Thanks to luvtaread for editing
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The tours the next day went rather well and Ashley seemed to impress both schools. It turned out that once you piece together all of the classes from the various schools she had started and not finished it added up to more than enough to graduate. All that was left was for her to do her student teaching and take a few certification exams in the spring.
The best part of this was that, provided she finish a few of the papers she had started in other classes, Ashley was cleared for student teaching that spring so she only needed to find a school that would take her. As Brandon's mom was fairly certain she could get Ashley a spot in the district she worked for this was not much of an issue.
A few days later Ashley met the rest of the family at Thanksgiving dinner. Brandon was relieved to find that she was well received and that pretty much everyone liked her. Gina especially got along with Ashley right off the bat and the two spent most of the day talking to one another. It was clear they were fast friends.
Brandon and Jack were not sure whether it was good or not that the two women got along so well, but Brandon was pleased they got along. He did note that at one point Gina was showing Ashley her ring.
As he noticed this his brother said, "Look out little bro, they're having the ring discussion over there. Better get a move on."
Brandon just nodded and was saved by the call for dessert. Rings were on his mind certainly, but as he had told Ashley earlier this week he wanted some time in normal life before making that particular purchase. Besides, he needed to get the money together for the ring first. Fortunately that was the only mention of rings the entire night and soon after desert Ashley and Brandon left for home. Full of food both gave in quickly to the tryptophan and fell asleep.
Over the next few weeks Brandon and Ashley enjoyed the holiday season together. When they were not working that is. Ashley set to work on her papers, which thanks to Brandon backing up his hard drive to a server nightly, had survived the accident. On days where she was busy working, Brandon earned some extra cash by helping a friend who owned a holiday decorating service.
Shopping too was more fun with Ashley along, though to be truthfully a far more time consuming process than if he had gone alone. He had to admit she was helpful especially with Gina, as her new friendship with his sister-in-law made it possible for him to give Gina something other than a gift card this year.
Brandon was just glad Ashley was not one of those day after thanksgiving shoppers. When he had asked her about it on Black Friday she had said that although she wasn't Katy was. In fact if not for his mom's invite she would certainly be waging war at the malls in Boston with the energetic blonde.
The first week of December brought work for Brandon. He would have liked to stay with her and show her the area, but he realized that would not be realistically possible. Fortunately Ashley had schoolwork she really wanted to finish up so it worked out for the most part. Her new friendship with Gina also helped because, as Gina was a stay-at-home mom, she was around a lot during the day and Ashley made frequent visits while getting her bearings of the area.
The best moment of the holiday season by far came about a week before Christmas. Brandon awoke that Saturday morning to Ashley saying, "Brandon! Brandon! Look darling it's so beautiful."
Brandon sat up and looked at Ashley standing next to the window looking as lovely as usual and thought, "It certainly is."
Before he rose to see what had inspired the awe, although he had a good idea. Sure enough he looked out to see the ground blanketed in a fresh layer of bright white snow as small white flakes floated down. It was a scene right out of a postcard. Brandon smiled at the childlike look of joy on Ashley's face and kissed her on the cheek before holding her from behind. They stood there a while until the wonder wore off and the need for breakfast took over.
At least for him it did as he left she asked, "Where are you going?"