Yvonne pulled the piping hot rolls from her oven, breathing in the scent of warm bread as she set them in a travel container and placed it on the counter while she got ready. Dressing in a knee-length evergreen dress with long sleeves, she paired the dress with tall brown boots, curling her chestnut hair into perfect loops. When she gave herself one last glance in the mirror, she met her own gaze with a nod of approval.

“Not that there’s anyone to impress, but it’s nice to look one’s best,” she said to her reflection.

Her reflection had no response to that.

In the silence of her trendy city apartment, Yvonne repressed a sigh as she picked up her keys and bread from the counter and made her way to her car, a recently purchased sedan. It had been her gift to herself after the first couple of paychecks working under Zadid, who was quite generous with his salaries. Sometimes Yvonne wondered if part of her crush stemmed from the fact that he treated his workers so well.

It certainly didn’t hurt, when combined with his searing chocolate gaze and perfectly-chiseled jawline. She remembered that he would be joining her the next day, and her heart beat a little faster as she pulled out of her parking garage. She would have very little time to prepare a proper Christmas for him, but she would stay up through the night if she had to. She wanted Zadid’s first American Christmas to be beyond perfect—even if she didn’t totally know how to make it so.

Yvonne turned on the radio, finding a station that played holiday tunes as she drove along the highway out of Washington D.C. towards Maryland. As she drove, she braced herself for the trip to her mother’s house—her childhood home.

Yvonne’s parents had married immediately out of high school. They had been sweethearts, convinced that they would stay in love until the end of time. Unfortunately, after having a child, that theory was sorely tested. Add to that a bit of financial struggle, and when Yvonne had turned thirteen, she’d found herself sitting on the couch as her parents told her over and over again how their divorce wasn’t her fault.

She remembered staring up at them in disbelief, her world crumbling to the floor. While the divorce was amicable, especially compared to so many others, that day Yvonne’s life had been fractured, broken apart forever. Her father had moved two hours away and met another woman; her mom had met another man; and before she knew it, Yvonne had two completely different families, while not really wholly belonging to either one.

Instead of dwelling on it, Yvonne had opted to focus on her career, moving to D.C. as soon as she was able to get into a good college, and never really going back. Her parents often visited her in the big city as an excuse to get away from the craziness at home, and Yvonne welcomed their company. It was still always separate, her life in perfectly-kept halves.

It had been over a decade since she had last felt whole.

Turning up the radio, Yvonne began to sing loudly, drowning out her thoughts with cheerful music about jingle bells and reindeer, skipping over the sadder ones about being home for Christmas.

She wound through the familiar neighborhoods of her past, the neighbors still loading their front lawns with blown-up snowmen and twinkle-light reindeer. In the light of day, they were far less impressive than when the stars came out, and Yvonne found herself wishing she had opted to go later, if only to catch the stunning light show her mother’s neighbors put on every year.

Pulling into her old driveway, Yvonne turned off the engine just as a song about Santa Claus was ending. She grabbed her purse and her bread, her breath puffing out in a white cloud before her as she half-jogged to the front door and finagled around to turn the knob. After a few moments of fruitless effort, she finally pressed her arm against the doorbell, the sound echoing across the house as a chorus of dog barks sounded behind the door.

The sound of running feet approached, and a twelve-year-old blond girl pulled open the door with a big smile.

“Yvonne!” she cried.

“Hey, Mya,” Yvonne breathed, wrapping her arms around her half-sister. “Can you take this before I fall over?”

As she spoke, two small Yorkshire terriers circled around her ankles, yipping excitedly as they jumped up against her boots, their tiny paws barely pressing against her. Mya took the bread and ran back toward the kitchen, which smelled of cooked meats and a variety of side dishes.

“Mom, Yvonne’s here!” Mya called out.

Another girl came running down the stairs, identical to the first.

“Hi, Megan,” Yvonne said.

The girl looked up and gave her a shy smile.

“Hi, Yvonne.”

“How you doing?”

The girl shrugged a shoulder before heading toward the kitchen. Yvonne walked in after her, finding her mother wearing a flour-covered apron as she rolled out a sheet of fresh cookie dough. When Yvonne walked in, her mother smiled warmly at her.

“Just in time to get the cookies cut for decorating later. Come on in, sweetheart. The cutouts are over there.”

Mya dashed over, grabbing a large chunk of cookie dough and plopping it into her mouth before sprinting away.

“Mya! We can’t decorate cookies if you eat all of the dough! Megan, talk some sense into your sister.”

