“We don’t have any national chain restaurants or grocery stores in Creekstone. You’d have to drive to the next town for that.” I saw the realization cross his face.
“Oh, wow. So, everyone just shuts down till January second? That’s some real small-town shit.”
“Pretty much.” I smiled and tried not to be defensive. “It’s one of the great things about living in Creekstone. Slow pace of life, but if you aren’t prepared for it…”
“Huh,” William sighed. “I had a lot of work I needed to get done, but I guess it’s going to have to wait till next week.”
I was curious about William’s work. Even though I was against it in principle, I was also a realist and knew that even if we didn’t sell our land to Braithway & Randall, other townspeople would. I wondered what William’s company intended to do with the land. But I decided against asking about it. I had lost that bet, so I had to try and not to be mean about William’s relocation and work in Creekstone. Even though I usually had no problem keeping my cool, something about this topic triggered me. Every time it was brought up, I ended upbiting William’s head off. It’s like when I was with William, I just lost my filter.
I wanted to be nice, though, and Creekstone was completely shut down until after the new year, so I said, “Tomorrow morning I’m going to go for a run by the river if you want to go with me. You know, get out of the house a little.”
William’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, that would be great.”
I smiled and tried to play it cool. “Awesome. Hopefully you can keep up.”
We had just started the movie again when my phone rang. I saw Aunt Rita’s face pop up on my screen. I had already sent the requisite Merry Christmas text message to her, so I knew she was calling because she must have talked to my dad. If I told Aunt Rita I hadn’t gone to D.C. and that I was back in Creekstone, she would change her travel plans to be home with me for Christmas. I didn’t want that. I watched the phone ring in my hand, and I let the call go to voicemail. Almost immediately after that I received a text from Veronica.Are you home alone? I can come up there.
Aunt Rita called back immediately. I was looking at my phone trying to decide if I wanted to answer it or not when William said, “MountainMan2000 must really want to talk to you.”
I let a laugh out. “No, it’s Aunt Rita. She must have just figured out I am home alone on Christmas.”
“I’m offended!” William said, pressing his fingertips against his chest in an exaggerated gesture of shock. His sly smile spread across his face. “Just answer it. You’re not alone.” William casually popped a few of the leftover chocolate-covered pecans into his mouth.
William was right. I slid my finger across my phone to answer it. Aunt Rita’s face appeared immediately. She lookedtan...and pissed. “Kit, why didn’t you tell me your dad’s flight got canceled? I could have come home.”
“I’m not alone,” I said into the phone. “I am…”
Before I could answer, Veronica started calling me. I sighed. “Aunt Rita, hold on. Veronica is calling me too. Let me merge the call.”
I tapped the circle that allowed Veronica to join our video call. Veronica’s face popped into the screen, and she started in as if she knew what we were talking about already, “Kit! You should have told me that you were going to be alone for the holidays. You had to drive right past my house in Atlanta when you left the airport and drove home to Creekstone. Why didn’t you just stop and stay with us?”
Aunt Rita and Veronica broke out into a clamor of agreeing with each other and scolding me. I let it go on for a minute or so. My eyes flicked up from my phone to William, who was sitting on the other end of the sofa. He had leaned back and crossed his legs comfortably so that one ankle was resting atop his knee. He had one arm sprawled along the back cushions of the sofa. He had clicked off of the movie to a football game he was watching on mute, completely unbothered. Perhaps he was even enjoying hearing me get scolded.
“I’m not alone.” This brought the scolding to a screeching halt.
“What?” Aunt Rita said.
“Yeah, I’m watching Christmas movies with William,” I said nonchalantly, as if this should have been an expected response.
“Who?” they said in unison, like a pair of shocked owls.
I tapped the button that allowed me to flip to the front facing camera. William was in their full view.
“William? But you ha…” Veronica cut herself off when she saw William appear on her screen.
“Oh, yes. Of course. Hello, William,” Aunt Rita cut in with her usual sing-songy voice. “Merry Christmas!”
William looked over at me holding the phone up. He waved. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” the two hooted in unison.
I flipped the camera to be back on my face. Veronica looked shocked and mouthed,He’s hot.
Aunt Rita said, “Well, I left some food in the freezer. Please help yourselves!”
“Thanks, Aunt Rita,” I said, “How’s the weather down there?”
“Oh, just lovely, dear.” Aunt Rita said. “Harold is like a fish, just out there snorkeling away.”
