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Norma had always loved the holidays; there was an inescapable happiness to the winter season that she cherished so dearly. It was the one time of year that her childhood seemed relatively normal, her father’s angry face smoothing into something much more kind, and her brother seeming more like a brother than her lover. Even when she married Sam, with his temper and violence, the holidays were somewhat ordinary . He too was able to put whatever hatred he had towards his wife on the back burner, and be the loving husband and father that Norma always dreamed of having. It all came crashing down the next day, of course. That part was imminent, as he could spend hours picking apart every little thing Norma did wrong, from buying too many presents, to making too much food, even down to smiling much too often. She didn’t think about the inevitable doom the day after Christmas would bring, because how could she when her sons, the lights of her life, were so carefree and happy for that one day a year? It was the one day where she could pretend like her life was normal, like Sam’s harsh hand hadn’t descended upon her just the night before.
So it was safe to say that nothing life threw her way could ruin her holiday spirit. It became quite clear to Alex that Norma was absolutely infatuated with Christmas, when she sped into her gravel parking lot that afternoon, dangerously fast. She excitedly called Emma from the office, as she pulled mountains of decorations and lights from her trunk, passing them into her waiting hands. Norma all but bounced around her motel porch, giddy with excitement as she gestured wildly, no doubt telling Emma of all her plans for her lights and adornments. And when Alex woke up the morning after, there it all was, perfectly decorated in the typical Norma Bates’ fashion. She had to have stayed up all night to put them up, but there she was in the office, fresh faced and bright eyed like she had just had the best sleep of her life. Perhaps festive Norma didn’t need sleep.
“What do you think?” Norma asked that morning when Alex entered the motel office for some coffee before starting his shift. He gave her a quizzical look, and she sighed, exasperated by the fact that he didn’t even seem to notice her hard work. “The decorations, how do they look?”
He glanced out the door, as if he just noticed the hard to miss decor. “Oh yeah, it looks nice.”
Norma rolled her eyes. Sure, her and Alex were kind of friends now, but he was still the ever so stoic cop he had always been, and that would probably never change. Alex was just a very apathetic man, and Norma didn’t know why she cared for his opinion so much, especially since she knew he could care less about her. Nonetheless, Norma ignored his gloomy attitude, continuing to chat casually with the sheriff.
“What are your Christmas plans?” she asked, typing away at her computer with one hand, and the other nervously toying with the bow that was placed neatly on the gift hidden beneath her desk.
“I uh-” he cleared his throat. “I don’t really have any.” Norma looked over at him, eyes wide with surprise at the fact, though he didn’t seem to notice as he placed a to-go lid on his coffee cup. “See ya.”
Norma watched him go, before making a split second decision and rushing out the door after him. Surely, he had to have some plans, perhaps dinner with his family; he had to have family, right? She caught up to him as he was loading things into the back of his police cruiser, ignoring her presence.
“You erm-” she crossed her arms nervously. “You don’t have any plans?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said,” he replied, not even sparing her a glance and Norma felt her heart drop. No one should be alone on Christmas.
“Oh,” she rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up in the cool winter chill. “Well um, you know you could always join us for dinner,” she offered, giving him a half shrug and a small smile. “It’s just going to be me and Norman. Well and maybe Dylan, but I’m not sure. So uh-”
Alex closed the trunk. “Yeah, I’ll pass. Thanks.”
Norma knew his rejection was nothing personal, and it really shouldn’t have hurt her feelings, but she couldn’t help but be bothered by the way he avoided looking at her as he drove out of the motel parking lot. Afterall, she was just trying to be kind, and he really didn’t have to be so rude. But she still felt hurt, as she thought that they were kind of friends now; the Alex that she’s seen daily was very different from the “I’ll burn you to the ground,” Alex, and she had hoped some progress had been made. Perhaps it had all been in her head, and she suddenly felt very silly for the gift-wrapped box underneath her desk. She didn’t dwell on it much longer though, becoming busy with the flurry of guests checking in to spend their holiday at White Pine Bay.
She made a nice dinner that evening, a bit disappointed by the fact that Dylan had decided to spend his Christmas elsewhere, but still trying to stay positive. It didn’t help that Norman seemed to be moody tonight, stomping around the house dramatically, purposefully avoiding his mother. Norma had tried to be understanding; it was Norman’s first Christmas without Sam, and he truly did love his father despite the way he was raised. But then Norman refused to eat, knocking the plate of food that she graciously offered him out of her hands and onto the floor, before storming up the steps and slamming his door shut. This is not how Norma wanted to spend her Christmas, holding back tears while cleaning up her floor, and changing her dress from the spilled mess of dinner. Norman wouldn’t even talk to her, to explain his sudden rash behavior, even when she tearfully pleaded from the other side of his door.
