“Is this okay?” he asked, running his hands down his shirt. She nodded as she came over, moving herself into his arms. He took her eagerly.

“What?”

“The living room looks so beautiful,” she stated as she leaned her head down on his shoulder, “It makes me happy.”

“Good, I love the pictures.”

“Me too. I was thinking, the first snow fall, we should do a picture together of us making snow angels. Harper would take it.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin, as he looked down at her, “Looking good, baby. Really good.”

She looked down at her vintage green with white polka dots dress. The dress was lined with black along the collar and a big black bow around the fitted top. It then puffed out with black netting underneath. She paired it with stunning Jimmy Choo suede black peep toe heels that had matching crystals all over them.

She bought the shoes the first week Shea was gone as a pity gift to herself, and she loved them.

“Why, thank you. The lady at the store said my eyes sparkle in this dress.”

“They do,” he said, before kissing her softly on her bright red lips. The dinging of the oven broke up their kiss; Elli gave him a small smile before running off to the kitchen to take out her ham and stuffing. Everything was already laid out, so she added the ham and stuffing to the island, leaning back to inspect her work.

She had done good.

Shea walked behind her, heading back to the bedroom, so she yelled at him, “Hey, darlin’, can you grab the iHome and plug it up in the living room with my iPod?”

“Sure,” he said with a laugh. She glared towards the door because she knew he was making fun of her accent, and continued to move around the kitchen, making sure everything was ready when he came back through with the iHome in hand.

“This one, right, Darlin’?” he said in a horrible country accent, because Boston men cannot be country.

“Oh, hush!”

Shea laughed as he continued back into the living room, just as the doorbell rang. She assumed he would get it, and went to make sure the dining room was perfect just as she heard Harper’s voice rang through the condo.

“Jeez! I thought you said you were just gonna set up the tree? It looks like Santa shit Christmas in here!”

Elli rolled her eyes, coming from the dining room to the kitchen. Harper was wearing a tight little red number, with gorgeous peep toe black boots. She looked beautiful, like always, and Jakob stood proudly beside her, wearing a nice dress suit, with a red shirt and his brace on his leg.

“Now you hush! I love my winter wonderland!”

Harper laughed, handing Elli the red velvet cake her mother had made. “You’re lucky I got out of the house with that. Piper and Reese almost got a hold of it.”

“Oh! You should have invited them!” Elli complained as she carried the cake into the kitchen, “Shea hasn’t met them yet.”

“Well, they were being brats. Plus, they always laugh at us when we play our games.”

Elli giggled nervously. She had been nervous all day about Shea laughing at her when he saw how they played their game.

“True.”

“Wow, everything looks yummy,” Harper said, scoping out the food. She ate just like a dude, which made Elli sick with how she could eat and not gain an ounce.

“Thank you, don’t touch anything!” Elli yelled before smacking the back of her.

Harper grinned up at her before saying, “So, this is a really nice place.”

“It is,” Elli agreed as Shea and Jakob made their way into the kitchen.

“Wow, nice spread Elli,” Jakob said, hugging Harper into his side.

“Thanks, Jakob.”

“I was just telling Elli that this is a nice place, Shea. I really like it,” Harper said.

Shea nodded thanks as he poured wine for everyone.

“I like it for just us,” Harper cut a look over at Elli, grinning ear to ear, but Elli just ignored her as Shea continued, “but I would like to get something bigger one day. I love Elli’s house, but it’s a little out there.”

“Yeah,” Harper agreed, “Jakob and I are actually looking into houses.”

Elli dropped the spoon she had in her hand, “Seriously?”

“Yeah, my condo is so stinkin’ small, and he lives in an even smaller apartment, so we are looking into getting a house,” Harper gushed with a grin.

“Wow, that’s amazing!” Elli exclaimed just as the doorbell rang. “Someone’s here!”

Shea was wicked nervous.

He was more nervous about meeting Elli’s friends than he was about meeting her family. She actually loved these people, so it meant something if they didn’t like him. Elli was fine, though. She grabbed a hold of his hand, dragging him to the door to greet their guests. He loved when she was excited like this, and after setting up the Winter Wonderland in his living room, she was the biggest ball of sunshine he had ever seen.

Elli threw the door open to a huge black man, and a little bitty blonde woman. The girls let out a little squeal, wrapping each other up in a hug. “Come in, it’s freezin’ out!”

They came inside, grinning ear to ear.

“Jodi, Derrick, this is Shea,” Elli said as the pair beamed up at him, “Shea, this is my best friend Jodi, we used to sing together back in school and some on Broadway.”

Jodi held out her hand, shaking Shea’s eagerly.