Four

Walking back in the house, I slithered up the stairs, trying not to make a sound, sucked in my pride, and opened the door to my mother’s room. The shades had been drawn, making it difficult to see. But I knew she was there, lying down. She always needed to rest when emotions ran high. I was still hurt. This particular wound hadn’t even begun to scab up yet; I was a mass of exposed flesh and raw nerves. But like Erik said, I was going to be the better person.

“I’m sorry.” I knew I needed to be more specific. I couldn’t set a precedent where she actually thought she was right. “For cursing at you.”

“I’m trying to sleep, Brittany. How can I sleep with you talking to me?” she mumbled coldly into her pillow. She sounded irritated, but too tired to really fight back. If she was fully alert, she would have lashed out and really slung insults in my direction. Looking over at her nightstand, I saw the half-drunk glass of water and little orange bottle of prescription pills.

“Okay, I’ll take that as apology unaccepted.” I walked out and closed the door behind me as quietly as I could, sealing her up in her tomb, then dragged my feet down the hall to my room.

When I entered, I almost screamed. My dad was sitting on my bed, holding the black teddy bear I had brought home from school.

“This is new. Is it from Erik?” he asked in an attempt to make normal conversation. I knew he wouldn’t address the fact that mom had just placed herself in a chemical straight jacket for the rest of the evening. Why would we?

“No.” I sat next to him and took the bear out of his hands. Any night not spent with Erik, I spent with Grimm, my teddy bear. He was very understanding about my codependency. “Kristen gave it to me.”

“Kristen, your Big?”

Huh, he remembered she was my Big Sister in our sorority. I was impressed. “Yeah.”

“How are things at school?”

“Semester’s over.”

“I know. But how were things when you went back after Thanksgiving?”

“You mean Jaime?”

He took Grimm out of my hands and placed him back against my pillows and folded his arms. “I mean everything.”

I scratched my head. “Uhh, fine, I guess. Finals were not too bad. I expect to do well in all of my classes. Grades should be posted online before Christmas. As for Jaime… he’s coping the best he can. Not much else he can do.” Thanks to Mr. Lyons, broken ribs and stitches would forever be what I thought of when people spoke about Thanksgiving. “He didn’t ask for an asshole father, so you just make do.”

I didn’t intend for that to come across as an indirect dig at my dad, but it must have. “I have no intention of having you spend Christmas alone, Brit,” my dad said, looking at me as though I would be a fool to think he would ever run off with my mother and abandon me. He gave my leg a reassuring pat. “I think I have a solution to our problem. You just need to get your passport expedited first thing Monday morning and catch the next available flight to Paris once it arrives. You’ll miss a few days, but in the end, we’ll be together. I have faith that you’ll arrive by Christmas. You may have to switch planes and catch a connecting flight, but we can all return home together. I didn’t cancel your flights yet.”

Fly alone? To Europe? On possibly two planes? Was he crazy? Less than a year ago, they wouldn’t even let me take the train by myself to New York City, but they expected me to travel to a country where no one spoke English, solo? I started to think that mom was sharing her medicinal stash with dad. This was too bizarre. They knew how nervous I was when they dropped me off at college over the summer. I needed to practice the route to my classes just to make sure I wouldn’t crash and burn on the first official day. No, I’m not a board-a-plane-and-grab-life-by-the-horns kinda girl. I’m more the draw-the-shades-and-pretend-no one-is-home type. It was time to squash this killer mosquito before it bit anyone.

I rattled off the first thing that popped into my head. “No… I spoke to Kristen. She lives in Boston, she said I could spend the holidays with her. I’ll go up this week and stay until New Year’s.” Holy shit, I lied. I lied to my dad.

“Really? You’d rather stay at your friend’s than meet us in Europe?” He looked at me skeptically.

“Like mom said, the prices for flights go up every hour, and to be honest, I’m way too nervous to fly out of the country alone. Knowing my luck, I’ll make the wrong connection and end up in a prison cell in Bangkok or something.”

“I feel awful honey. I really do.” His mouth twitched. “I’ll just cancel the trip. It’s not worth us being ripped apart over.”

