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“Did you get any sleep?”
“A little. It was noisy.”
Samantha managed a brief smile. “Hospitals.”
“Yes, not much fun.”
The awkwardness was back.
They talked about superficial things—the weather, the traffic in Manhattan, whether there was too much construction—and just when Samantha was starting to think their mother had forgotten all about her idea of spending Christmas together, she raised the subject.
“Did you think about what I said? About Christmas? A family gathering?”
Ella sent Samantha a desperate look and she knew this was up to her. Ella would never stand up to their mother. If they didn’t want Gayle ruining Christmas, Samantha had to handle this once and for all.
“A family gathering sounds—” Awful? Like the worst possible way to spend a day? Also, supremely awkward given than Ella had more “family” than she’d admitted to. “It sounds interesting. We can’t do actual Christmas, so we thought dinner in the city would be fun. I’ll book somewhere special and we’ll get together the week before. Just the three of us.”
“Well, of course the three of us. Who else would there be?” Gayle looked confused. “A restaurant isn’t what I had in mind. It will be crowded. Noisy. And you can’t come up from Boston just for an evening. I thought we could spend some quiet time together, catching up. I’m looking forward to staying with you. I can’t wait to see where you’re living.”
Catching up on what? What they’d all been doing in the five years since they’d fallen out?
“Let’s have dinner as our Christmas celebration, and then perhaps we can spend a couple of nights together early in the New Year. Maybe we could go away somewhere.”
That suggestion didn’t satisfy Gayle, either. “Why can’t we spend a couple of nights at Christmas? That’s what most families do.”
Samantha opened her mouth to say we’re not most families, and then closed it again.
“We can’t do that.”
Unfortunately Gayle saw the word no as motivation to try a different approach, and try harder.
“Why not?”
Samantha wanted to scream. It wasn’t an unusual emotion to have in the company of her mother, but still a hospital wasn’t the best place to vent her emotions.
Desperate, she said the first thing that came to mind. “Because we won’t be here.”
“You’re going away?”
“Yes. I have to work.” It was the one thing her mother was likely to understand.
“Work?”
“That’s my job. My company arranges winter experiences around the holiday season.”
It was Gayle’s turn to be wide-eyed. “People want that?” The way she said it confirmed to Samantha that her mother’s views on the holiday season hadn’t changed, and that there was no way they were going to be spending it together.
“Yes, they want that. The holiday season is important to some people.”
“They pay you to arrange it?”
“They pay a fortune.” Finally Ella joined in. “And Samantha is so good at what she does. You want sparkling snow, sleigh rides and Santa, she’s your woman.”
“Sleigh rides? Santa?” It was obvious from Gayle’s expression that not only would she not be calling on her daughter’s services anytime soon, but she was struggling to understand the mentality and motivation of the people who availed themselves of Samantha’s talents.
She turned to Ella. “What about you? You’ve always been a lover of the holiday season. The two of us could spend it together.”
Samantha felt Ella’s horror.
