❛ DENVER + DAHLIA.
— Christmas Eve at Dhalia’s house.
It was tradition, at least since Dhalia had moved to Ravenswood, to celebrate Christmas with River and Denver. Granted, this was only her second Christmas in the small, Vermont town. She went back and forth about inviting Denver this year. With their break up so fresh, it was hard for Dhalia to be around him. Though, she’d promised she’d at least try. Even though just friends felt impossible with someone she was in love with.
River helped. He knew his mother well enough to see that she was hurting and managed to keep the conversation going through dinner. A time or two, Dhalia even laughed as they ate a meal she’d spent most of the day preparing. Even still, their Christmas Eve dinner was nothing compared to the feast they would have tomorrow at her sister’s. Her parents were in town, and with a world renowned chef for a father and a brother-in-law, they always ate well.
After cleaning up, River begged to open presents and Dhalia relented with a gentle tease. “Is that why you’ve been so good?” He was always good. Truly, the best kid a mom could ask for. Sometimes, she didn’t know how she’d gotten so lucky. A baby herself when she’d had her baby, and a mother who had made many mistakes. “I guess if D is ready..” There was still the matter of dessert, but she saw the excitement in her son’s eyes and wanted to indulge him. A lot of the gifts under the tree were for River, Dhalia loved to spoil him, but a few belonged to Denver too. He had a couple more before the break up, but lingerie didn’t seem like an appropriate gift anymore.
Once they were all gathered around the tree, well decorated to be uniform with memento pieces here and there, Dhalia was strict on what order River opened his gifts in. “That one has to be last.” She pointed at a box with a silver bow. It was whatever new gaming system he’d been harassing her for all year, and she knew the second he opened it River would spend the rest of his night playing with it. “Why don’t you give D his gift from you first? Giving is better than receiving, River.” The teen seemed a little impatient to get his gifts, but River indulged his mother and gave Denver an envelope from the tree; inside a pair of tickets to MLB’s opening game at the end of March.