AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I came in, I saw I had a missed call from Willis. I put the tea kettle on then listened to his message.
“Hey, Noe. Sorry I haven’t called. Just been really crazy around here. Listen, we need to talk about Christmas. If I’m going there or if you want to come up to the city. Think about it. Let me know what you want to do. Yeah. Glad you had a great vacation. Call me back.”
Great vacation?I had left him several messages and I don’t think I referred to my vacation as “great” in any of them. He sounded hurried and preoccupied.
I had no idea what I wanted to do for Christmas. I hadn’t thought that far in advance, but the holiday was less than two weeks away. If he came to Connecticut, I needed to get a tree and decorate. Our family decorations were stored in the attic. It wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to bring them down. I could keep it simple - dig out just what I needed to trim a small tree and it would be cute to put the stockings we used as kids over the fireplace.
By the time, I finished drinking my tea, I decided decorating for Christmas was exactly the distraction I needed to keep my thoughts away from Dante. Despite an ocean between us, Willis and I always spent Christmas together. He usually flew to England, but there was one year when his present to me was tickets to spend the holiday with him in New York. We did it all: the Rockefeller Center tree lighting, ice skating, and watching the Nutcracker Suite performed by the New York City Ballet. A homey Christmas wouldn’t be the same, but it was what I needed. I’m sure Willis would understand if I decided to stay home. Traveling again didn’t appeal to me at all.
Hours later, my mission was a success. I dug through mounds of boxes covered in years of dust. I found enough decorations to cover a small tree then realized it was a pointless exercise. When my parents were alive, we always got a real tree. Willis and I upheld the tradition when it was just the two of us.
“Well, I guess that’s another welcome distraction. I need to go get a tree,” I said to no one. “Which I cannot do since I don’t have a car.”
My newfound holiday spirit crashed and burned. “I can do this,” I muttered. “I’ll just borrow Lilly’s car, or call Gabriel. They’ll help me get a tree.”
Lilly and I hadn’t connected since she came home the night of our forgotten breakfast. She had apologized profusely and said she’d make it up to me even though she offered no explanation for why she had missed breakfast.
But her phone rang and rang then went to voicemail. Something was up with her. I had enough on my mind but worrying about Lilly wasn’t going to be one of them. I could at least confront her.
I knocked on the Calegari front door and Jacko answered.
“Hey, Noemi. How are you?” he asked as he stepped aside.
“I’m fine. Thanks. You?”
“Sure. Great. Hey, since we have a second alone. I wanted to apologize to you for the way I acted at the party that night. You know, it was the alcohol and well, I just thought you were a pretty girl, you know? I didn’t mean any harm.”
His quick apology went straight to my heart. “It’s okay really. No harm done.”
“Well,” he looked bashful and awkward as he asked, “maybe I can make it up to you sometime?”
It should have been a fun, flirty moment, but Dante’s words came back to me.You’re not a good flirt.
“Sure, I’d like that.” Would I? Not really. I was just being polite, but his face lit up with a smile.
“Would you? Hey, that’d be great. Maybe we could—”
“Jacko, don’t you have something you need to do?” Gabriel interrupted us as he walked into the entryway.
“Yes. I was on my way out when I found Noemi at the door.” Immediately, he turned and started to leave, tugging his winter hat over his head. “We’ll talk about it when I see you again, I guess. Bye.”
“Bye,” I answered as he hurried to leave. I turned to Gabriel. “Bossman angry?”
He laughed good naturedly but I could tell he was irritated with Jacko. “Bossman has work that needs to be done and Jacko is already late. So, what’s up Noemi?”
“I was looking for Lilly. She didn’t answer her cell.”
“Yeah.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what’s up with her. She was up and out of here by eight this morning. Said she had something she needed to do.”
“Really?” Maybe she was working on her boutique idea and still hadn’t shared it with her brothers.
“Did you need something? I have no idea when she’ll be back.”
I smiled my best surrogate sister smile. “As a matter of fact, I do. Christmas is coming and I need a tree, but I have no car, sooo...”
Gabriel stroked his goateed jaw and nodded. “A Christmas tree, hmm? That can be arranged. Give me an hour or so and I’ll take you to get a tree.”
“Then I’ll be back in an hour.”
“No, I’ll come get you when I’m done. This thing I have to do may take a little longer, but the tree lots are open late. Maybe we’ll get a bite to eat afterward.”
For the first time in days, I felt like smiling.
