“Merry Christmas!” Austin burst into the guest room at my mom’s house. He began to jump up and down on the bed, waking me from my deep sleep.

“Daddy!” he exclaimed. “Santa came last night! There are a ton of presents for me under Grandma’s tree! Let’s go!”

While I was excited to see him open his presents, I was also exhausted. After I came back to my mom’s house, I spent a lot of time wrapping all of the presents under the tree. Between that and the hot sex that I’d with Tiffany, both my mind and body were completely tired. I knew there was no delaying Austin, though. He was bound and determined to open all of those presents right away.

“Time to open presents!” Austin screamed, running out of the room. My only saving grace was the aroma of coffee drifting in from the kitchen. I would need a cup, or ten, to survive this morning. I walked downstairs and joined my parents on the couch. Austin began to tear into his presents. Between myself and my parents, he had received a ton of gifts. After he was done opening everything, I went to the kitchen and poured myself a huge cup of coffee.

“How did last night go?” my mom asked, joining me in the kitchen. I sat down at the dining table and took a sip of my coffee.

“Great,” I said. “Did you like Tiffany?”

My mom nodded as she took a sip of her coffee.

“I would have liked to talk to her more, but from what I can tell, she’s a great girl,” my mom said. “I can see why you like her.”

I was glad that my mom had liked Tiffany. I knew that she would but hearing her confirm it made it even better. Even before I met Tiffany, I’d often wondered how my family would react the first time I brought a girl home other than Layla.

“Daddy,” Austin said, coming into the room. “I love this dinosaur!” He pressed a button and the dinosaur roared to life. I smiled.

“That is a really cool dinosaur, buddy,” I said. He smiled back at me.

“It’s the best!” he said. “Everyone at school is going to be so jealous that I got it. Santa is awesome!”

He dashed out of the room as quickly as he entered. I was right. He was going to ignore me all day. I couldn’t blame him, though. The dinosaur was pretty cool.

“I’m actually going to Tiffany’s family Christmas dinner tonight,” I told my mom. “I hope it’s okay that I leave Austin here.”

“Absolutely,” she said. “That’s great that you’ll be meeting her family, too. Are things getting serious between you two?”

“I’m not sure,” I told her. “Things are definitely progressing, but I don’t think either one of us is walking into this blindly. She went through an awful breakup about a year ago and hasn’t dated since. The guy was a real asshole from what I could tell. It’s no wonder she’s reluctant to get into a serious relationship.”

My mom sighed.

“That’s too bad,” she said. “I hope for both of your sakes that you can get through your pasts and start a real relationship. Austin was talking about her all last night.”

“He was?” I asked. With all of the Christmas excitement, I hadn’t gotten a chance to ask him what he thought of her.

“Oh, yes,” my mom continued. “He couldn’t stop telling me how nice she was and how pretty she was. He said that she was prettier than his teacher.”

I laughed. It sounded like a typical thing for Austin to say.

“He’s not wrong,” I said. Tiffany was more attractive than Ms. Flowers.

“I am really happy for you, Cayden,” my mom said. “You deserve to be happy with someone else. It’s time.”

I nodded. It was time.

Later that morning, my sister came over with her family. Her kids bounced in, as crazy as Austin was. We were exchanging Christmas presents with them, too, so Austin had even more gifts to open up. As the kids opened their presents, I went into the kitchen to help my mom finish preparing lunch. Ham, dressing and all the fixings. It was like Thanksgiving on steroids.

As I was putting the finishing touches on the cranberry salad, my sister came into the kitchen.

“What’s going on, Cayden?” she asked. She came over to the salad and stole a cherry tomato from the top. She popped it into her mouth and smiled.

“Merry Christmas,” I said. She nodded, swallowing the rest of the tomato.

“Merry Christmas to you too,” she said. She hugged me and stole another tomato.

“Leave those alone,” I teased her. She swatted at me.

“So, I heard you brought Tiffany out last night,” she said. “If I would have known that, I would have shown up!”

We both knew that she was lying. Her husband was a very strict Catholic and they attended mass every Christmas Eve. I knew better than to invite her to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony, even though I did want her to meet Tiffany. There would be time in the future for that, though.

“It was a good time,” I said. “Tiffany seemed to enjoy the company.”

“Why isn’t she here today?” Sarah asked me. I shrugged.

“I thought it might be too much for her,” I said. “Last night was just getting her toes wet.”

Sarah nodded.

“We can be a bit much,” she said. “Especially my little ones.” Sarah wasn’t joking. Although she tried her best to keep them in line, her kids were crazy. They sometimes scared me, and I was their uncle. I could only imagine what Tiffany would think of them. Maybe I would find a way to introduce Sarah and Tiffany without bringing Sarah’s kids into the mix.

“I’m going to her family’s house for Christmas dinner,” I told Sarah. She smiled.

“That’s the spirit,” she said. “So, things are serious between you two?”

I shrugged.

