AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Okay.
Now it was perfect.
EPILOGUE
MACKENZIE
Christmas Season.
* * *
“What’s your favorite Christmas song?” I asked as Ryan was bringing out the last of the decorations for the party he and his roommates were having at their house. I was in charge of the playlist, which was probably for the best, because when I tried baking, everything got burned. When I tried decorating, things got broken.
Ryan eventually picked me up so I didn’t cut my feet on the glass, sat me on the couch, and gave me this latest assignment.
So far I was finding out that there weren’t a lot of Christmas songs that I enjoyed. I was pretty sure that said something about myself, but I didn’t want anyone to know.
“Um.” Ryan was distracted, untangling a string of lights that had been already untangled, until I touched them. That was it. That was all I did. I picked them up, and voila, they were all tangled up once more. We were going on day two of decorating the house. Their roommates did the basement yesterday, and Chavez and Ryan were doing the main floor today. The party was tomorrow. “I don’t know. ‘Little Drummer Boy’?’
“What?” I jerked upright on the couch.
“What?” He gave me a look in return.
“Why that song?”
He frowned. “Is there something wrong with that song?”
“No.” I pulled it up and clicked on it. The beginning filled the room and I contemplated what drew Ryan to this song. “Is it because it’s about a boy?”
He snorted a laugh. “I don’t know. It’s the first one that popped in my head. I’ve never really thought about Christmas songs. That time of the year is usually a fucking mess. Finals. Parties. Then we got training and games when everyone else leaves. I’m not a big holiday person, Mac. You know that.”
I did. I lay back down, going through more songs. “Everyone seems to like ‘Silent Night’?”
He smothered a laugh, getting the lights untangled again so he laid them down. “Why are you saying it like that? Are you questioning why so many people like it?”
“I don’t know.” And I didn’t. “Willow was the one who liked the holidays so much.”
He paused, and I felt his eyes on me. “So what was Willow’s favorite Christmas song?”
Pain seared me. It was brief, but intense. I swallowed over a knot. “I don’t know.” I didn’t like that I didn’t know, but I was remembering. “It changed every year. She usually got obsessed with whatever music artist that was popular that year and if they put out a Christmas album.”
Why was this bugging me?
Willow was fickle, but not about the holidays. It was the only time of the year when she wasn’t so hard on herself. When she smiled, and it felt genuine. I murmured, almost to myself, “She liked Halloween because it was an excuse to dress sexy and no one could say anything about it. She loved going to school Halloween week in a new sexy outfit every day, and she really loved that the principal couldn’t tell her to go home and change outfits.”
“You guys did costumes every day of the week?”
“No, just Willow’s friends. They were the popular group. They got away with anything they wanted to do.”
“What about Christmas? What’s your favorite Christmas song?” He came over, staring down at me as he asked.
My tongue swelled up. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
There was that feeling again. Why didn’t I want to admit that I didn’t really like any of the songs? What did that say about me?
“Everyone has at least one song they don’t mind hearing. What’s the first one that comes to your mind?”