“Norman it’s Christmas!” she cried, knocking desperately on his locked door. “Come out honey, let’s have dinner okay? I got you some wonderful presents!” she trilled, resting her head against the wooden frame, yet was met with silence on the other side.
She huffed, wiggling the knob uselessly once more, before making her way downstairs. Norman had never been like this on Christmas. It was as much his favorite holiday as it was Norma’s, so his behavior was really inexplicable. Norma sighed. There was no longer a purpose for remaining positive today, considering that not just one, but both of her sons had abandoned her and she was alone, and what good was Christmas when you were alone?
That question had a sudden image of another lonely person popping into her head, and she ran to the window to see if Alex had returned from his shift. He had. His police cruiser was parked, windows slightly frosted over, so he must’ve been back for a while. Norma was torn. She hated to spend her favorite day alone, and hated the idea of someone else, someone she considered a friend, spending it alone as well. On the other hand, he rejected her offer to come up for dinner, so perhaps he just wanted to be left by himself.
Well, Norma thought, glancing down at his room, the light shining through his window, it wouldn’t hurt to drop off a bit of food. She practically had enough to feed an army after all. So she dug through her cupboards for some tupperware, filling the plastic bin with enough food to hopefully last him for a few days, before she went in search for something a bit warmer to wear on her way down. She considered letting Norman know she was heading down, and that she’d be back soon, but decided against it. If he had decided to ignore her, then she was perfectly in her rights to do the same.
Norma pulled on a pair of ankle boots, and buttoned up her gray peacoat, before grabbing the warm tupperware and heading down to the motel. Her keys jingled in her pocket as she bounced down the steps, taking off into a light jog towards room eleven. Balancing the tupperware in one hand, Norma reached up with her other to knock on the door before she could second guess herself, puffing out a nervous breath.
Alex didn’t seem as annoyed as she anticipated when he opened the door, doing a quick once over of her shivering form as she offered him an anxious smile. “I know you said you didn’t want to come up for dinner- which probably worked out since Norman’s being, well, all sulky,” she made a face, but shook it off quickly and held out the tupperware. “But I- erm- well I figured, I mean I have a lot of food so, erm, I didn’t want you to be hungry so I just thought, I- I don’t know.”
There was a stretch of uncomfortable silence, before Alex took the tupperware from her outstretched hands, and she puffed out a sigh. “Thanks Norma.”
“Sure,” she smiled, putting her hands into her pockets. “Okay, well, see ya,” she turned, cursing herself under her breath for being such a bumbling idiot in front of Alex. Sure, they didn’t know each other that well, but she shouldn’t have been so awkward.
“Norma!” Norma was barely to the edge of the porch when Alex called after her, and she made her way back, shivering in the freezing cold. “Uh, do you-” he gestured back inside. “I mean- do you want to come in?” she raised her eyebrows, glancing nervously in his room, before back at him. “To eat?”
Oh. “Oh! Are you sure?”
Alex chuckled. “I mean I wouldn’t have asked.”
In no time at all, Norma was sitting comfortably at the wooden desk in Alex’s motel room, her coat and scarf hung over the chair. She watched silently as Alex dug through his nightstand drawer for paper plates that were leftover from his last take-out meal, offering him a small smile as he handed her one of them. They were quiet, giving each other quick little glances as they each dished up a plate of the now lukewarm food, finding it hard to speak to one another. They never even had a conversation that lasted longer than two minutes before this moment.
“So uh…” Alex sat down on the edge of his bed. “Uh, Norman’s in a mood?”
Norma sighed, pushing the food around on her plate; she didn’t have much of an appetite after Norman’s outburst. “Yeah, well, things are just different this year, you know?” she shrugged. “I mean, his dad’s always been around for Christmas so…”
“Yeah, I-I’m sorry. It must be tough.”
“Oh it’s whatever,” she waved her hand dismissively. She couldn’t necessarily reveal to Alex that she was more than happy her ex-husband was dead and buried in the ground. “So um… what do you usually do on Christmas? I mean are you always…”
“Alone?” he huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t have family… in town I mean. None in town.”
Norma smiled sadly, focusing back on her plate of food, before suddenly remembering the gift that she had tucked away in the motel office. She set her plate off to the side, and slipped on her coat. “I’ll be right back.”
Alex watched as she rushed out the door, leaving it flung open for the cold air to flurry inside, and jog over to the motel office. She came bounding back only seconds later, a small wrapped box in her hands, and a nervous smile on her lips. Norma took her time closing the door, and taking her jacket off, trying to stall and come up with an explanation for the gift she had gotten him. She sat back down in the chair, awkwardly holding the gift out for him to take.
“I um… I just,” she shrugged uselessly, as he looked down, in what seemed to be a sort of shocked reaction at the gift. “I just thought it’d be nice.”
