AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re here!” My best friend Kat squealed as she opened the massive, wooden door to a house that could have passed for a small castle. Kat hugged me so tightly it felt like I couldn’t breathe for a second.
“Wow, your hair is so… green,” I said as my friend finally let go of me. Neither one of us could quit smiling.
Kat’s hair was cut into a very short bob and colored a dark, emerald green that almost looked black if the light didn’t hit it just right. She had gained a new septum piercing, as well since the last time I saw her, which I was sure her traditional mother just loved.
“I thought it would be festive. And with your red hair, we’ll be extra Christmassy when we’re sitting next to each other.” She chuckled before grabbing my arm and pulling me inside the house. “Let me show you around.”
A quick glance to my right, through French doors, was a sitting room with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Mont-Blanc in the distance. It still hadn’t fully hit me yet that I was in France; the last few days had been a complete blur.
“How was your flight? And the train from Paris?” she asked me.
“It was good, I slept most of the flight, thankfully. I hadn’t slept in days, but you know me, as soon as you get me into a moving vehicle of any kind, I sleep like a baby. And the train ride was beautiful, like a dream.”
“Good, I’m glad,” Kat replied as she led me up a spiral staircase to the second floor. She squealed again, and I nearly jumped backward. “Sorry, I just always imagined you being here with us, and I’m so happy I can finally show you where I used to spend all my Christmases as a kid.”
Kat and I had grown up together, friends since kindergarten. It was a good thing we met that young, because back then, we didn’t know that we lived such vastly different lives. Kat was the daughter of a prominent politician with a trust fund most of us could only dream of. Christmas in the French Alps, summer vacations in exotic locations that my child brain had never even heard about until she brought back photos and showed them to me.
My life wasn’t quite so glamorous. The daughter of… well, no one knew my father. My mother couldn’t even be sure who he was, though she thought it was some guy who used to work at the bar down the road from our house. She only knew his first name and he had left town as soon as my mom told him she was pregnant with me. My mom and I hadn’t spoken in years, her choice mostly. She never really wanted kids and I was an accident, a ‘blight upon her life’ as she once told me. As soon as I was legally on my own, that was it.
Most people might have envied their best friend because of the mansion or the luxurious vacations, but to be honest, I mostly envied the fact that she had a family.
“This is Jackson’s room, right next door to ours,” Kat said, rolling her eyes and pretending to gag herself as we walked by. “Aiden and Nathan are down the hall, and Mom is on the first floor, in her own private wing.”
Kat opened the door to the room we would be sharing ? sharing because I was a last-minute add-on and the home they rentedonlyhad five bedrooms.
“Jesus, Kat. This room is the size of my entire house growing up,” I said as I stepped into the bedroom. Considering that Kat was the youngest, it would make sense that she got the smallest room, but if that room was the smallest, then the others had to be ridiculous in scale.
A king-sized bed was centered in the middle of the room. The walls were a dark-colored wood and the bedding a rich, forest green which reminded me a lot of Kat’s current hair color. The comforter was thick and soft to the touch when I ran my hand over it. The pillows were large and fluffy. I yawned imagining collapsing into the big, cozy bed.
“You even have a fireplace,” I said, imagining how warm the room would be, curled up in bed with a fire crackling while staring out the large windows overlooking the snow-covered mountains.
“We have our own bathroom too,” Kat said, showing me the way.
Of course there was a bathtub large enough for four people, and a separate shower. Also with views of the beautiful mountains.
“This bathroom is bigger than my apartment in New York, you do realize that, right?” I laughed, but I noticed Kat wasn’t laughing.
“I know, I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I know my family has insane amounts of wealth and it sickens me, too.”
I went to my best friend and hugged her. “I didn’t mean it like that; you have nothing to be ashamed about. I’m just surprised at how big it is for a bathroom.”
“I wanted you to come here because I knew you needed to be pampered and spoiled,” she said, squeezing me tightly. “After everything you’ve been through, you deserve some luxury.”
She was right. I needed to relax and to forget about New York and everything that had gone wrong for me there.
Kat was actually supposed to be with me in New York right now, getting into the black dress she had picked out to stand by my side as my maid of honor.
“Thanks for inviting me, and I have to thank your mom for paying for my ticket.”
“She was happy to do so, she knows how special you are to me, bestie.”
“Your mom is truly one of the kindest people I have ever met,” I told her. And I meant it. Growing up, her mother always took me in when needed, making sure that I had shelter, food and nice clothes to wear. Sometimes it felt like she had adopted me as another daughter, and I owed a lot to her.
“It’s almost dinner time, and Marie is making coq-au-vin—trust me, it’s to die for.”
“Marie?”
“She’s the chef on staff here.”
