Let's go.

Part 18: The Gallery

Brooke leans over to me and whispers so only I can hear, "But he has been squeezing into your chimney."

I laugh deeply and shake my head at her dumb joke.

"Santa is coming over?" Lily asks excitedly.

Brooke laughs again and says, "Girls, Auntie's friend is not Santa."

I bend down to their level again looking into their excited young faces, "He isn't Santa, but he has left ice cream in the freezer for you."

The girls gleefully race into my kitchen then Annie eagerly throws open my freezer door searching for the ice cream. She finds a box of Layne's favorite coconut ice cream bars and I am grateful for his sweet tooth. I help her and Lily with the wrappers and a hush falls over the kitchen as they begin enjoying the ice cream.

"Thank you for watching them. I'm just waiting on catering and setting up the patio heaters. I didn't want them running around the gallery unsupervised--I have a new glass sculpture exhibit on display at the moment," She says as I follow her out onto my porch with the girls trailing behind us. They sit down on the porch swing and continue eating the coconut bars.

"Thank you for putting this on. I really appreciate it," I say as she walks down the porch stairs.

She turns and looks back up at me from the bottom of the stairs. She hooks her thumbs into her pants and the cool breeze blows her hair back slightly. Her eyes sparkle with mischief when she says, "You know I love any excuse to throw a get-together. And Frank and Lynn are excited to see you tonight," she says. She turns away and walks to her car then adds quickly over her shoulder, "And Dad is coming too."

"What?" I yell back at her and I can tell that she is smiling to herself as she lowers herself into the car. She yells back at me, "I told Dad that you have a new boyfriend and he wants to meet him."

"Of course you did," I yell back at her and she waves as she reverses out of my driveway.

Ben's and my parents passed away when we were in our late teens and Brooke's parents took us in.  Brooke's father has been a surrogate father to me ever since and I went to law school at his suggestion. And I know he isn't going to be excited to learn that I am dating a guy in a band.

I join the girls on the porch swing as Layne and Ben pull into the space in my driveway that Brooke just vacated. I stand from the swing and ask the girls if they want to meet my new friend. They both smile at me and say "yes" and then Lily reaches her hands up for me to pick her up. I hitch her up onto my hip and she wraps her little legs around my waist. The ice cream is still in her hand and I hope to myself that she doesn't accidentally stick it in my hair.

We walk to the edge of the porch waiting for the guys and Annie reaches her little hand up for mine. The girls are always nervous around new people and I whisper to them, "he might not be Santa, but you will like him. He loves coconut ice cream too."

Annie smiles up at me and squeezes my hand tightly.

Layne exits the car and freezes when he sees me on the porch with the girls. A slow smile spreads across his handsome face as he stands at the car staring at us. I hear Ben say something to him and he slowly drags his eyes away from me and opens the back car door. He pulls out a large black garment bag and begins to cross the grass toward my porch.

"Hi Layne, this is Annie and Lily," I say as he gets close enough to hear me. He stops at the bottom of the steps to my porch and says, "Nice to meet you, Annie and Lily."

Annie squeezes my hand tighter and takes a step behind my leg.

"Are you Santa?" Lily asks, her mouth full of coconut ice cream.