Beth stared at the text message Antonio set her, she knew he was probably super excited, he was off on Thanksgiving, he was looking forward to spending the holiday with her, he would go along with whatever she normally did, he just wanted to be with her, on a holiday. She knew how hard it was for the superstars and divas to get time off on holidays and she could see his adorable excited face as if he was standing right in front of her. But, she doesn't do holidays anymore, not since her parents died and Henry went off the deep end. Especially not Thanksgiving, it was her and her father's special holiday, they always started cooking the day before and got up super early, before everyone else, had breakfast together and started cooking. Even when she moved out, she still came home the day before Thanksgiving so that they could keep their special traditions alive. She felt her eyes start to fill with tears just as the little bell above the shop door jingled, she scrubbed her face with the back of her hands and looked up to see Todd Benson strolling to the counter. She hadn't seen him since that day with Antonio, she smiled remembering how jealous he had gotten, it was sexy and terrifying at the same time.
"Hi Todd, what can I do for you today?" she asked trying to hide the sadness in her voice. Of course he wasn't fooled.
"Bethany! What's wrong? Are you OK?" He asked as he started to come around behind the counter.
"No, Todd, please, I can't have nonemployees back here, you understand, right?"
"Of course," he said stiffly, obviously offended. "You didn't answer my question, are you alright? What did that Swiss jackass do this time?"
"Everything is fine," she said glaring at him. "Why are you here, Todd?"
He stood up straight and looked around the shop, "I, um, my mom needs another yarn thing for the, uhh, sweater she is working on."
"Sweater? She's not making a sweater now. She was working on a blanket for the children's hospital. We want to make a blanket, hat and scarf for every patient to open on Christmas morning," Beth said squinting at him.
"Oh! Yeah, that's what I meant, the blanket."
"What color does she need? And why didn't she come in herself, is she alright?" Beth's suspicions turned to concern, the last time Mrs. Benson didn't come into the shop herself was when she had that horrible stomach virus, poor thing was laid up for a week.
"You are so sweet to worry, my mother is fine, I was in the area and offered to just grab it for her," Todd said impatiently, "So, give me another thing of that color she needs."
Beth sighed, "Well, Todd, I'm sorry that you wasted your time, but I have no idea what yarn your mom could need since she always buys more than enough to complete her projects. So, unless you want me to call her right now and ask her what she needs, I would appreciate it if you would leave my store."
Todd leaned across the counter and tried to hold her hand, "Bethany…"
"No, Todd, just no. I don't have time for whatever it is you are trying to do. I have a shop to run, blankets to crochet and to be completely honest, I am not even a tiny bit interested in you."
He grinned at her, "That's just because you are blinded by that European charm and those giant muscles. When he breaks your heart, call me, I'll take care of you."
Beth clenched her hands into fists, "Todd Benson, I am not interested in you, I never was and I never will be, now get out of my shop right now before I call your mother and tell her what a jerk you are."
He stared at her a moment longer, the arrogant grin still plastered on his face then he turned on his heel and strutted out the door, "You'll change your mind. And I will forgive you for being such a bitch to me."
As soon as the door closed behind him she let out a yell of frustration, like she would ever date a man who was scared of his mom AND called her a bitch. She made herself a cup of lemon ginger tea and got back to work selecting patterns for her crochet and knitting classes to work on for the children's hospital charity drive. Soon after that, the shop got busy and she forgot all about jerky Todd and Antonio's text message.
Antonio showered and packed his gear after the SmackDown tapings ended and met up with Jack Swagger, Zeb Coulter, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and the Bellas. They piled into their rental van to make what should have been a short trip from the arena to the airport. After fighting traffic and returning the van and posing for pictures, they finally made it to their terminal only to find out that they had a two hour delay due to inclement weather. Zeb swore under his breath, John and Daniel took their women to find food and Jack went off to find a quiet corner to call home and say goodnight to his kids. Antonio left Zeb to his swearing, the crazy old man, and decided to grab a cup of coffee before calling Beth.
"Hallo, mein Prinzessin," he said when she answered, "I have a delay. Thankfully every airport in the world has a Starbucks."
Beth laughed, "You are the only person I know who drinks more coffee than I do!"
"It's not easy to get a Starbucks gold card as quickly as I did," he said sipping his coffee.
"Will you still be able to come to my place tonight? Or do you have to go home?" she asked, hoping she would have her man to cuddle with tonight.
"Prinzessin, I will be in your bed as quickly as possible," he said smiling at the thought of her head on his chest. "Which of my t-shirts did you steal tonight?"
