AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We have a day-after-Christmas tradition we’re doing. Care to join us?” his message read.
“I don’t want to intrude! Enjoy your day.”
I sent the message and felt my heart sink. I really didn’t want to intrude on their family tradition, especially if it had been one that his wife had participated in. I set my phone on my bed and went out into the living room to see what everyone else was doing.
The kids were sprawled all over the place, slung over couches and laying across the floor, recovering from a day of excitement and enjoying their new gifts. The only one of the kids that I didn’t see right away was Amelia.
Because of her age, Amelia was often left out of both the kid and adult groups, and as the fun single aunt, I tried to take her in as much as possible. Especially because she was so much like me in so many ways. I searched the room for her, but didn’t see her anywhere.
I peeked into the kitchen, but it was quiet and empty. I was about to go upstairs to her room, but something in the corner by the Christmas tree caught my eye. I wandered over to the pile of blankets, underneath which Amelia was hiding with her phone.
“Skye! Stop!” she whispered, pulling the blanket back over her head.
“What are you doing in there?”
“Don’t tell mom!”
“Amelia, what’s going on?”
“Mom took my phone away. I’m not supposed to have it.”
“Why did she take it away?”
“I—um—I was up too late.”
“You got in trouble for that? That doesn’t sound like your mom.”
“Well…”
“What were you doing?”
“I don’t want to talk about it!”
“Amelia, it’s me. Let’s go outside. I’m not going to tell your mom a thing.”
She let out a long sigh, slipped the phone in her pocket, and stood up, letting the mound of blankets pool around her feet. We pulled our coats on and walked out into the courtyard, where I turned on two of the heaters.
Amelia slumped down into one of the chairs, and refused to look at me. I knew something must be going on with her, because she wasn’t acting like her normal self at all.
“Are you going to tell me why you really got in trouble, or do you want me to guess?”
She sighed again and rolled her eyes at me, something she had never done.
“Amelia…”
“Fine. But you’re going to laugh at me or make fun of me or something.”
“I have never done that in my life. I’m not going to start now.”
“When we were skiing a few days ago…I—um—started talking to someone.”
“Oh really?”
“He’s really nice. I gave him my phone number, and we stayed up all night talking. Mom found out and she wasn’t happy about it.”
“Well, I can understand why she wouldn’t want you up all night, but tell me more about this guy.”
“He’s from France. Well, actually he’s from England, but he lives in France now.”
