Mary and Halley (sequel to When Mary Met Halley)

twenty eight

That night we were just finishing a late dinner when there was a hesitant knock at the door. We consisted of Halley, me, Leif and Paramjeet; the little kids were in bed, the teens in the living room eating and watching Sherlock, which we'd already seen. 

"You should get that," Paramjeet suggested casually to her boyfriend, stabbing another spear of asparagus with her fork. "Since it's for you."

Leif's eye looked worse. He narrowed it and the other one at her. "Uh-oh, what have you done?"

She shrugged, dipping it in mustard sauce. The knock sounded again, a bit louder, and she gestured with the spear before taking a bite. "Go!"

Leif scooted his chair back with a squeak and took a deep breath. "You'll forgive me if I'm apprehensive," he muttered, disappearing. 

We looked at her. "Go," she repeated to us, rising too. "You don't want to miss this." She started texting someone as we followed her instructions.

Halley's hand was cool in mine as we came up behind Leif. He opened the door and cold air hit us. Paramjeet joined us, calling for Charlotte, who appeared with Joey and Nate, questioning looks on their faces. 

A beautiful guy stood on the porch, tall and rugged, brown skin a contrast to the tight white t-shirt that showed off his muscles. His black eyebrows were knitted together in an expression of worry, rather than the anger I expected to see there. 

For of course this was Reuben. 

"Come to blacken my other eye?" Leif quipped, but his body was tense like a strung arrow, and the last word of his sentence wavered.

Reuben's large, dark eyes found Paramjeet over Leif's shoulder and widened. "No, no, I came to apol-"

"Let's take this outside," my friend interjected smoothly, stepping forward and gesturing for Reuben to move back toward his car so the rest of us could crowd onto the porch. 

He did so rapidly, almost tripping over his own feet and managing to avoid a glowing reindeer at the last second.

Ruby and Gwen came out of their house. "Why'd you want us to come outside?" Gwen called, hugging herself. "Brrr!"

"Because you all need to see that sometimes the bad guy doesn't get away with it." She turned her attention back to the now-submissive man in front of us and crossed her arms. Her chin rose a little as she stood pointedly next to Leif. "You may continue."

He put his own hands out, palms up, studying them. "Look, babe, I'm really sorry for what I did," he began.

"Louder," Paramjeet suggested, and Nate laughed behind me.

I saw Char elbow him in my peripherals and he quickly turned it into a fake cough. "Pardon me," he murmured demurely.

Halley slid her arm around my waist, pulling me closer to her, sliding her fingers under my waistband to make me jump from the cold. I poked her side and she stopped but remained smiling.

"I'm really sorry for what I did," Leif's ex repeated with more volume, twisting his hands now. The motor on the mechanical sled above us whirred loudly as the Santa waved in jerky movements. "I was totally out of line and upset and there's, there's no excuse for it." His eyes darted at Paramjeet again.

"Yeah, it's so hard to say goodbye, and all, I get it," Leif said blithely, clearly enjoying the whole scene but wisely not milking it too much. "Apology accepted."

But Punchy McPuncher wasn't off the hook yet. "And?" my friend prodded.

Sweat soaked the underarms of Reuben's shirt in the cold night. He ran a hand through his two-inch long hair, making it stand up in places. "It'll never happen again. I'll never bother you again, honestly."