Alex breathed out a nervous chuckle, before setting the present down on the bed and making his way over to the small closet on the other side of the room. He sifted through the clothes that were in a pile on the floor, and Norma couldn’t help but roll her eyes fondly, stifling a laugh at the unused hangers. He too, pulled out a gift, wrapped a bit more messily than the one she had given him, and handed it to her.
“I was trying to find a good time,” he explained, shrugging and she looked up at him in surprise. “I didn’t want you to think it was stupid.”
Norma didn’t want to cry, but she had the sudden urge to. It would’ve been too much of an overreaction, and it was clear that Alex was not very comfortable with emotion, so she blinked back her tears. She thought back to her past Christmases, spent with Sam, and John before him, neither of them bothering to get her anything. They sometimes presented her with a card, their name scrawled inside, but nothing beyond that. And while she knew Christmas wasn’t about the gifts of course, it would’ve been nice to have anything , even a written “I love you” inside one of those cards. And here she was now, holding a gift from a man who she thought despised her, who had arrested her months prior, while sitting and having dinner with him in his motel room. Not to mention, he seemed to be as equally nervous as she was, exchanging gifts.
“Oh, Alex,” she breathed out shakily, her dainty fingers tracing the messy edges of the wrapping paper. “Okay, okay, you first.”
Their eyes met, and they both smiled nervously, before Alex tore away at the wrapping paper, and opened the small brown box. “It’s a scarf,” she explained, though it was very obvious to see. “I just noticed that you didn’t seem to have one, and you know, it gets cold so I- and I knitted your initials into it as well, in case you lose it.”
“You made this?” he asked, seemingly surprised, and she nodded, smiling bashfully. He turned the scarf over in his hands, fingers smoothing over the cursive “A.R.” that was knitted into the deep brown wool. “I love it. Really, I- thank you.”
She hadn’t seen such a genuine smile from Alex before, his eyes warm as he met her gaze, and she was taken aback by it. She had told him once already, that she thought his face was paralyzed, so to see him smiling so openly was-
“Your turn.” Norma glanced at the gift, momentarily forgetting that it was resting in her lap.
She tittered anxiously as she ripped away the red and green wrapped paper, met with a much similar brown box to the one she had gifted. Norma opened it, untucking the tissue paper and pulling out the floral printed cardigan sweater that was nestled inside. And there were the tears again, pressing harsh against the back of her eyes, for she had never gotten something so nice before. It took her a moment to speak, her glazed eyes meeting Alex’s, and she swallowed down the choked sob that was so desperate to escape.
“Alex, this is beautiful!” she set the box off to the side, and smoothed it out over her lap.
“There’s that new shop that just opened up in town and I saw it and just thought- I mean I don’t know, you wear a lot of floral, I- um- if you don’t like it, I can-”
“Are you kidding me?” she laughed, eyes gleaming as she traced the intricate floral pattern that ran down the sleeves. “I love it. Thank you.”
Another silence stretched on, as they both admired their gifts, but it wasn’t uncomfortable like last time. Instead, there was a newfound warmth that radiated off of them, simply happy to exist in each other’s presence. But it was getting late, and they both had work tomorrow, and surely Norman had to have noticed that Norma was missing by now. So they cleaned up their dinner, and the wrapping paper, both giggling and chatting about nothing and everything all at once. The nerves they had felt earlier in the night had dissipated, replaced by a more enthusiastic energy, both disappointed that the night had to come to an end.
“I can walk you up,” Alex said, grabbing his coat from where it was thrown on the floor, and Norma felt butterflies in her tummy at the offer. “So you know, I can break the scarf in.”
She laughed, slapping his arm as if they had always been this casual, and buttoning up her coat over her new cardigan, following him into the chilly winter evening. He offered out his arm, for her to hold onto so she didn’t slip on the ice in her heeled ankle boots, and she felt her heart skip a beat again. This was a whole new side to Alex that Norma hadn’t previously gotten the chance to see before, and she had to admit that she much preferred this Alex over the stoic cop that was banging on her door just months earlier.
“Thank you again,” Alex said, as her hand dropped from his arm to fish the keys from her pocket. “You know for dinner and the scarf, I had a good time.”
Norma smiled, toying with the small bit of her cardigan that was peeking out underneath her coat. “Of course, and I mean thank you, this is… so nice.” They shared another brief glance, before Alex turned and made his way back down the stairs towards his room.
Norma was dutifully checking out guests the next morning when Alex came in the office for coffee, the scarf wrapped snugly around his neck, surprised to see that Norma was wearing the cardigan he gave to her. There wasn’t time for any conversation, but their eyes met, gleaming happily at one another. And for once, Norma didn’t have to worry about what today would bring; the day after Christmas brought her no such dread anymore.