"I never steal them! I always give them back… eventually…"
He laughed loudly, startling the people sitting at the little table next to him. "Ich liebe dich, mein Prinzessin! My flight is boarding now, I will be with you as soon as I can. You saw my text message from earlier today?"
"Ummm, about Thanksgiving?"
"Ja, of course. I have to go, but we can talk about it tomorrow morning. Abschied, Prinzessin, good bye."
"Au revoir mon amour," she replied proudly.
Antonio chuckled as he disconnected the call, her obsession with Google Translator was adorable, her accent was hideous, although still far better than Jack's.
Antonio got to Beth's a few hours later and was greeted at the door by Einstein, whoever said cats weren't find of humans clearly never met Einstein. He scooped up the kitten and scratched his ears earning a very loud purr, Beth laughed from the couch, she was crocheting a cheery yellow and orange striped blanket, "You have perfect timing. I was getting tired of kitten claws in my yarn. He was about to get locked in the bathroom."
"I knew this little guy was trouble," Antonio said placing the kitten on his scratching post, "now play with your own toys Einstein."
The cat mewed to express his disappointment and Antonio sat next to Beth and pulled her into his lap, "Do you need to finish that now, Prinzessin?" he asked.
"I do have a deadline. And it's for charity," she said trailing her hands up his biceps and circling her arms around his neck.
"And you and your craft corner have already made 50 lap blankets," he said nibbling her ear.
"How did you know?"
He smiled, "I saw on Twitter. I did the retweet thing for you. So did Renee, Bayley and Emma. Now stop talking and kiss me."
"So sweet and so bossy," she muttered just before he claimed her mouth in a passionate kiss that ended with a trail of clothes between the living room and bedroom.
Beth rested her head in the crook of Antonio's arm and ran her fingers through his chest hair, might as well talk about it now. "So, umm... about Thanksgiving…"
"You don't sound as excited as I thought you would be about spending the holiday together," he said.
She sat up in bed next to him, pulling the sheet up over herself, "Its not you, its me, wow, that's cliché, but its really the truth in this case. I don't want you to be disappointed, but ever since my parents died, I just don't celebrate holidays anymore, especially not Thanksgiving. And, being a retail owner, I need to be ready to have my shop open bright and early for Black Friday," she said looking away, "I'm sorry, I know you were wanting a traditional American Thanksgiving, but I just can't do it."
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles, "Prinzessin, I just want to spend the day with you. We can spend Thanksgiving in our pajamas eating Quest bars for all I care. I just want to be with you. And I can help in the shop, I will be your bouncer."
She scrunched up her face, "Eww, I'd rather starve than eat a Quest bar. And the day a yarn store needs a bouncer will be the day I become a billionaire."
He laughed, he loved that face she makes whenever he mentioned his protein bars, "Well then, you do what you need to do in the shop on Thanksgiving Day, and I will take care of dinner. Then Friday I will do whatever you need."
Thinking about Antonio in Heart Strings reminded her of the incident with Todd earlier that day, she wasn't sure if having Antonio in the shop would be a good thing or a bad thing, but there was a lot of inventory on the high shelves she could make him pull down for her. "Deal," she said out loud, "You are in charge of dinner and getting things down from the high shelves."
"I can handle that," he said kissing the back of her hand again and trailing butterfly kisses up her arm to the crook of her neck, he nibbled the soft flesh and waited for her to moan his name. He smiled and kissed her lips softly then pulled away and took a deep breath before moving on to the next topic he wanted to discuss with her. "Prinzessin, I know you have Heart Strings and Einstein to worry about, but I was hoping would be able to join me for Christmas and New Year's in Switzerland…"
Beth's eyes opened wide and she gasped, "Me? Switzerland? Really?"
He nodded and ran his fingers through her hair, "You don't have to answer right now. I will take care of our travel arrangements, all you will need to do is get a passport."
"I've never even left the east coast! This is so exciting! I mean, leaving the shop at Christmas time would be rough, but I am sure Ashley and Sara can handle it. Mrs. Benson would love to help too. Oh! Sara could take care of Einstein!" She stopped talking long enough to kiss his lips and then started again, "This will be the best Christmas in years! What should I wear? Will it be cold? Will it snow? Oh my god, I'll finally meet your brother! And can we get fancy Swiss chocolate? What about presents?!"
He chuckled, "Relax, Prinzessin, I will tell you everything you need to know. But now, I need some sleep. And I believe you are up much past your bedtime…"
