Chapter 64：Christmas Cheer

Winter hit long before the end of the semester did and Keeley's motivation died right along with it but she managed to make it through finals by the skin of her teeth. She was fully prepared to go into hibernation for the next two weeks until classes started again.

Her college friends had all gone home—even Valentina went to visit relatives living in New Jersey because it was too expensive to fly home for such a short time—but the good news was that Jeffrey and Lydia would be back for the holidays. They were the only thing that could motivate her to leave her house and brave the cold.

She groaned and peeled herself off the couch. "I'm going out, Dad!"

"Alright, be safe," he called back from his room as she pulled on her hat and gloves on her way out the door.

The subway was packed as everybody scrambled to finish their last minute Christmas shopping. Keeley felt like a sardine in a tin as she stood holding onto the handles hanging from the ceiling for dear life, squished in between several strangers.

Exiting the train was a relief but the crowds were still pretty intense. This was to be expected; she was trying to go to the Rockefeller Center two days before Christmas.

Jeffrey got into town a few days earlier but Lydia arrived last night so they waited until they were all together to go ice skating, see the giant tree, and check out some of the elaborate holiday window displays downtown. They changed every year so it was a must see around Christmas time in New York.

Keeley found them waiting near the skate rental area. She rushed at Lydia to hug her first.

"Oh, it's so good to see you! You look a little tanner; California is treating you well."

Her friend laughed as she returned the hug tightly. "Yeah, it's about twenty degrees warmer there than it is here right now and I spent a lot of time studying outside when the weather was nice."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Jeffrey complained jokingly.

Keeley rolled her eyes before moving over to hug him too. "I missed you too, Jeff."

"Yeah, yeah," he said dramatically before becoming more serious. "Are you guys ready to fall flat on your butts? Because I am."

"Speak for yourself, I'm an excellent ice skater," Lydia bragged.

They bickered like usual all the way through the line but in the end Lydia got the last laugh. She skated circles around Jeffrey as he continued to fall. Keeley was a bit wobbly herself but didn't biff it until he latched onto her for support on his way down and took her with him.

"Seriously?" she complained as she lay sprawled on top of him on the ice.

Lydia thought it was hilarious and snapped a picture on her phone. "Aww, look at you two getting cozy."

"Shut up, Lydia!" they yelled in unison.

He held his hands up innocently. "I'm sorry! It was instinct! How about I skate further away from you this time."

"You do that."

Eventually Keeley got confident enough that she could go a little bit faster and Lydia insisted they hold hands so they could skate at the same pace. They left poor Jeffrey in the dust and looped around the rink twice in the time it took him to move forward about three feet.

Once they tired of ice skating, they headed over to the tree. This year it stood 88 feet high and was lit up in gold. The trio stared up at the tree in awe. There was something special about the way the lights twinkled so high above them.

The star on top of the tree was taller than a person and was barely visible from the ground. It was truly amazing that nature could produce such a wonder—you could see the tree for blocks from multiple directions.

Jeffrey bought everyone cheap hot chocolate from a booth someone set up on a street corner so they could sip it and keep warm as they continued enjoying the sight. They held onto their Styrofoam cups as they moved to the window displays.

They were fantastical, each one showcasing a different aspect of the wonders of winter or Christmastime. Gold baubles and glittering fake snow were common themes but no two displays were quite the same.

Each store tried to outdo the next so Keeley couldn't even pick a favorite. The lights and colors were all dazzling.

She felt full of Christmas cheer but also exhausted by the time they were done, crawling back under her previously vacated blanket on the couch as soon as she got home to find a good movie to watch.

The first channel she flipped to was playing a cheesy holiday romance movie involving a CEO falling in love with a small town baker after getting stuck in a snowstorm.

What a joke. Sure, they would show the happy ending where they got married but they wouldn't show how hard it would be for the baker to adjust her lifestyle to match her rich new husband's. Or how her Prince Charming wouldn't change his ways for her.

Bitterness consumed her heart as she turned off the TV, not in the mood to watch anything anymore.

She had been optimistic and naïve once. She thought because she and Aaron loved each other that they could overcome anything. Ha. It was a pathetic fantasy.

Aaron went along with some of Keeley's 'regular person' experiences while they were dating because they were novel. As soon as he began losing interest, he never cared about what she wanted to do.

He might have pretended to go along with her at first but as soon as they were engaged that stopped completely.

Keeley was expected to act, speak, and dress a certain way. She couldn't eat at her usual restaurants, go to the places she liked to go to have fun, or even spend holidays the way she wanted to.

The happy, family-filled Christmases of her childhood were but a distant memory by the time she married Aaron. Even holidays were treated like a business affair in the Hale family.