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“And you think leaving me here with your sister, who hates me, is a good way to keep things getting better?” I hissed as Lexi sat in the car, waiting for him.
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe you two just need a chance to talk. She’s pissed, but you’re a good guy, and she just needs a chance to see it. Just… I don’t know, be yourself or whatever bullshit people say.”
“Being myself is what got me into this mess,” I grumbled, knowing that arguing was pointless. It had always been pointless with Hannah, and Jenna seemed to be no different. Beautiful but cutting, easily offended, and quick to make you regret whatever you said to make her mad. I hadn’t missed those qualities, and I could have lived without them now.
“You swear she’s not usually like this?” I asked, ready to bolt if I was about to spend Christmas with a younger version of my ex.
“Yes,” Dean said. “I swear. It’s just a really touchy subject. She’s in school to be a nurse. Believe me, not much fazes her on most days. Christmas is herthing, which is why she insisted on paying this year. It’s the first year she did it on her own.”
I nodded, still wary but less nervous than I had been before.
“Ready?” Lexi asked, rolling down the window, effectively ending the conversation.
“I think so,” Dean said to her. He turned back to me as I opened the door to go back inside, then looked over my shoulder at his sister, whoIturned to see was giving me a look that could have made a lion cower. “You two behave yourselves. I’m not cleaning blood off the floor when I get back, so find a way to get along until then.” Then he winked.
As I watched Dean leave, I couldn’t help but feel a foreboding. Behind him, the sky looked even more threatening, with the blue-gray turning nearly charcoal where it peeked through the trees.
We only needed to last a couple hours until Dean and Lexi got back to act as buffers.
But now, after only thirty minutes, here I was, preventing her from creating further disasters like the fireplace, and avoiding bumping into any more of Jenna’s stuff that would create awkward conversations.
Jenna had lingered in her room for a few minutes, presumably putting away the aforementioned panties and then emerged rather silent with a book in her hand. She walked toward the living room where I was attempting to get the portable radio to pick up a signal and flopped down on the couch.
I stared at her, trying to gauge the level of interaction she deemed necessary and realized, when she didn’t say a thing, that it was going to be on me to cross this barrier.
“I, uh…” I said, trying to not seem so aloof. “I’m going to go bring in the firewood before the blizzard hits. Don’t think any of us want to be going out in it if we can help it.”
“Uh huh,” she said in a bored, apathetic voice without looking up from her novel.
I pulled my coat and gloves back on, then went outside to bring in as much firewood as I could fit in the holder inside. Within minutes the snow was blowing around my face, biting at my bare cheeks and nose. I gathered what I could and went back inside.
I knelt by the fire for a while to defrost my frozen skin, especially my fingers, which had turned a rather pallid shade of yellow from lack of circulation.
“You don’t think they’re in danger, do you?” Jenna asked
“I’m sure they’re fine,” I tried to say reassuringly. Unfortunately, the words seemed to come out with a little more bite than I’d intended. I opened my mouth to tell her I didn’t mean to sound that way, but decided it would be better to just show her I wasn’t as bad as I’d made myself out to be. Instead, I left the room to go get myself something warm to drink.
Just as Dean had said, there was only one box of cocoa mix. I wouldn’t have helped myself, but I knew the others would be back with plenty before long, so I fixed myself a steaming mug of hot cocoa with little marshmallows. I turned to walk back into the room with the fire, but paused.
I looked at the counter and saw the bottle of rum. Maybe the girls were onto something. I poured about a shot’s worth of rum into the mug, then took a sip.
Damn, it really was good. Why hadn’t I ever tried this before?
I went to sit across from Jenna, who gave me exactly one glance up with her eyebrow raised. I nearly retreated to the bedroom, feeling distinctly unwelcome, but decided that Dean was right, and the only way to the other side of this was through it, which meant I had to deal with Jenna being upset with me until I could prove I deserved otherwise or Christmas was over.
Whichever came first.
As I sat patiently, trying to appear casual and unconcerned, I tried hard to shake the worry that this was about to be a repeat of my last Christmas with Hannah before she left. She spent the entire holiday sniping at me or ignoring me, with nothing in between.
When no conversation started, I turned to watching the snow fall outside the window. I had to admit, the view was spectacular. But I knew it wouldn’t last long, not with the speed at which the snow was dropping to the earth. Even now I was losing sight of the lake between the gusting flakes and the dark, threatening, looming clouds overhead.
The sound of wind carried through the walls, and I glanced up at Jenna, who seemed to have the same worry I did at that moment, but she shrugged it off and went back to burying her face in her book.
“Okay…” I said under my breath, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of doom and gloom as easily as she seemed able to. I had brought a book as well and figured now was as good a time as any to read. I grabbed my hot cocoa, took a long sip, and made my way to the bedroom.
At exactly that moment, my phone, which was useless as far as internet service here, began to buzz and give off a shrill alarm. I looked down and felt the bottom fall out of my stomach.
“Gabe!” Jenna called from down the hall, and I could hear the sheer panic in her voice. “Gabe!”
