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20. And to All a Good Night

Two months passed happily—the kind of months that, if this had been a novel, the author would have skipped over with the barest description. Each day brought joys and struggles important to me in the present, but looking back, I could summarize the time by simply saying that two months had passed happily.

Christmas was coming up, and one day while we were hanging out at his place, I asked Sergio what he intended to do to celebrate.

He paused the reorganizing of his bookshelf and looked at me like I'd asked him how he planned to steal the Eiffel Tower.

"Do vampires not celebrate Christmas?" I asked, feeling foolish.

"Some do," he said. "At least as an excuse to throw another party. But I have scarcely paid the event attention in decades."

I squealed, ignoring his expression of horror. "We have to do something! Christmas is the best! We could decorate this place—I bet it would look incredible all decked-out—and invite some friends over for dinner..." I trailed off, realizing that he might not appreciate me barging in and taking over his house for the holidays. "We don't have to do that if you don't want to."

"Your enthusiasm is contagious." He turned away from me to shelve the book he was holding. "I admit that now I am curious to see what you'd do with the place—" He broke off as I barreled into him from behind, wrapping him in a hug.

"Thank you," I said.

A few days later, I returned with a carload of Christmas decorations picked out by me and paid for by Sergio. Having a Mr. Darcy was spectacular, and if you had the means, I highly recommended picking one up.

"You have full access to the house," Sergio told me. "Do whatever you wish. I need to answer some emails, so I'll be in my office if you need anything."

"Sounds great! Thanks again for letting me do this," I said.

"I look forward to the results." He kissed my cheek and left me to it.

Armed with enough tinsel and holly to decorate Disneyland, I set to work making up for decades of missed Christmases. First, I made gingerbread cookies so they'd have time to bake and cool and so the house would smell like gingerbread. Then I hung a wreath on the front door, wound ribbon and fake greenery around the railings, and generally decked the fuck out of the halls.

An hour and a half after I'd begun, Sergio finished working and stepped into the full blast of my Christmas frenzy. He blinked several times and rubbed the back of his neck.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" I said, putting down the box of garlands I was holding and dashing to the door. I paused before I opened it and glanced back at Sergio. "Stay back, so the sunlight doesn't hit you," I said, but he was already retreating into his office. I opened the door and helped the delivery man lug the tree I had ordered inside to the living room.

"Nice place you have here," he commented.

I wondered briefly whether I should explain that it was the house of the man I was not technically dating but going on dates with, and I was just in charge of decorations, but that seemed too complicated. So I just said, "Thank you."

He helped me put the tree into the stand, then I tipped him, and he left.

Sergio reemerged. "What was that?" he asked.

"The Christmas tree," I said. "Want to help decorate it?"

"Nothing would bring me greater joy," he said, sounding earnest.

Together we wound tinsel around the tree and hung up three boxes of ornaments in red, gold, and silver. It looked stunning. The whole place looked glorious if I did say so myself, and Sergio agreed.

When we finished the tree and packed up all the boxes, I said, "I just want to make sure you're still okay with having Katie over for Christmas dinner. I understand if you don't want to."

"You are sweet, but it is no problem at all. I enjoy your friend's company."

"That's good to hear." I took stock of the place. "I think all that's left now is to decorate the cookies. Do you want to help?"

He followed me into the kitchen. "I don't want to ruin them for you."

"Nonsense! Hanging out and decorating them together is half the fun! I don't care if they don't turn out perfect. Knowing me, they probably wouldn't anyway."

As I handed him a piping bag of frosting and a star-shaped cookie, he looked as uncertain as I'd ever seen him. He painstakingly outlined the cookie in red and put shiny sugar balls at the tip of every point. "How's this?" he asked.

"Lovely. Do some more!"

He relaxed as time went on, hopefully having as much fun as I was. I played Christmas music in the background and danced around the kitchen, singing along. When I caught him staring, he didn't look away but met my gaze with a grin that showed his fangs. I'd never seen him smile that wide before—he'd always been careful to hide his teeth, I realized—and it warmed me from the inside.

I gave my gingerbread men tiny fangs, which made Sergio laugh. "We shall have to eat those before your friend comes next week," he said.

"How awful," I said, already stuffing one in my mouth. "A tragedy."

"You have a little something—" Sergio began. "Allow me." He bent down and kissed me full on the mouth. When he pulled back, his eyes were sparkling. He licked frosting from his lips.

It was all so natural, so easy, that I found myself wondering what a future with him might be like.

After the cookies were frosted, we went upstairs to the TV room. A large flatscreen was mounted on the wall, and a wide, comfy couch faced it.

"Shall we watch a Christmas movie?" Sergio asked.

"Actually, I was thinking Twilight," I said, pleased with myself. "I thought it would be fun to laugh at it."

"As you wish."

The movie was cringy, but we cringed at it together, snacking on the vampire gingerbread men and keeping up a running commentary. When we finished the cookies, we spooned on the couch. I loved being tucked against Sergio under a blanket. I felt warm and safe.

"I had a wonderful time today," Sergio said, dragging his fingers absentmindedly across my arm.

"I'm still having a wonderful time," I responded.

"Mm." His breath tickled my ear. "As am I."

I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of being in Sergio's arms, his chest at my back and one leg draped on mine. Yes, today was a good day.