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“Are you going on their bar crawl with them?” Jane asks.
“Bar crawl?” I look back and forth between the two of them.
“I was just about to ask him, Jane,” Leah explains. Then she smiles at me. “We have a Christmas Eve bar crawl every year. It’s my family’s tradition. After dinner, we hit as many bars as we can before midnight—those of us who don’t have little ones anyway.”
“That sounds amazing!” I tell her, feeling incredibly jealous. Going on a bar crawl with my family would be a blast. It would be hilarious to see Mom drunk. It’s something she rarely does.
Leah perks up a bit. “Good,” she says. “Then you are coming with us!”
I look over at her family. They all look excited, some of them maybe already buzzed. About twelve people are doing the crawl, so maybe they won’t even notice if I tag along.
“Are you sure?” I ask, not wanting to impose. But Idowant to go.
She grabs my shoulders and shakes them excitedly. This Leah seems a lot bubblier and more fun than the Leah I talked to outside my house.
“Yes, I’m sure!” she cries. “You have to drink that fast, because we only stay at each place a little bit!” She picks up my beer and puts it in my hand.
I laugh and began drinking the rest of it.
They may not bemyfamily, but at least I’ll be getting some family time this Christmas.
20
KENNETH
As I pull onto the street of my father’s house, I drum my fingers on the steering wheel of my car.
“Oh my gosh…” Selena breathes, staring out the window. “Where does your familylive?”
“We’re on his street!” I explain with a smile. At least I think we are. I haven’t been to my dad’s new house yet, but I was given directions from my stepmom.
“Is your dad like, famous or something?” Selena asks, still not turning to look back at me. She’s too mesmerized by the massive houses we are passing.
“Um, something like that.” I should probably just get it over with and tell her the truth. “So, I need to talk to you about something.”
This gets her to finally turn around and look at me. Her eyes immediately fill with concern. “What is it? Did you not tell them I was coming?”
I cringe a little. “Well … I sort of didn’t tell my dad thateitherof us was coming.”
Selena purses her lips and closes her eyes.
I approach the gate in front of my father and my stepmom’s house. My stepmom must’ve been waiting for me to get here because before I can even unroll my window to use the call box, the gate begins to open.
I continue explaining myself to Selena. “My dad—I don’t really like to talk about it much, but he’s… sick. He has ALS. I guess it’s progressing pretty quickly these days, but every time I try to see him, he shoots me down. He doesn’t even want to talk to me.”
“Oh, gosh,” Selena says, putting a hand over her mouth.
I park the car in the circular driveway, and some random man comes and helps us out. Selena looks flustered as her door opens, and the man holds his hand out to her, but she gets out of the car, trying not to break eye contact with me.
I get out of the car as well.
“I can go move your vehicle into the garage, if you’d like,” the man says to me.
“No, we’re fine, thank you. Uh … We just need a minute, if that’s okay.”
“Certainly,” the man says, turning and heading back inside the incredible house.
Selena doesn’t even seem interested in looking at how grand my dad’s new place is, even though she had been mesmerized by the other houses on the drive over. Right now, she is only focused on me. “I am… I’m sosorry, for one,” she begins, taking a step closer to me. “And two,”—she hits me on the arm—“how could you not warn me about this ahead of time?!”
