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James and Felix were there, carrying boxes of things, both in big coats, snow swirling around them, and we hurried them inside. It was a shame they couldn’t be in PJs as well, but that was too much to ask, given they’d braved snow to get here.
“Nice PJs,” Felix said, and I eyed him with distrust. That was, until he peeled off his coat to reveal his own PJs, which he smoothed down with hesitance. “Dad said you do this,” he murmured. “They’re a bit short and tight, but it was all I had, and—”
“Dude!” I exclaimed and he winced. “Are those Power Rangers PJs?!”
He tipped his chin. “Yeah, and?”
“Favorite Power Ranger,” I snapped out. “And don’t say red, because everyone says red.”
He blinked at me, then gave me a sly grin. “Tommy.”
I gasped. “No way.”
“Yes way, because as the Green Dragon Ranger, he broke free of his brainwashing and decided to fight for good.”
Now that deserved a fist bump.
Who would have thought Felix I shared a favorite Power Ranger.
Breakfast over,we opened presents—the merged collection of gifts a hodgepodge of paper and wrapping skills—clearly James and/or Felix were not imbued with the design gene, or at least not compared to me and Mom, who had been known to take all evening to wrap a single present with layers of tissue paper, drawn pictures, and handwritten notes. There was the usual stuff, like gift sets and books, but the present I loved the most was the one that James gave Mom.
It was an empty journal, leather-bound, with a gold filigree design. There was one word on the cover,Beginning, and I didn’t have any idea of the significance of the word, but Mom started to cry, James gathered her into a hug, and they kissed, and that was Felix’s and my cue to head out to the kitchen with our haul of chocolate.
“Seems like they might be serious,” Felix said around a mouthful of Lindt chocolate bitten from the biggest bar I’d ever seen.
I picked through my stash and pulled out my favorite Cadbury Dairy Milk that I knew Mom had ordered through an English friend to get the real stuff.
“I think so, yeah.”
“Has your mom said anything about Dad?”
I countered, “Has your dad said anything about Mom?”
I sucked on the chocolate in my mouth and waited for him to counter again.
“He said she’s special, and he asked me what I thought about her.”
“Yeah? And what do you think?”
Felix raised an eyebrow. “I said that I’d be okay with it if my future step-brother shared his chocolate stash.” He leaned to grab some of my stash, but I was as fast off the ice as I was on, and I beat him to it.
“And I said to Mom, I’d be cool with everything if my future step-brother didn’t steal my stuff.”
Then, we grinned at each other. It was just like the journal said.
It was a beginning.
I missedJonah like nothing else, which is why, when the doorbell rang late Christmas afternoon, I was first to the door, hoping that, somehow, our day apart wasn’t actually going to be spent apart at all.
I threw open the door, smile already there. Except it wasn’t Jonah.
It was a man I never wanted to see again. Dad.
He was swamped in his big winter coat. I remembered him being taller, intimidating, blustering, with a cockiness that wooed clients to his real estate business, and that had somehow won over my mom when they were young.
“Tyler!” he said and smiled, but I noticed the smile didn’t reach his eyes. It curved his lips, but it was as if he’d practiced how he was going to react. “Merry Christmas, Son.” He added, then held out a badly wrapped gift. When he moved closer, my chest tightened, even more so when I smelled the alcohol on him.
“Who is it, Ty?” Mom called from inside, and there was the sound of talking I recognized as James, and then Felix.
