She expected her first Christmas in 2018 to be more…more.But after the disastrous Thanksgiving that disrupted not only the finest meal she had made all year but also broke up what she had growing with Gretchen, Thelma had lost most of her spirit.Besides, I miss my kids…A part of her would always be trapped in 1958, thinking of what dolls to buy her daughter and what trucks to procure for her son.
Because what else did one buy a grown man with cancer?
Robbie had been chuffed to receive a toy car he had always wanted as a kid, but the Thelma of then had put off due to the cost. Well, it was priced much higher now because of its collector’s value, but her friend Charity lived up to her name when she resold it to Thelma at a discount.
Now? Hours after watching her son and granddaughter open presents like it was a 1950s Christmas? Thelma had agreed to get Chinese food for dinner, which was apparently a tradition of theirs going back to Robbie and Becky’s divorce. Without any cooking to do after a breakfast of pancakes, sausages, and freshfruit, Thelma got in her car and made the rounds thanks to the roads being quieter than usual.
First, she stopped by Bill and Mary’s graves to tell them Merry Christmas—and to slightly tell off Mary for making Robbie’s life harder, especially in the wake of discovering Thelma’s affair. Then she drove to Great Oak Acres, which was open to friends and families for lunch, where she hung out with Debbie and gave her a vintage Barbie doll as a present. Thelma had not dressed up that day outside of her hair and makeup, but Debbie was so used to her mother’s visits by now that she was content to curl up on her bed with Thelma and watch an airing ofIt’s a Wonderful Lifewith Jimmy Stewart.Don’t tell her he was her first ever crush…When Debbie was a baby, she used to stare at the TV whenever Jimmy Stewart was on. When she was a little older, Thelma and Sandy took her to seeThe Philadelphia Story,and she wouldn’t stop babbling about it for weeks.
When Debbie drifted off to sleep, Thelma slipped out for a longer drive. It had been a while since she was in far north LA, but near the national forest, there was a nice little cemetery that was perfect for clearing one’s mind with a view of nature.
Exactly the kind of place Sandy would want to be buried.
It wasn’t Thelma’s first time visiting her ex-girlfriend’s grave, but it had been a while, and she waited until Christmas to make the trek since she was already in a somber Christmas mood. At first, Thelma sat in her Impala, listening to Christmas songs on the radio, but eventually got out to bring a small bouquet of daisies inside the cemetery.
She loved daisies.
Sandy was buried beneath a particularly hefty tree on the outer edge of the cemetery. A bench was nearby, allowing Thelma to place her flowers, say a prayer, and sit for a while. Anyone who was inclined to visit a cemetery on Christmas hadalready come and gone. It was only Thelma, a few chattering birds, and the ghosts of the past going about their afterlife.
Yet she didn’t jump when she heard a voice behind her.
“Come here often?”
Thelma slightly turned her head, expecting to have manifested Gretchen’s voice as a figment of her imagination. Except there she was, bundled in a heavy winter jacket, hands in her pockets, and hair slightly shaggy on her head.
“Do you?” Thelma asked her.
Gretchen rounded the bench and sat with her. “I get it. I visit my folks on Christmas.”
Thelma realized that Gretchen was actuallyherewith her—all the way out by the canyon near Sandy’s grave on Christmas.Why? How?After a month of them avoiding each other?
“How did you find me?”
Gretchen gazed out across the cemetery, her eyes squinting against the winter sun and her bangs flying in a breeze that stirred up the moment she attempted to talk. “Robert told me what you had planned on doing today. I went by your house, you know.”
“And I wasn’t there.”
“I was surprised. Seemed like something you would have been into.”
“What? Christmas?” Thelma shrugged. “We have reservations at a Chinese restaurant later. I guess it’s what they’ve always done, and I wasn’t in the mood to cook something fancy for three people.”
“After Thanksgiving?”
“They ruined half my food that I forgot to put away. So rude.”
Gretchen jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Someone’s tailing me. On Christmas.”
Thelma followed Gretchen’s thumb. There, all the way over in the parking lot near the Impala and Gretchen’s trunk, wasa black sedan. If Thelma focused hard enough, she recognized Agent Ortiz behind the wheel.
“Oh, hey!” she called, waving frantically to get the agent’s attention. “Long time no see! Merry Christmas! Hope you’re getting overtime!”
She had no idea if Miriam saw or heard her. That hadn’t been the point.
“You guys go back, huh?”
Thelma might as well tell her. “Miriam was my assigned agent when I first got here. I have this intense memory of my first night here… she wanted to know what kind of takeout to get me, but I was so overwhelmed that I could hardly understand what she was saying. I didn’t know there were so many cuisines out there. Did you know I’ve had Ethiopian food recently? My group went.”
“Your group?”
