Font Size:  

His fitness fanatic sister, right. The one who would be home next week herself for the holidays. Her law firm in New York always shut down for a month in December, and she and her husband, Malcolm, were heading to Blue Moon Bay for an “early” Christmas with their parents before continuing on to spend “actual” Christmas with Mitch’s parents at their winery in Napa.

His sister couldn’t get here fast enough. With ten years between them, they weren’t super close. By the time she was a fun age to do things with, he’d graduated and moved out of the small town, but her energetic spirit and fiery personality was quite possibly the only thing that could pull him from this slump. He always admired her determination and success and wished they could be closer despite the distance he put between them with his career. Unfortunately, he always felt like she was annoyed with him, being the firstborn and not so secretly their parents’ favorite child.

“Here we are. The Seaview Room,” Sarah said, stopping in front of it. She handed him the room key, a digital swipe card that was definitely an upgrade from the traditional turn-key lock that used to be there. “It’s one of the bigger suites.”

He opened the door and scanned the accommodations that would be his home for the next three weeks. Seafoam-green decor with a king-sized bed in the center of the room. Surfboard decorations on the wall and an old black-and-white photo of a local surf star from the fifties.

Fresh paint but still the same old feel.

“This is great, thank you,” he told Sarah.

She nodded. “Enjoy your stay. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Hey, Sarah,” he said as she headed down the stairs.

She turned back to face him.

“Is the inn going to be busy this month?” He wasn’t sure which answer he wanted. Being surrounded by lots of people and noise might help drown out his own depressing, anxiety-filled thoughts, but he wasn’t sure repressing his feelings instead of taking time to process them and deal with them was the best solution.

“We decided to reserve December for locals, host some fun events, and offer the guest rooms to people coming home to spend the holidays with their families. Lia and Malcolm will be here as well, and there are two other families arriving next week. Other than that, it should be fairly quiet,” she said.

“Great…thank you,” he said, closing and locking the door behind her. He set his bags down on the floor, unpacked his toiletries, and undressed down to his underwear. In the bathroom, he brushed his teeth quickly and splashed warm water on his face.

He plugged in his cell phone but turned off the volume and then approached the big double balcony doors leading out onto the deck.

Black-out blinds. Thank God. He hit the button on the wall and within seconds he was enveloped in complete darkness.

Mitch crawled in between the soft, down-filled sheets, so exhausted that he thought he might sleep his entire holiday away.


He’d slept for sixteen hours. He would have slept longer if his cell phone hadn’t woken him. It had somehow vibrated its way to the edge of the nightstand and crashed onto the floor. Obviously, he’d missed some calls.

His body felt stiff as he rolled over in bed and fumbled to find his phone in the dark. When he did, the display screen nearly blinded him and he squinted to read without his glasses.

His mother. Right. She knew he’d arrived the day before and no doubt had expected to see him right away. She never quite understood his need to process, to have time to unwind a little before seeing his family after his missions overseas.

It was for their benefit, too.

They did not want to see post-mission Mitch. Especially not this time. He still wasn’t feeling his best, but he felt okay enough to answer the phone, at least.

“Hey, Mom,” he said as upbeat as possible, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling, his eyes still adjusting to the dark.

“Darling! You’re home!”

The high-pitched excitement hurt his brain and he winced, pulling the phone away from his ear a little. Maybe he should have let the call go to voicemail, but he’d have to answer eventually or she’d show up at the inn. The unmistakable sound of Kenny and Dolly’sOnce Upon a Christmasplayed behind her. Her favorite holiday CD. She always started listening to holiday music in October, with zero guilt about skipping the holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. She said the world could always use more joy.

Mitch didn’t disagree, but unfortunately country music’s famous duo couldn’t offer nearly enough joy needed to erase the world’s problems. But it made his Christmas-loving mom happy.

“Yeah,” he said, “got in yesterday, just sleeping off the jetlag.”

“Don’t you love the new inn?”

Sure. He loved the black-out blinds and the fact that the owner hadn’t woken him for breakfast or housekeeping. “It’s different, but yeah, it’s great.”

“It was so nice of Sarah to open it up to locals coming home for the holidays this year.”

“Yes, it was.” She was procrastinating with the small talk. Mitch could hear the looming question on her mind. When would she see him?

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like