Nick tensed. This was it. Time for the truth, for better or for worse.
“You guys.” Olivia’s complexion blanched a shade paler. “Mom’s sick.”
I needed elf ears. I dug through the overflowing box of Christmas décor stashed in the media room’s walk-in closet and blew a strand of hair out of my eyes as I peered at my sister. “Find them yet?”
If Mom had kept her props after that brief volunteer stint as an elf at the senior citizens’ home a few years ago, the ears would be in there. And they’d make the perfect addition to Operation: Naughty List.
“Man, this is a weird Christmas.” Olivia, sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor next to me, tugged a string of lights from a second tub and set it aside.
“How is that an answer?” I pawed beneath a pile of fake greenery, making a mental note to use some later to adorn Nick’s sofa bed. Chloe’s unexpected arrival with her even more unexpected boyfriend only further highlighted my single status.
And if that was getting elevated, so was Operation: Naughty List.
Olivia shifted to a squat. “It’s an answer because you’re all eager beaver about the holidays for the first time since…oh, Idon’t know…ever. And because IknowI’m right about Mom. I can sense it.”
My sister could also “sense” when her kids had a fever and was usually paranoid and wrong about that too. But I needed allies, not enemies. I moved a pile of mistletoe out of the way. “Look, you heard what Kat said. Let’s not panic until we talk to Ryan.”
I kept rummaging through the boxes. I agreed with Olivia that something was up, but I also agreed with Kat that it was too soon to assume anything dire. Besides, I didn’t have time to worry about hypothetical problems when I had so manyactualproblems.
One Christmas crisis at a time.
“So, what’s with the sudden transition?” Olivia squinted at me with her all-knowing, big-sister eyes. “Did you overhear a bunch of Whos singing?”
Ha. “More like I overheard Hans Gruber scheming against me.”
“Wait.” Olivia dropped the stocking in her hand. “Don’t tell meyou,of all people, thinkDie Hardis a Christmas movie?” Her mouth gaped.
I shrugged. “I don’t think aboutDie Hardat all, honestly.” Though I’d never admit that to my brother. I think that was the first question he’d asked Lydia when they met through a dating app.
Although, wait. I was mad at Ryan. I could insultDie Hardall I wanted.
“Who was scheming against you?”
Oops. Olivia couldn’t know, or she’d go into mom mode and tell everyone the truth. “Never mind. It’s not important.”
“Whatever.” Olivia handed me another string of lights. “Let’s just take all this stuff to the living room so we can start on the tree for Mom. I’m sure the elf ears will turn up.”
“Got ’em.” I pulled the ears free from a tangle of garland and grinned as I slipped them on. I held my hands under my chin in a modeling pose. “How do I look?”
“Weird. Like everything else around here.” Olivia stood with a groan and a pop of her knee. “At least Mom wants to decorate now.”
“Wants?” I attempted to stand without similar knee-creaking—thirty wasn’t hereyet.“More like commanded. She sure made a one-eighty, huh?”
Olivia sighed. “Exactly my point.Weird.”
“I think you’re reading too much into everything.” After Olivia’s dramatic announcement, Mom had come out of the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee and sweetly insisted that since everyone was finally home and settled, we could start decorating—much to my siblings’ relief.
Not so much to Nick’s. I’d watched his face wax a bit pale, but that could have been from Olivia’s assumption of Mom’s health. Which had to be inaccurate. I mean, if Mom was sick, she’d have told us, right? Not just gathered us all home to hang wreaths.
“Reading too much into it?” Olivia planted her hands on her hips. “She said she was waiting for Chloe and didn’t even know Chloe was coming home. She’s confused.”
“She’sfine.” I grabbed the string lights and draped them over my arm. “It’s just a big task, putting up all of these trees.” One in almost every room of the house my entire childhood—thankfully all fake, except for the grand tree that held court in the living room by the picture window. That one required a trip to the back acreage of the farm, which worked perfectly for Operation: Naughty List. “I don’t blame her for waiting till she had help.”
“My point is that she’s never needed help before. It was always done before we arrived.” Olivia hoisted the tub ofornaments onto her hip. “Not to mention all the holiday stuff is in the closet now, and it used to be in the attic. Face it. Mom and Dad are getting older.”
“Okay, Sherlock. I see what you’re saying. But older doesn’t equate to ill. Besides, none of this would hold up in court. It’s circumstantial. Or coincidental, at the least.”
Olivia sniffed, unconvinced. “I don’t believe in coincidences.”
