Hockey Holidays Read online

Not having a defined recipe with specific instructions was stressing Georgiana out. She dipped a spoon into the pan to give the gravy a taste test. “It’s too floury. Did I add too much flour?”

  “You haven’t let it cook enough, Georgie. Give it a moment.”

  “I just wanna make sure it turns out right, just like you and Grandma always made.”’

  “Well frettin’ over it isn’t gonna make it taste any different.” Rebecca reached for the whisk and hipchecked her daughter out of the way. “You need to make it with love, darlin’. You don’t wanna be putting bad energy into the food.”

  What did that even mean? Of course she was putting love and care into all the food she was making. Georgiana wanted to control everything—the cooking, the flavor, the entire dinner experience. Even though she knew how impossible that was, that didn’t stop her mind from running a million miles an hour.

  The gravy was the last thing needed to complete the big meal. And everything seemed to be riding on it.

  While her mom tended to the gravy and sprinkled in the salt and pepper, Georgiana began to carry the dishes out to the table in the dining room. She made an announcement to the crowd. “Dinner’s just about ready, y’all. Grab your drinks, time to gather ‘round here and find your seats.”

  Ian called out, “I call corner!”

  Aidan shouted, “I call other corner!”

  “There’s no dibs on seats, guys. I set out place cards.”

  “Assigned seats?” Aidan groaned. “Since when did Christmas get so formal?”

  Georgiana spoke through clenched teeth and a forced smile. “Since we have houseguests.” She left off the “asshole” that she wanted to say.

  Aidan rolled his eyes but gave no further protest.

  Bryan played bartender and made sure the adults had full glasses of wine and the children had milk, while Amanda corralled her kids around the kiddie table and got them settled in.

  Bryan was given the seat at the head of the table; even though it was Georgiana’s house, she wanted him to have the seat of honor. And she was going to sit to his right, with Carol across from her and Perry to Carol’s left. Rebecca was on Georgiana’s right, with Leonard on her left, and the brothers and wives at the opposite end of the table. That worked out perfectly, so Georgiana could get to know Bryan’s parents, and Emma had the high chair at the other end of the table for Bella.

  Once the food was all brought out and Bryan was ready to carve the turkey, Georgiana clinked her knife against her glass of water and stood. “Can I have your attention please, everybody?” She paused to make sure they were all looking at her. Except for the kids, of course, who were way too preoccupied with their crafts.

  She began a brief speech. “I just want to thank all of you for coming, especially the Comstocks. It almost didn’t happen, with the freak blizzard in Fargo yesterday, but I’m happy we could all come together and meet. Bryan and I are both ecstatic that we can spend our first Christmas together with our families and join together to celebrate the holiday. Hopefully, this is a new tradition that we can carry on for many years to come.” She raised her glass. “Cheers!”

  The table echoed her sentiment and began to dig in.

  Chapter Three

  Bryan looked down at the people sitting around the table. There was his family and his soon-to-be in-laws, all in one room, sharing a meal on Christmas Eve. He didn’t want to get all sentimental or anything, but it was a beautiful sight.

  Everyone was getting along so far, it seemed, with Rebecca charming his parents and Bryan acting as a buffer between the Comstocks and the Piersons. There were differences between them, especially between his mom and Georgiana’s dad. His mom was a college professor with a doctorate in English literature, and she loved to have deep, philosophical talks about social and political topics—and Bryan knew that her liberal views would not mix well with Leonard’s conservatism.

  He did his best to steer the conversations toward lighter subjects as they passed the time before dinner and during. “Georgiana cooked everything herself for tonight’s dinner. She’s been cooking for days.”

  Georgiana blushed and dismissed Bryan’s praise. “Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m happy to do it.”

  “I had mentioned some of the dishes we had as tradition every year, and she looked up some recipes. So we’d feel right at home. Wasn’t that nice of her?”

  Her voice was low. “Stop, Bry. It was nothing.”

  “It means a lot to me,” he replied, whispering in her ear before kissing her cheek.

  “Yes, I can see that you went to a lot of . . . effort,” Carol said, using her fork to poke at the blob of sweet potatoes on her plate. “I guess sweet potato casserole and candied yams can get a little confusing if you’re not used to it.”

  The redness in Georgiana’s cheeks washed away in seconds. “Did I get it wrong? The recipe?”

  “Mom . . . .” Bryan was trying to contain the situation before it erupted. He knew what was happening—his mom was just being honest, but the truth was going to hurt Georgiana. “She tried really hard to make this dinner perfect for everyone.”

  Rebecca chimed in to try to help. “You really nailed all our family dishes, Georgie.”

  She mumbled, “Thanks, Mom.”

  Bryan shot his mother a look, begging her to say something nice and smooth this over.

  Carol tried. “The gravy is fantastic.”

  Georgiana dropped her fork. It clanked against the plate and drew a lot of eyes in her direction. She recovered quickly, wrapping her fingers around the fork and setting it down on the table beside her plate. “Actually, I didn’t make the gravy. It’s the one thing I didn’t make. Mom did.”

  “Oh, well, Rebecca, it’s delicious.” Carol gave out another compliment and then took a large bite of mashed potatoes and gravy, probably so she wouldn’t have to speak again in the next few moments.

  Bryan couldn’t read the look on Georgiana’s face. Her eyes were transfixed on the plate in front of her, but she wasn’t eating or even playing with her food. Something didn’t seem right.

  He nudged his girlfriend gently under the table with his knee. That at least got her to look up at him. He smiled at her. “Everything’s really great, Georgiana.”

  She smiled back at him, but the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes or light up her face like it usually did. Her response was barely audible. “Thanks, babe.”

  Georgiana had been just fine until the sweet potato comment. Was that the problem?

  “This sweet potato casserole is so good,” he continued. “In fact, I think I like it better than the other thing, the candied yams. Maybe this can be our new tradition.”

  While her face didn’t totally illuminate, she did at least brighten up. “I’d like that.”

  He reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Me too.” And Bryan really meant it. Georgiana had gone a little overboard with trying to accommodate everyone—especially when this dinner was about the start of something new. It was their first Christmas together, the first of many, and about uniting these two families into one and cementing his relationship with the best partner he couldn’t have even imagined in his wildest dreams.

  “Speaking of tradition,” Leo said from the other end of the table, “we’re gonna have to figure out our teams this year for the football game. If any of you Comstocks are up for it, that is.”

  “We’d love to have y’all join, if that’s something you’re into,” Georgiana added.

  “A nice, rousing game of flag football to help us work off some of our dinner and make room for pie,” Leonard laughed, clapping his hand down on his paunch.

  “Last year, it was me, Dad, and Ian against Leo, Daniel, and Carrie.”

  “I’m definitely back in, now that I’m not pregnant,” Emma said. “And I want to play opposite Daniel.”

  “Oh, I’m in, too,” Bryan said, swallowing a mouthful of turkey. “I don’t even care which team you put me on.”

  “A prof