I crisscross my legs on the brown floral sofa and squint across the room, hoping to hide the melancholy growing inside.Failure.
“No lectures, no arguing. I haven’t left yet.You’renot crying.”
“Hey!” I whip around to glare at her. “I don’t cryeverytime…”
“Yeah, but you want to.” She bumps my shoulder and grins as she unwraps her last gift. I like the sisterly teasing we have now. All we did was fight growing up. I was sure she hated me, and was so hurt when she left, I didn’t reach out for years. It was only when we both ended up in LA that we reconnected, and I finally found out I wasn’t the reason she left Fort Bender.
“Okay, parentals,” Willa calls across the room. “What’s going on? We haven’t had a single lecture, and we leave for LA tomorrow.”
“I’m sure I could figure out a lecture if you really want one,Wilhelmina.” Mom peers over her glasses.
Willa throws a hand to her chest, gasping dramatically. “Not my government name! That was uncalled for.”
Mom tries to hide her amusement with a roll of her eyes, but it’s clear as day she’s enjoying this back and forth by the smile twitching at the corners of her mouth.
“We figured it would be better to have a nice holiday than to pick at you,” Dad says, dousing Mom’s attitude as it hangs in the air. The lamp beside him gives a lustrous shine to his bald head, spotlighting his dark brown skin.
“You two are grown and can make your own decisions.” Mom’s carefully measured words don’t match the pinched restraint on her face.
“If you want to share parts of your life with us, great. But we don’t want you to feel pressured, and we don’t want you to stay away for another ten years,” Dad adds.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Robert and Jackeline Willis?” Willa teasingly cocks her head to the side. “Ash, I think there’s something in the water. Do you feel okay?” She smacks my forehead with the back of her hand, pretending to check my temperature.
“Ha. Ha.” Mom crosses her arms. “We’re serious. We’re turning a new leaf. As long as you’re happy and healthy, then we’re happy. You know you can always come to us for advice.”
I look between my parents, then turn wide-eyed to Willa. “I think it’s body snatchers. Willa, I’m scared!” Covering my mouth in mock horror, I curl into her. Mom rolls her eyes, and Willa’s shoulder shakes against mine while we laugh.
“You two are so silly,” Mom says, failing to keep her giggles from escaping.
Dad smiles at the three of us for a while. “I’m glad you two made it home. I’ve missed this.”
“We’ll see how long it lasts,” Willa murmurs, giving me a look that conveys her skepticism.
My phone buzzes near my feet, and I dig through the shredded wrapping paper, tossing aside shiny ribbon fragments until I find it. Hunter still hasn’t answered my texts from this morning. His phone hardly ever leaves his hands, so with each new message I receive that isn’t from him, I get more and more anxious. He always answers me. Always.
I can’t even attribute this to what happened at the lodge, considering we’ve been fine since getting back to LA. The plane ride after Thanksgiving was quiet and awkward, with Hunter and me trying not to brush against one another. But by the time our Wednesday lunch rolled around, everything was back to normal. He may have kept a wider distance between us when walking to the restaurant, but our easy, joking banter was back with a vengeance. This delayed response from him is freaking me out.
My phone buzzes again, and my fingers finally grip the rubberized case. I expect some snarky sentence fragment from Hunter, but it’s not him. The disappointment that washes over me comes as a surprise.
Trevor
Merry Christmas!
Can’t wait to see you next week, pretty lady
Me
Merry Christmas. How’s the corn?
Trevor
It’s too EAR-ly to tell *wink*
Me
LMAO! That was so bad, Trev.
Trevor
