“We need to keep our heads,” she said.
“I have my head,” he said, kissing her again. “It’s your head that I’m working on.”
“We have to finish these,” she insisted.
“I thought we were finished.”
Teddy moved back. “This room is done, but there are other rooms.”
“We decorate the entire condo?”
“Didn’t you ever do this when you were younger?”
“We decorated the family room, where the tree was. In the kitchen, Mom put out some red-and-green dish towels, but that was it.”
Teddy picked up a small lighted tree from a box.
“Where is that going?”
“Follow me.”
She went into his bedroom.
“I was wondering how I was going to get you in here.”
Teddy shot him a warning glance. “Bring the small box with the Kwanzaa kinara,” she told him. She set up the tree on a table and plugged it in. The white lights gave the room a soft glow. Adam came up behind her and put his arms around her waist. Kissing her neck, he set the candleholder next to the tree and gathered her close against him.
“Need anything more?” he asked.
“Not a single thing,” she said. Sidestepping him, Teddy left the room and finished the decorations. She placed towels in the kitchen as Adam said his mom had done. In the dining room, she placed a red-and-gold runner on the table and set a basket of silver bells in the center. Ten minutes later, she looked around.
“Is everything done now?” Adam asked.
“All except plugging in the lights.”
Back in the living room, Teddy turned off the room lights and took a seat. Adam threw the plug-strip switch and the tree lights blinked on.
Adam joined her, his arm along the back of the sofa and resting on her shoulder.
“You’re right,” he said.
“About what?”
“The decorations. I didn’t know how much I missed them. Thanks for today, for shopping and helping me trim it.”
Teddy looked up at him. In the subdued light of the tree, he was even more handsome. Her eyes rested on his mouth. Biting her lip, she tried to keep from moving toward him. She put her head on his shoulder, snuggled into his arm and faced the tree.
“It looks so much better than if you’d hired a decorator to do it,” she said.
Adam’s arm tightened on her shoulder as he helped her settle into his side. “I was thinking the same thing.”
“Great minds…” They were a pair, Teddy thought with a smile. If only he felt the way she did. Teddy was quiet for a long time. She and Adam watched the fire and watched the tree. Previous conversations they’d had came to mind. But the Thanksgiving proposal was at the top.
“I have a question,” Teddy said. She knew it was an inappropriate time to ask it, but she couldn’t keep it in any longer. She was in his arms. She felt safe and warm and wanted to stay there, but she had to know.
“Shoot,” Adam said.
“Remember when we had the conversation about meeting someone? Finding your one and only?”
She felt the arm about her stiffen. His entire body did the same, although she knew he was trying to control it. They were too close, too connected to each other.
“You’ve found someone?” His question was stated as distinct words, each one given equal weight, as if they needed to struggle to reach an audible sound.
“Not me,” Teddy said. “I thought, since you ran into Veronica, you might have second thoughts about us.” The impact of the word us hit her. It sounded as if they were a real couple and this was a defining moment in their relationship. She rushed on. “About what we’re doing.”
Adam put his hand under her chin and lifted it until she was looking in his eyes. “She’s not my one and only.”
Teddy didn’t think she could hold the tears back, so she closed her eyes. She felt his lips brush hers and it turned into a kiss. Adam’s hand combed through the hair above her ear as he kissed her deeply.
* * *
Varrick’s Jewelry was founded the same year as Princeton University and had maintained its present location as the tiny college town grew to its present size. Teddy wondered how many graduates had crossed the main street in Princeton and bought an engagement ring in all the time the store had existed?