Free Have Yourself a Curvy Little Christmas: A Perfect Fit Holiday Novella (A Perfect Fit Novel) by Sugar Jamison

at him for a moment. He wore a tiny red sweater with a reindeer on it and little blue jeans. Ben was still so amazed that this little boy had come into his life. And at Christmastime. There was no better present. “Hello, son. You look very festive today.”
    “He’s freaking adorable.” Dina leaned over and kissed her son’s cheek. “We have to get you a matching sweater so we can take pictures.”
    Matching sweaters? Pictures?
    “I’m glad you’re here. I need your help sorting this stuff out. What do you want to go up?”
    The woman was somewhat of a whirlwind. He looked at all the decorations she had pulled out of the boxes and then to Dina, who was happily sorting through them. Things he hadn’t seen in years. After his mother died, Christmas stopped being a major event and over the years the displays got smaller and smaller until one year his father told the staff not to bother with it at all. That was a sad day, especially for Ben, because it was the day he felt like his mother had finally fully slipped away for him.
    “Whatever you want, Dina,” he said, feeling a lump in his chest.
    “You keep telling me I can have whatever I want. You’re going to regret that one day.”
    “We haven’t had Christmas here since I’ve been an adult.”
    “Not even with your wife?”
    “No. We always spent Christmas day at her parents’ home.” She had never made Christmas into a big event. He thought she might when they were first married. He had hoped she would bring the splendor back to Windermere, but the holiday never seemed very important to her.
    “My mother is Jewish, but my stepfather is as Waspy as they come, so we had a big Christmas every year. Eggnog and mistletoe and even a goose.”
    “A goose?”
    “A Christmas goose. Just like in A Christmas Carol . He ordered it special every year. My mother is a strict vegetarian, so he and my little sister would spend hours in the kitchen on Christmas day cooking it.”
    He didn’t miss the wistfulness in Dina’s voice. She missed her family. It was a shame she couldn’t be with them. “Where were you during that?”
    “With my mother. She liked to go shopping the day after Christmas and spent hours on Christmas strategizing which stores she was going to hit first.”
    “When’s the last time you saw them?” He knew he was prying, but he wanted to know about her; he wanted to know her.
    “Two years ago.” She picked up a small wooden soldier and cradled it in her hand. “The detail on this thing is amazing. It must have been hand painted. It makes me sad that nobody makes things like this anymore.”
    It made him sad that she lost so much time with them. “They’ve never met Dash?”
    “No.”
    “You’ve been totally alone this whole time?”
    “Yes.” She offered him a small smile. “But not for much longer. Some crazy guy might want to marry me.”
    She was smiling at him, but he could feel her sorrow, the shame hanging over her. He wanted to tell her that it was never too late to make up with her family to right whatever wrong she thought she did, but he couldn’t give her advice. He couldn’t keep his family together either.
    He leaned over, surprising himself by pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Would you like to come out with me today?”

Chapter 7
    It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year …
    Dina watched Ben as he adjusted Dash’s hat over his ears and fussed with his coat. Dash just kind of stared at Ben in wonder as they walked through the quiet, snowy streets of the small village that surrounded Windermere. Dina looked at him in wonder too. He cared about her son. The cynic in her really wanted to distrust Ben, like she distrusted all men. He was a stranger. But there was something about him. He was good with Dash. And for the first time in his young life Dash had somebody else who was willing to love him. That was one of her fears as a single mother. That her son would grow up with only her to love him.
    And then Ben