I took a breath and held my head high. “Don’t. If you cancel, mom will never get over it. She’ll blame me for every possible disaster in her life from now until I’m forty.”

“She’ll get over it.”

“No, she won’t.” And I knew, deep down, she really wouldn’t. If she lost Paris, she’d mentally disown me for good. Any hope we had of ever bonding would be destroyed. My dad looked shattered. Canceling meant my mother’s wrath. Going meant abandoning me. I tried to make the decision easier on him. “Hey.” I nudged his arm so he’d look at me and see I was all right. “When was the last time you and mom took a trip together, just the two of you? It’s probably been twenty years. Maybe the French air will be good for her.”

He smiled. My mother used to work in the fashion industry. A trip to Paris would bring back all the times she had gone to big events or dined in fine restaurants. It would probably feel like going home to her. The mother ship was calling, and Audrey needed to go to it. “She is very excited,” he conceded.

“I can tell…” All right, I might have sounded a bit snarky with that one.

“She just has a lot on her mind. Don’t be so harsh.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” I pulled out my phone. “See? She texted me an excessive amount of exclamation marks yesterday.”

He smiled. “You know, there’s a rumor I’ll have a business trip in London this summer. Perhaps you could get your passport by then?”

“Really?” Land of Diagon Alley… my heart skipped a beat.

“Looks that way.”

I gave him a hug and squeezed tight. He hugged me back and got up. “I’ll order pizza for dinner, there’s no food in this house.”

Before he could reach my doorknob, I stopped him. “Hey dad?”

“What?”

“If we go to London, do we have to bring mom?”

He cocked his head to the side and tried to give me a stern expression, but instead he smiled, shook his head and walked out. Hmmm. He didn’t exactly dismiss the idea.

Mom didn’t seem fazed by the concept of me spending my vacation at Kristen’s house. I thought for sure she’d sniff out my lie.

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to the mall. You can buy gifts for her parents. You can’t show up empty-handed.”

I actually felt relieved. My mother was a lot better at shopping than I was. Perhaps this was her way of accepting my apology. I took her peace offerings anyway I could get them. After dinner, I cleared the table and did the dishes. My parents went off to watch television, but I slipped away to call Erik.

“We’re good,” I said, feeling excited for the first time.

“You told them?” He sounded skeptical, but clearly excited.

“Yeah,” I lied, trying to tell myself that it was a little white lie and what my parents and Erik didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them.

“How did it go?”

“They really couldn’t protest considering they’ll be three thousand miles away.”

He ignored my snark, too lost to the bliss of his plan unfolding. “I can’t believe I’m going to spend Christmas with you.”

“Neither can I. So what time should I be there Friday?”

“Friday? No… you’re coming Tuesday.”

“Tuesday! Why?”

“Isn’t that when your parents leave?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I don’t see why we need to waste another second.” He was so logical at times.

“Excellent point. But I don’t really think your parents want a house guest for that long.”

“Oh, you think that was a suggestion? It’s already settled. My folks are fine with it, they raised three kids under one roof. What’s one more? Besides, both my sisters will be here so you can satiate your sorority rituals. I know you and Kristen brew potions and shit when I’m not around.”

“Haha… you’re so funny.”

“When do they come back?”

“Uhhh… my mom told me at dinner.” I tried to remember. “Oh yeah! January second. She didn’t want to fly on New Year’s Day. She said the terminal would be flooded with tourists, I think she forgets she is a tourist.” Even though he couldn’t see, I rolled my eyes.

“Shit! That’s a long time. They’ll get to really enjoy the city.”

“I know. But I think most of next week my dad will be with clients, that’s why they took the extra time.”

“Weird time to plan a business trip.”

“I guess they just wanted all the T’s crossed before the New Year began.”

“That makes sense. Huh. Well, this is really falling into place. I’m thrilled.”

Thrilled. Something about the way he said that one word caught my attention. It could only mean one thing. He was plotting. “Why do I think you have something up your sleeve?”

“Because I usually have something up my sleeve.” Erik laughed, and I realized for the first time I would have someone to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve.