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We have a list of errands to run before crawling up the mountain to the vacation house my parents have rented this year. Groceries are less expensive in the city than in the resort towns, and while my parents have done well for themselves and love bringing us all together at the holidays like this, they remember when money was tight, and spend sensibly.
Something I hear about three times while we’re shopping.
It’s dark by the time we arrive, the village and the ski hill glittering in the near distance like diamonds on black velvet, and the house is gorgeous, looming large in front of me like something straight out of a Christmas rom com movie.
If only real life worked like that.
But the hollow feelings are quickly replaced by the door swinging open, and then the whole family is squishing me. The loving nitpicking repeats, this time from my sister and brother, their spouses, and my dad.
“Let Sienna breathe,” Nana finally said. “Nathan, show your sister to her room.”
Where my brother goes, his wife goes, and since they were both going, my sister Carina tags along too, dragging her husband with her, so there’s a small parade of people leading me up the stairs for the grand tour. Nana is sleeping in the only bedroom on the ground floor, they explain, and my parents and the married siblings each took one of the bedrooms on the second floor. But there is a bonus room on the third floor, with its own bathroom…
Which all sounds great until we get up there and I realize it’s a fucking nursery.
“This is a room for a child,” I point out.
The only bed in the entire space is a single twin bed tucked into the eaves. There’s an oversized armchair, and a big play area, but…that bed.
It’s so small and lonely looking.
Nathan and Carina exchange bewildered looks. “So?” they say in unison.
My brother shrugs. “When you said Jake couldn’t come with you…we decided you only needed a single bed, and that’s how this room was listed on the rental site.”
Carina turns me around and points me to the bathroom. “You may feel differently after you see the tub.”
The big clawfoot soaker mollifies me somewhat.
“I’m not a child,” I holler out at them as I immediately begin to fill it, adding a liberal amount of the provided Christmas scented bubble liquid.
“Of course not.” My brother winks at me when I return to shoo them out of my nursery so I can have a bubble bath. “But you are the baby of the family, so it felt fitting.”
“Shut up. And out you all go.”
“That’s not festive language,” Carina chastises.
I give her the finger. When Nana and the parents aren’t around, holiday sweetness rules do not need to apply.
She pauses in the doorway after Nathan and Lauren leave. “Everything okay?”
“I’m always this delightful.”
My sister snickers. “I know, but…you look like there’s something else.”
Not ready to tell anyone about what I did last night. Not just yet. Not Carina. Not my mom. Not even Nana.
“I just need a bath,” I finally say. “Wash off the day of travel.”
She winks at me. “Call that hot boyfriend of yours and catch up before dinner. That’ll put you in a better mood.”
Sure, I’ll get right on calling a man who doesn’t exist.
Once she leaves, I unpack my bag and take in my home for the next week. The room takes up half of the third floor, and it’s built into the eaves, so the ceiling is angled in places, making it cozy and cute.
I even like the designer stuffed animals decorating the shelves in a reading nook.
As far as rooms that are too childish for me, this one is kind of perfect.
