#mistletoe2024

It’s that time of the year again! Looks like Fleck is under the mistletoe! Why not give him a kiss? 😘

Full scene without text and different expression below the break.

There was a quiet kind of peace that settled over Amélie, especially as the embers of a fire died out in the fireplace. She hadn't bothered to stoke it further, with them leaving within the next hour. Yet, as her eyes landed on the flickering lights of Gideon’s tree, the corners of her mouth upturned. Every muscle in her body softened, hands tracing absentminded patterns on the blanket draped over her legs.

How she wished it would snow.

Life wasn’t a fairytale, not the kind she found in the novels she devoured each night before bed, when she wasn’t otherwise...entertained by her boyfriend. Gideon. The thought still brought a smile to her mouth every time she thought about him. The question she asked herself, she'd so often heard about the honeymoon stage. But Amélie still very much felt like she was in it.

Life wasn’t perfect, but in that moment, it felt pretty damn close. The anxieties she'd once burdened herself with had long ago given way to...this. Happiness, contentment. The ability to feel at home in someone else’s space. His space. To be soft. Feminine. Herself. To feel above all else—safe.

But the excitement that was building in her sternum as she clutched the envelope in her hand was enough to feel like a shaken up bottle of pop. Money, her salary, to be exact, was far less than Gideon's and it was always on her mind.

Extravagance wasn’t something she could offer. Not that he'd ever made her feel like she needed to, it was hard not to notice.

But Gideon didn’t need extravagance. That was one of the things she loved about him the most. For him, it was never about grand gestures or price tags....it was about thought. The actual damn intent. The little things only someone who paid attention would notice. And that, Amélie knew, was where she shined.

The Art of noticing.

She’d told him only two things: to bundle up and be ready to spend some time outside. She'd had to pull some major strings with Felicity...but it'd worked.

Soon, the two of them would be at a private, intimate concert of Zach Bryan. Fifty people max, with a table and meal provided. There'd been no tickets left, and the price had been sky high. But a few bats of her eyelids, and a near constant moan every time she walked into the office and Felicity had caved.

She’d planned every detail, down to the sweet little surprise she knew would make his night, which was wrapped up and placed in her bag.