“I just had this conversation with Mom,” I told her. “Things are good, but both of us are taking it slow. Me, for obvious reasons, and she had a long-term relationship that ended last year. She was actually engaged to her childhood best friend.”

“What happened there?” Sarah asked. I put the salad on the dressing and began to mix it in.

“He cheated on her,” I told her. “He ended the relationship and moved away with his new girlfriend.”

“Wow,” Sarah said. “That’s a rough one. I don’t blame her for wanting to take things slow.”

I nodded.

“It might sound fucked up, but I’m actually glad that she wants to take things slow,” I admitted to Sarah. “Most girls want to rush right into relationships, but I think if I did that, it would crash and burn.”

“Plus, Austin is involved,” Sarah said.

“And there’s that, too,” I said. “I have a good feeling about it, though. You’ll have to meet her soon.”

Before Sarah could reply, Austin and his cousins ran into the kitchen.

“Daddy!” Austin complained. “Colton got the purple dinosaur for Christmas. You told me that Santa couldn’t find it.”

Fuck. Austin had brought it up earlier. I thought I was a great dad for finding the green dinosaur, but apparently the dinosaurs weren’t as cool without each other.

“He must have gotten Colton the last one,” my sister interjected. “But Colton didn’t get the green dinosaur. You can play with yours together and share.”

The little boys looked at each other. Neither was pleased with my sister’s answer. They both wanted one of each dinosaurs for themselves.

“Maybe I can get it for your birthday, buddy,” I told Austin. I really didn’t want him melting down on Christmas.

“Okay,” he said, sounding dejected. He walked off with his cousins.

“Dammit, Cayden, how did you get the green one?” Sarah asked me. “I looked everywhere for it.”

“Online at an auction,” I told her. “I couldn’t find the damn purple one, though. I thought I did a good job just finding one of them.”

“You did,” Sarah reassured me. “You know how little boys are. They want everything that the TV tells them they need.”

Sarah was right. I felt as if the TV had been filled with toy commercials since before Halloween. I hoped that the dinosaur craze would die down before Austin’s birthday and I could find the purple one at the normal price.

Sarah and I continued to finish working on lunch. My mother was darting all over the house, checking on us, checking on the kids. Soon, we were all eating at the table. I looked around at everyone and smiled. Although I missed Layla, it was starting to feel normal without her there. It did feel lonely to be there as the only single adult, though. Sarah had her husband, my parents had each other, and then there was me. Maybe next Christmas, Tiffany would be next to me.

After lunch, I cleaned up the kitchen with my mom.

“You look exhausted,” my mom said.

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.

She laughed.

“I was just commenting,” she said. “Maybe you should take a nap before you head to Tiffany’s parents’ house. I would hate for you to fall asleep at the dinner table.”

My mom was right. A nap did sound pretty damn good. I finished cleaning the dishes and turned to her.

“I think I will take a nap,” I announced. She smiled.

“We’ll see you in a bit,” she said. I crept upstairs, not wanting to be seen by anyone. As I got into my bed, I picked up my phone and called Tiffany. I laid down in bed, closing my eyes. The phone rang three times before she picked up.

“Hey there,” she answered.

“Hi,” I said, stifling a yawn. “You wore me out last night.”

She giggled.

“Same here,” she said. “I didn’t get out of bed until after eleven.”

“Damn, I am jealous,” I said. “Have you been enjoying your Christmas so far?”

“I have,” she said. “It’s just been me and some Christmas movies… and maybe a mimosa or two.”

“Sounds magical,” I said. It was drastically different than my morning, but I still wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“How did Austin like his dinosaur?” Tiffany asked.

“He loved it,” I told her. “But I screwed up by not getting him the other dinosaur, too. Who knew?”

“Bonkers,” she said. I was confused.

“Bonkers?” I asked.

She laughed.

“Bonkers is the purple dinosaur’s name,” she said. “Teddy is the green dinosaur and Bonkers is the purple dinosaur.”

I was dumbfounded. I didn’t even know the damn dinosaur names and I was the one with a child.

“How did you know that?” I asked her.

“It’s common knowledge, really,” she laughed. “Actually, I looked it up on the internet last night. I couldn’t sleep after I came home. I know, random, right?”

It was now my turn to laugh.

“That is very random,” I said. “But it’s a bit cute that you took the time to look up something that was important to Austin. Maybe next time you two meet, you can talk dinosaurs.”

“That would be great,” Tiffany said, laughing. I was glad to hear her laugh so much. Whatever was bothering her must have gone away. Maybe she was telling the truth. Maybe she was just bummed out about her family situation. I was glad that I was going and possibly helping her to get through a difficult time.

“I’m going to take a quick nap, but I wanted to let you know that I’d be to your house around five. Does that work?”

“That’s perfect,” she said. “I will see you soon.”

“Bye, Tiffany,” I said, hanging up the phone. I placed my phone back on the side table and buried myself under the covers.