“That’s hard to do when she doesn’t have any,” Megan said, curling up on a kitchen chair and pulling out a book.

Yvonne’s mother rolled her eyes.

“Megan has decided to become a moody teenager this morning. Give her an hour or so and we’ll get her back to her old self again.”

Yvonne glanced back at her half-sister, who peeked up over her book self-consciously before ducking her head back under. Biting back a grin, Yvonne sat at the kitchen island where her mother, Debbie, had laid out the dough, grabbing a candy cane cutout and making cookies, placing the shaped dough on cookie sheets with her mother.

“I’ll never be too old for this,” Yvonne said.

“Well, you can still do it like an adult,” Debbie replied, popping open a bottle of white wine she pulled from the fridge and pouring her a glass.

Yvonne nodded appreciatively, enjoying the crisp flavor of the wine as she and her mother continued their old tradition of making sugar cookies to frost. After they filled two sheets, Debbie placed them in the heated oven, brushing the flour and dough off her hands on a hand towel.

She winked at Yvonne before speaking loudly.

“I suppose now is the time to open the Christmas Eve presents. It’s a shame Megan is so moody; I would have liked to give her one.”

Slamming her book on the table, Megan stared with wide eyes at her mother.

“You would seriously deny me a present just because of my mood?”

“I don’t know, can you earn one by showing me a little Christmas cheer?”

Megan’s lip twisted up in a reluctant smile.

“Almost there…” Debbie goaded, stepping over and wrapping her daughter in a hug.

Just then, Mya walked in.

“You’re hugging her? No fair! I’m the favorite!”

She bolted over and the two girls began to giggle as they fought over who was the real favorite twin, their mother smiling warmly down at them, insisting that they were both her favorites. She glanced up at Yvonne, realizing her faux pas.

“All three of my girls are my favorite,” she corrected, and Yvonne took another drink from her glass.

As the cookies baked, the four of them headed out to the living room, where Yvonne’s stepfather was busy putting a few extra bulbs on the tree. When he saw Yvonne, he smiled and gave her a hug.

“It’s good to see you, Yvonne. I’m so sorry we didn’t plan better. We thought you were with your dad on Christmas Day; otherwise, we would have planned something different.”

Yvonne shrugged.

“I’m an adult, Dan. I can handle a Christmas on my own. Besides, I’ll be spending it with someone.”

Her mother’s ears perked up at that statement, even as she was in the middle of opening matching headbands for the girls. They slid them on and ran into the other room, turning their heads from side to side to admire their new gifts.

“Who are you spending it with?” she asked, her voice heavy with suggestion.

“No one of consequence…just a work acquaintance.”

The last thing she needed was her mother’s lecture on the dangers of dating in the workplace. Seeing her resolve, her mom’s face fell a little as she stared wistfully at her eldest daughter.

“I just wish that you could find a nice boyfriend, Yvonne. I’d love to see you settled down with a family of your own.”

It was a phrase she had heard time and time again. Repressing a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

“I barely get out of the office nowadays—and even when I do, the D.C. dating scene is pretty abysmal. Maybe someday I’ll find a flower among the weeds.”

“We can hope,” Debbie said.

Before they could continue, the oven beeped. Sporting their new headbands, the twins led the way to the kitchen table, which was already set.

Per tradition, the cookies were set to cool while the family ate together around the table, a large turkey already cut and prepared. Yvonne sat across from the twins, who whispered to one another, sharing private jokes and giggling as they played with their food.

Yvonne watched as her mother and Dan looked on, their eyes glowing with love. She felt like she was standing outside, looking into a world she had never really known.

After dinner, her mother pulled the wishbone from the turkey and held it out to her.

“Make a wish,” she said, her eyes bright.

Yvonne smiled as her sisters groaned about not getting a turn to wish, but she felt special to be singled out by her mother. Grasping the slippery bone, she closed her eyes, and made her wish—to have a family of her very own.

When they pulled on the bone, Yvonne won, and her mother grinned.

“I hope it comes true, my love.”

“Me too,” Yvonne agreed.

She checked her watch, realizing that if she wanted to make it to her father’s house in time, she wouldn’t have time to decorate the cookies. Saying as much, she stood, the rest of the family standing to bid her farewell. Her mother hugged her extra tight before she stepped from the warm house back into the cold.

“Give your father and the family our best,” Debbie said, and Yvonne nodded.

“I will,” she promised.

She turned and walked back to her car as the door closed behind her, feeling somehow very full and very empty all at once. As she turned her key in the ignition, she made her way back onto the road, and toward another happy family.

She thought about her wish, and turned the radio back up once more.