Page 50 of It Happened Duo
CHELSEA
“I’m stuffed.I’ll need to switch to sweatpants if you keep feeding us this way, Mom.” Maisy unbuttoned the top button of her jeans after the Christmas Eve meal.
“If you ask me, you were too skinny to begin with.” Mom patted her cheek as she collected empty plates from the table.
“Come on. We’ll turn on the radio and dance in the kitchen to burn calories while helping Mom clean up.” I practically dragged her with me.
“I’ll come help, too,” Aunt Louisa said.
“I’ll stay here and keep watch on Uncle Doug,” Colt chortled, knowing he got the easy job. He grabbed a card deck out of the sideboard. “How about a game of Gin Rummy, Uncle?”
“You know me. I never turn down a game of cards.”
In the kitchen, there we were, four fine women dancing away to golden oldies from the fifties, washing,scrubbing, rinsing, drying, and the chore was done before we knew it.
“Just in time. We have the Holly Creek community caroling tonight,” Mom reminded us. “I’ll put the kettle on and make thermoses of hot cocoa. You girls dig out all the mittens, hats, scarves, boots, and jackets. The storm that passed through here yesterday covered the ground, and even though the snow plows cleared the streets, it’ll be slick. Grab the flashlights, too.”
“We know.” Maisy and I replied in unison. The holiday experience in Holly Creek hadn’t changed as long as I could remember. Christmas Eve always involved the town caroling. We’d walk the Main Street and route through some of the side streets singing traditional Christmas music, ending up at the community center for pies baked by Mom and Flora’s Diner. It was BYOC—Bring Your Own Cocoa.
I couldn’t wait. I joined Maisy in digging through the closet by the front door, only to find her sitting on the floor trying to match mittens with her phone in her hands.
“Texting Brooks?” I worked faster at matching things up.
“Yes. He’s so sweet. Look at the photo he sent. He opened my gift early and is wearing the scarf I knitted him.”
She showed the photo of him with a broad grin, proudly wearing the scarf of variegated blue colors. Maisy was determined to get the hang of knitting, and that one was her third attempt, much better than the first two.
“He’s so dang cute.” Her smile right now… I knew that look, the look of infatuation or lust or love, when justthinking about the special man in your life can put the glow of longing into your eyes and smile. Sometimes I recognized that look in myself when good memories of Rex came back to me… but then remembered that night at the rooftop and the glow faded.
“You really like him, don’t you?” I asked.
Her cheeks pinked, and she put the phone away, sighing and reaching for the scarves next. “Yeah. But I made the decision to apply for the Scientific Fleet of Oceanic Enterprises. If I get accepted to the research team, I’ll spend all summer and fall traveling and working, only back in time for Christmas next year. Brooks has been hinting lately about taking a vacation together after I graduate and making all kinds of plans for us after that. I don’t know how to tell him I might not be here.”
I covered her hand with mine. I used to think she should focus on work and forget about distractions from men, but now? All I just wanted for her was to live life and be happy. “Take it slow and easy, Maisy. I have a feeling Brooks really likes you, too, and will stick around for a while. Maybe he’d wait for you and pick up where you left off when you return?”
A knock on the door above our heads scared the heck out of us. “Who the heck could that be on Christmas Eve?” I exclaimed.
The knocking turned to pounding. “Chelsea? Chelsea? Please be in there.”
That sounded like Rex. Couldn’t be. “Hurry, Maisy.” We shoved all the winter clothes and boots back into thecloset and scrambled up. My breath caught at the sight of Rex’s face in the door’s window.
I flung the door open, focused on his face, like I forgot what he looked like. “Rex? What are you doing here? You can’t just show up and crash another family’s Christmas Eve.”
“Why not? What if you’re the woman for me and this is the family I should have been with all along?”
My heart jumped. “Don’t do that. Play all the What Ifs.”
“Okay, fine. Then how about this story? I’m a dumbass and there’s a woman I’ve never been able to forget. So in an effort to spend what remains of the holidays with her, I drove to a small town, only to hit a snowstorm, crash my car, freeze for hours, finally walk across ice and snow until a truck driver picked me up. Then, was dropped in Holly Creek where everything was closed and I had to find people to tell me where she lives. Does that suit your sensibility better?” He coughed into his sleeve.
“You really did all that?”
“What does it look like? Yes, Chelsea. I crashed a Mercedes SL. Ruined a damn good pair of leather shoes, and this tuxedo is beyond repair now and definitely not enough to keep the chill off. I don’t even have my b-bag to change clothes because the car went over a little c-c-cliff.” He coughed more, almost hoarse by the end of his tirade.
“Chelsea, let the man inside. It’s cold out there,” Mom admonished, coming up behind me to see what was the commotion.
I snapped out of it and pulled him in. Maisy shut thedoor behind him. Rex coughed more, but from his intense body heat radiating to me, I knew instantly something was wrong. I put the back of my hand to his forehead.
“Oh no. You have a fever. Mom!” I cried.
