My One True Love

Chapter Eighteen: Christmas Dinner

ADALET...

It was now Christmas! Or more accurately, Christmas Eve and I woke up before 7am to get ready because I had to pick up my parents at the airport since they decided to fly in until now. In just minutes I was ready and I walked out of my room and took the car keys to Judy's car. She had told me the day before that she was tired and wanted to sleep since our vacations had begun.

I had already sent my article on Monday and since our last rehearsal for the Christmas concert had been yesterday, I was now free for the day. I arrived at the airport a half an hour later, just when my parents messaged me that they had just landed. That meant I still had a couple of minutes before they were at the exit. I decided to go get coffee inside the airport so I got out of the car and entered the airport.

After getting my coffee I sat on some chairs close to the exit and hoped my parents would see me when they passed by. "Adalet!" I heard a woman yell behind me and when I turned around, I saw my mom. I quickly put my coffee cup down and stood to hug her.

"Hey mom!" I greeted as I hugged her tightly and then turned to my father, "hey, dad."

"Hello kiddo," he said before wrapping me up in a tight embrace. "How have you been? You look tired," he commented worriedly and I waved him off.

"Just the usual work," I said as I took my coffee and led them to the car outside in the cold parking lot.

"Are you sure you should be working two jobs at once, honey? They're just very demanding," said my mother with a look and I sighed. It was not out of the ordinary for her to question my choices.

"Mom, it's fine. I can handle it," I said and she didn't look convinced but didn't say anything as my father put their suitcase in the trunk of the car before getting in. My dad got into the co-pilot side while my mother sat in the backseat.

"You see, Dana? Our daughter is fine," said my father trying to take my side. I smiled at him with gratitude and he smiled back. We reached the hotel they were going to stay at. Curiously, it was the same one William and Chris were staying at.

"And where are your friends that you told us about?" asked my father more serious now since I had mentioned two men would be joining us.

"They're actually staying at the same hotel as you," I said hesitantly and my father calmed a bit. Apparently he was more calm knowing that those unknown men were not staying with his single daughter and her equally single friend.

"I'm sure they are gentlemen," my mother said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood and I laughed under my breath.

"You have no idea," I murmured and helped them with their luggage as we walked over to their room.

"And where did you meet these men?" asked my dad as he continued his interrogation.

"I met William on a flight when I was returning to New York and I met Chris when William flew them here to supervise a project for his company," I said honestly. I had never lied to my parents and I was not going to start now.

"Oh, businessmen," said my mother in shock and my father only looked more unsure than before. He had always thought most businessmen were like foxes, sneaky and not to be trusted. Thankfully, the elevator stopped at the second floor and my parents exited it to find their room.

At the entrance of their room I stopped and handed my father their suitcase. "I will leave you to rest and freshen up before we see each other at my apartment at 6pm," I suggested and my mother nodded.

"Thank you, sweetie, your father and I would like to bring dessert, is that okay?" she asked unsure and I nodded.

"You really don't have to but if you are then nothing too fancy," I said uncomfortably and my mother waved me off. "Okay fine, I'll see you later," I said and the waved goodbye at me.

I took the stairs this time and when I reached the lobby I saw William standing next to the elevator as he waited for it to descend. "Hello William," I greeted and he jumped but then smiled.

"Hello Adalet, what brings you here?" he asked confused and I saw as he placed his hands behind him as if trying to hide something.

"I was just dropping my parents off, it is such a coincidence that they reserved their room in the same hotel as you," I said and we laughed. "Well, I've got to go and help Judy clean our apartment for later today."

William nodded, "yes, we are supposed to meet at 6pm, am I right?" he asked and I nodded. "Oh and I hope it is no inconvenience but I ordered a dish for us tonight."

"Really?" I asked surprised, I hadn't expected that from him, from my parents yes but not from him.

He nodded at me, "it is just some lasagna, I hear it is really good." Just then the elevator let off a sound that indicated it had arrived. "Finally," he said as he got in, "see you later, Miss Trent."

I chuckled and waved at him before walking out of the hotel.

.

It was now two hours before people started to arrive and Judy and I had just finished cleaning everything. "I'm exhausted," said Judy as she flopped herself on the couch and groaned. I was too, we had been cleaning nonstop and we had also prepared a turkey that was now in the oven. In that moment I remembered what we had forgotten.

