs.
My earlier irritation is dissolved as we continue our banter and climb out of bed. Hardin informs me that I should stay in pajamas today since we aren't leaving the house. It is a strange idea to me, if I were at my mother's house I would be expected to be dressed in my Sunday best.
"You could just wear that shirt." He points to his t-shirt on the floor.
I smile and pick it up, pulling it over my bra before putting on sweat pants. I don't remember ever hanging out with Noah in sweats, ever. I didn't wear much makeup until recently but I was always dressed nicely. I wonder what he would have thought if I showed up to spend time with him in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt. I always thought I was comfortable around Noah. I thought I was myself around him because he knew him so well when in reality he doesn't know me at all. He doesn't know the real me, the me that Hardin has made me comfortable enough to show.
"Ready?" He asks. I nod and pull my hair back into a messy bun.
I switch my phone of and leave it on the dresser and follow Hardin out into the living room. The delicious scent of coffee fills the apartment and Anne is found standing in front of the stove flipping a pancake.
"Merry Christmas." She smiles and turns to us.
"It's not Christmas." Hardin says and I shoot him a glare.
He rolls his eyes then smiles at his mother. I pour myself a cup of coffee and thank Anne for making breakfast. Hardin and I sit at the table while she tells us that her grandmother is the one who taught her how to make the pancakes she is making. Hardin' listens intently and even smiles during his mother's tale and we eat our breakfast.
"Are we going to be opening gifts today? I assume you will be going to your mum's tomorrow?" Anne asks.
The plate in my hand almost drops onto the floor instead of the rack in the dishwasher where I intended it to be placed. I don't know how to answer her exactly and Hardin is silent.
"I am.. actually I am .. I told.." I fumble the words.
"She is going to Dad's house tomorrow. She promised Landon that she would be there and she is really his only friend so she can't cancel." Hardin interjects.
I am thankful but I need to remember to remind him that I am not Landon's only friend.. well maybe I am but he is my only friend as well.
"Oh.. that's fine. Honey, you don't need to be afraid to tell me things like that. I have no problem with you spending time with Ken." Anne says and I can't tell which one of us she is speaking to.
"I'm not going, I told her to tell them we said no." He tells her.
"We? They invited me?" Her voice is full of surprise.
"Yea.. They wanted both of you to come." I explain.
"Why?" She asks.
"I don't know.." I say.
I honestly don't know why they invited Anne. Karen is so kind and I know she really wants to mend what is broken between her husband and his son, that is the only explanation I have.
"I already said no, don't worry about it mum."
"No, maybe we should go." She says, surprising us both.
"Why would you want to go there?" Hardin asks her.
"I don't know.. the last time I saw your father was almost ten years ago. I think I owe it to myself and to him to see how he has turned his life around. Also, I know you don't want to be away from Tessa for Christmas."
"I could stay here." I tell her.
I don't want to cancel on them but I don't want Anne to feel like she has to go.
"No really. It's fine. We should go, all of us." She says.
"You're sure?" I hear the worry in Hardin's voice.
"Yea.. it won't be so bad. Besides if Kathy taught Tessa how to make those cookies imagine how good the food will be." She smiles.
"Karen mum, her name's Karen."
"Hey, she is my ex husbands new wife who I am spending Christmas with, I can call her whatever I want." She laughs and I join.
"I will call Landon and tell him we are all coming." I tell them and leave the room.
I would have never imagined that my Christmas would be spent with Hardin and his family, both sides of his family. The last few months have been anything but what I expected. When I turn my phone on I have three voicemails, from my mother I am sure. I ignore them and dial Landon.
"Hey Tessa, Merry Christmas Eve." His voice is so cheery.
"Merry Christmas Eve." I tell him and I can picture his warm smile.
"You too. Youre not calling to bail are you?"
"No, of course not, the opposite actually. I was calling to make sure it was still okay if Hardin and Anne came over tomorrow?"
"Really? They want to?"
"Yea.."
"Does this mean you and Hardin.."
"Yea.. I know I am an idiot.."
"I didn't say that." He says.
"I know but you are thinking it.."
"No, I am not. We can talk about it tomorrow but you aren't an idiot Tessa."
"Thank you." I tell him and mean it. He is the only person that won't have a negative opinion on this subject.
"I will tell my mum they are coming, I know she will be thrilled." He says before we hang up.
When I join Hardin and Anne back in the living room they already have their presents on their laps and there are two boxes on the couch that I assume are for me.
"I will open first." Anne smiles and tears the snowflake printed paper off of the box. Her smile is huge as she takes out the track suit I got her.
"I love these! How did you know?" She smiles at me and I point to the grey one she is wearing.
"I'm not very good at buying gifts." I tell her.
"Don't be silly, it's lovely." She assures me while opening the second box.
She opens the second box and squeezes Hardin tight after holding up a necklace that says 'mom' just like he had told me. I am sure the fact that he got her a gift surprised and warmed her. She seems to like the thick scarf he bought her as well.
I really wish I would have gotten Hardin a gift, I knew all along that I would go back to him, I think he knew it too. He hasn't mentioned that he got me one and the boxes on my lap both say from Anne so that is a huge relief. We can get better gifts next year. If you last until next year. My subconscious smirks and I want to smack her. Hardin is next and he gives his mother his best fake smile when he opens the clothes she bought him. A red long sleeve shirt is among them and I try to picture Hardin wearing anything but black and white, I can't.
"Your turn." He says to me in an attempt to bring the attention away from the hideous clothes his mother got him.
I smile nervously and pull the sparkly bow off of the first gift. Anne is better at choosing women's clothing than men. The pastel yellow dress in the box proves it. It's a light baby doll style dress and I love it.
"Thank you, it's beautiful." I tell her and give her a hug.
I really appreciate her getting me a Christmas gift, she just met me and she knew that Hardin and she has been so loving and welcoming. I feel as if I have known her much longer than a few days.
The second box is much smaller than the first but the amount of tape used to keep it closed makes it very difficult to open. When I finally get it open I find a bracelet, a sort of charm bracelet unlike anything I have seen before. Anne is so thoughtful, just like her son. I lift it up and run my fingers along the rope textured string to look at the charms. There are only three each bigger than my thumb nail, two made from what looks like pewter and one is solid white..porcelain maybe? The white charm is a heart, and the second is a music note. The third is slightly larger than the other two and it is the shape of a book. When I turn the charm in my fingers I noticed something written on the back of the book charm.
"Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same." It says.
I look up at Hardin and swallow the tears threatening to form. His mother didn't get me this. He did.
(I love doing the interview questions! They are fun and I am surprised how many questions there are! lol. So you can keep asking them and I will answer. xo)