My shoulders tightened as the familiar iciness settled first over my heart and then down my spine. I stiffened accordingly. "Let's just say, I'm not a fan of Christmas."
"But why not?"
She was shivering now – no surprise, considering she wore no coat. Sure, she had the sweater, but her legs were bare, and the temperature was well below freezing.
As I considered my reply, I felt the icy air ease past me into the house.I didn't care.
I welcomed the cold.
Lexie made a sound of annoyance. "Just tell me."
Sure, why not?"Alright. You wanna know what I what usually get for Christmas?"
"What?"
"Bad news."
She gave me a puzzled look. "What kind of bad news?"
If this were funny, I might've laughed. "Well, lemme see. On my tenth Christmas, I got the news that my parents were splitting up. Andthenon my twelfth Christmas, I learned that my dad was getting sent to prison for bank fraud..."
A soft breath escaped her lips. "What?"
But I wasn't done, not by a longshot. "When I was sixteen, I got T-Boned on Christmas Eve."
Her eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Were you okay?"
"I amnow."
She glanced down and gave my body a quick once-over. "Well, obviously." She looked up to meet my eyes. "But how bad were you hurt?"
After the crash, I'd spent six weeks in the hospital. And because my mom hadn't had health insurance, this meant that by thenextChristmas, she'd had no money for rent. Of course, she'd had plenty of money to hit the town with the newest love of her life even as I was ripping the eviction notice off our front door on Christmas Eve.
On the upside, I'd found the notice quick enough to hide it from my younger sister. No need to ruinherChristmas, too, right? And besides, it was over soon enough.
By New Year's Day, my sister and I were living with my grandparents, and my mom was off doing her own thing. After that, things improved for everyone – me in particular because I knew what to expect when the holidays rolled around.
Bad news.
Bad luck.
And a bad attitude on my part.
Until Lexie.
Nowthatwas funny. But I still wasn't laughing.
Lexie took a small step forward. "Just tell me. How badwasit?"
Three days in a coma and two weeks in traction?With a shrug, I replied, "It could've been worse. And like I said, I'm fine."
"Well…that's good." She bit her lip. "But the way you talk about Christmas, it's like you're cursed or something."
"I don't believe in curses."
"But you obviously do," she said. "Or you wouldn't have brought this up."
"You don't need to be cursed to recognize patterns."