"Judy! The decorations!" I yelled and she was instantly up. I couldn't believe we hadn't decorated apartment, how did we forget? We ran to the closet and took out two boxes in which one was the Christmas tree. It wasn't very big but it would have to do.

We quickened our pace to decorate as much as we could until the guests arrived. A knock on the door startled us and we looked at each other in desperation. "I'll get it," I said since I was the one who was already dressed for the festivity in a red, casual dress and a dark purple infinity scarf around my neck.

When I opened the door I saw Chris and William standing there with a sheepish smile. "Hello, we are a bit early," said William with a nervous smile. I looked at the clock and realized we still had a half an hour before my parents arrived.

"But we brought lasagna!" said Chris cheerfully as he raised the container he was carrying so that I could see it. I laughed and let them in. I took the lasagna and place it on top of the stove. "I love what you've done to the place," said Chris with a smile as he took in our last-minute decorations.

Judy smiled at him and they stood staring at each other until I cleared my throat and Judy turned to me as I pointed at the clock. Her eyes widened and she began to stammer, "I-I need to take a shower, I'll be right back." She disappeared inside her room and I was left to decorate with the two other men.

A while later there was another knock on the door and I was glad we had managed to finish preparing everything. My parents cheered, each of them were carrying something; my father two small boxes and my mother the dessert. When they saw me they cheered and then walked inside. My mother left the dessert on the kitchen counter and returned to the living room where Chris and William were sitting a bit uncomfortable.

"Mom, dad, these are our friends. This is William," I said and William shook their hands, "and this is Christopher." Christopher did the same.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," said William with a smile and my mom's eyes widened, she hadn't expected the British accent.

"Hey, I'm back!" we turned around and saw Judy standing by her bedroom door. She was wearing a tight, dark green dress with sleeves, along with some tights and boots that reached her calves. "Hello Dana, hello Rick," she said as she greeted my parents with a smile.

"Hello Judy, you look great," said my mother with a smile and Judy blushed at the compliment.

"Why don't we get this dinner started," I suggested and went to check on the turkey and placed the lasagna in the oven too. I served everyone some eggnog that we had prepared in the last minute and we all took a seat at the table. My parents sat next to each other and I sat next to my dad, next to me was William and next to him was Chris.

When we all had our plates full my mother spoke, "we heard you met our daughter on a plane, Will, may I call you Will?"

William smiled and nodded, "sure Mrs. Trent and yes, we did meet on a flight a little over a month ago."

At the other side of the table, Chris and Judy were whispering and you could hear Judy's giggles. My parents looked surprised, they had probably expected Judy to be heartbroken still after her separation. "I can see things are going well with you, Judy," commented my mother with a wink towards Judy. Judy blushed but didn't deny my mother's implication.

My father cleared his throat and turned to William who had been unusually quiet throughout the meal. "How about you William? Do you have a girlfriend?" I glared at my dad but wasn't surprised. He probably thought that if Chris and Judy were getting along so well and becoming more that would mean I had a potential boyfriend sitting next to me.

William nodded and spoke confidently, "I do actually, she is back in Scotland spending the holidays with her family."

My father raised his eyebrows, "so you're from Scotland?"

"We are from London but William met his girlfriend years ago on a trip to Scotland," responded Chris before William could respond.

"You sure travel a lot," said my father as he eyed the two other men in the room.

"It is part of the job," said William with a laugh and Judy, Chris and I joined him awkwardly.

"What exactly is your job?" asked my dad a bit more hostile now.

"Dad," I whispered warningly, I wanted to avoid all the drama I could. I just wanted a calm dinner with some of the closest people to me.

William put a hand on my shoulder, "it is all right, Adalet. My parents have a steel company, we manage all of the process from the mining to the production and molding of steel to sell to industries."

My mother nodded in interest and my father didn't push the subject. I sighed in relief and gave William a smile filled with gratitude. He returned the smile and rubbed my arm gently, making me shiver, but the moment didn't last long since he pulled back and quickly guarded his expression.

The rest of the dinner passed more smoothly and my mother walked towards us with a blueberry cheesecake in her hands. Each of us got a decent sized piece, it tasted really good. "Mom, where did you buy this? It's so good," I said and everyone at the table agreed.

"We bought it in that shop just around the corner," she said proudly, she was relieved she had made a good call.

When the clock struck midnight, William and Chris left the room to talk to their families while the rest of us hugged and cheered with enthusiasm. "We brought you two a Christmas present," said my mom as she went to get the two boxes dad has set underneath the tree. Judy and I opened it at the same time and saw soft, matching sweaters inside with our initials on it.

"I love it! Thank you," I cried and hugged both of my parents.

"It's so cute. Thank you, Dana and Rick," said Judy with a wide smile and she also hugged both of my parents.

I got my parents' gift from my room and handed it to them. Inside, there was a framed photo of the three of us and my brother, riding the horses that had once been at the farm. It was our favorite memory together. My mother began to cry and sob when she saw the photo and she quickly hugged me tightly. My dad only kept on staring at it, he looked sad but happy at the same time. "We love it, kiddo," said my dad as he hugged me and looked at me with tearful eyes. I smiled, there was nothing to say, we all knew what the other was thinking about; my brother and how much we missed him.

After opening the gifts my parents helped us clean up the table and wash the dishes and a few minutes later, we were done. "I think we should head back to the hotel," my mother said and my father agreed before yawning. I nodded and walked them to the door. "It was a lovely dinner, sweetie, and your friends are wonderful," she said with a smile and I hugged her, I had missed her.

"We will see you at your concert, kiddo, we already got the tickets," he said excitedly and I laughed. I was glad I had never lacked support from my parents, not even once.

Just as they were about to walk out of the apartment, William and Chris returned inside and they looked confused when they saw my parents all ready to leave. "We are going to leave guys, it was nice meeting you," my father said as he shook both men's hands, "Merry Christmas". My mother hugged them and wished them a Merry Christmas and then they were gone.

After closing the door behind them I turned around and saw Chris and Judy had disappeared to her room and I was alone with William. I shifted nervously, "so... that was an interesting dinner." William chuckled and nodded.

"Your parents seem nice and I can see they're very protective of you," he said and I nodded, they had always been like that but it had never bothered me so much.

"I'm sorry if my dad was making you uncomfortable," I finally said and he shook his head and told me it was all right. Then, to my surprise, he took out a box from his coat and handed it to me. "Oh, what is this?"

He smiled brightly and looked at me in the eyes, "I think you know what it is, a Christmas present." I smiled and opened it, inside the box there was a bracelet with only one charm of a horse attached. I looked at him and he started to explain, "I only got one charm because I plan on adding one every Christmas, one that helps you remember a certain memory or in this case, a certain phase in your life," he said and I understood. The horse stood for my childhood and my family in Texas.

I hugged William tightly and he hugged me back, this time it wasn't uncomfortable. "I love it," I whispered in his ear and his hold on me tightened. We stood like that for a few seconds before we pulled back and he offered to put the bracelet on my wrist. When he was done I rushed to my room and got out a box I had kept hidden.

I hadn't been sure if we were going to give gifts to each other and I had gotten him a little something just in case. I walked out of my room and gave him my present. He slowly opened it and smiled when he saw what was inside; it was new laptop case with his name engraved on it. He laughed and then hugged me tightly.

To somebody else, the present would have seen as normal and common but to us, a laptop case meant more than anything else, it was how we met. "Open it," I whispered and he did. Inside there was a map of the world and the United States and the United Kingdom had color on them, the rest was black. "When you visit a new place you scratch the map with a coin or key or something and color will appear in its place," I explained and he smiled brightly.

"You really are amazing," he whispered and stared at me deeply. His eyes trailed down to my lips for a second and lingered there. Slowly, he cupped my cheek and we began to lean into each other when we heard Judy's door open and we jumped apart quickly.

"A, look at what Chris just gave me," said Judy excitedly as she showed me her drawing kit. I smiled at her and then gave Chris the thumbs-up. He mouthed a thank you towards me and I nodded. I heard William clear his throat behind me and we all turned to look at him.

"It is getting late Chris and the girls probably have things to do tomorrow morning," he said as he shifted his weight uncomfortably. Chris didn't object and he nodded as he gave Judy a kiss on the cheek and then hugged me.

"Merry Christmas, Adalet. You're a good friend," he said and I smiled.

"Merry Christmas to you too, Chris," I said and we pulled away.

Lastly, the was William. I hugged him and he stiffened at first but then I felt his shoulders relax. "Thank you, William. Merry Christmas," I whispered and he pulled away.

"Merry Christmas Adalet, I will see you at the concert, all right?" he said and I smiled back at him.

The two men left and that only left Judy and I. We only looked at each other but it only took a look to know what the other was thinking; we were falling for two men and we were falling hard.