Restoring Christmas

by Kate Kasch

  “When is it? Christmas Eve?”

  Jason nodded his head. “I can’t make it. I need to be here. That’s the night of the Christmas Home Decorating Competition. That’s when we find out if we won or not.”

  Jason looked bewildered, “Adrienne, this is crazy. Now you’re going to miss the holiday party! That’s the best party of the year! I really think you should reconsider.”

  “Jason, I’m not going to the party. I have to be here,” she said with finality. He didn’t press her any more on the subject. After another half hour, with their food and drinks finished, Jason asked, “Want another drink?”

  “You know, it’s been a long day. I think I just want to go home and go to bed.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. I know you probably have some work to do too, right?”

  “I sure do. You know Elaina, never a minute’s break.”

  Awake early the next morning, Adrienne sat in the family room watching the lighted tree sparkle in the morning light. She felt like she was sitting in the middle of an intersection, wondering which street she was supposed to turn down. Her mind was a swirling whirlwind of thoughts. Her life before that red envelope appeared in her New York City apartment seemed unfamiliar and unappealing. Like the little mouse that fell into the milk dish and struggled so hard until he churned that milk into butter – Adrienne’s years of struggling in the city at her job were about to produce a successful result. But what did that next step mean to her anymore? Did a promotion just mean more hours at the office and a slightly larger paycheck? The meaning of ‘home’ had changed. Adrienne wasn’t sure – was New York City home? Or was Chestnut Ridge home?

  “Hey there,” Jason’s voice sounded sleepy.

  “Hey, how did you sleep?”

  “Not great. It’s too quiet around here,” he smiled.

  “Ha – I know. When the sounds of the city aren’t assaulting my ears all I can hear are my own thoughts – and they are yelling at me. I wish I had some city traffic to drown them out.”

  “Sounds like you couldn’t sleep either.”

  “No. Not really.”

  “Look, I’m sorry about last night. It’s just that I walk in to surprise you and try and show you some support, and I see you sitting down to date night in your kitchen with your ex-boyfriend.”

  “Yeah, I understand why the whole situation was awkward. I certainly never meant for that to be the case.”

  “What’s your plan for today? I was thinking we could drive in together. Stop for some coffee, and then celebrate tonight – it is Christmas Eve eve.”

  “You want to celebrate Christmas Eve eve? I would not have expected to ever hear those words come out of your mouth!”

  “Elaina told me about your conversation. We had a good laugh about it,” Jason chuckled.

  “Elaina talked to you about our conversation?” Adrienne’s voice started to rise. “And you laughed about it?”

  “Don’t get upset – I think it’s cute that you are getting so into Christmas this year.”

  “Cute?” Adrienne stood up and began pacing in front of the Christmas tree. “Wait a minute,” she stopped and turned to face Jason, “Elaina sent you here, didn’t she?”

  Jason looked down at his hands.

  “She sent you here to talk to me. That’s why last night you were encouraging me to work on that research, and why you’re trying to convince me to drive in this morning?” Adrienne’s anger was boiling over as she pieced together Jason and Elaina’s devious plan.

  “Okay, so yes, Elaina suggested I come here last night. But why is that a bad thing? She wants you to do well. She wants you to get that promotion – and this presentation she has you working on – which is today by the way – could be what finally gets you that promotion you deserve. The one you’ve been working towards for years.”

  Adrienne quietly fumed as she realized what a fool she’d been.

  “I’m sorry if you’re mad that I would try and steer you back on the right path. I get that you were hit with this crazy house debacle – and that the timing isn’t great– but you have completely lost yourself this week. I don’t even recognize you,” he pointed at Adrienne’s outfit as proof that she had lost her mind. Her silk pajamas had been replaced by an old pair of Chestnut Ridge lacrosse sweats, and her hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail.

  She looked down and saw herself through Jason’s eyes and started to laugh uncontrollably. Jason furrowed his brow as he watched her, and this only made Adrienne laugh even harder. Bent over at the waist holding her stomach with tears streaming down her face, Adrienne felt as crazy as Jason thought she was.

  “I’m sorry,” Adrienne said between big heaving breaths.

  “I’m not sure what you find so funny about this situation, Adrienne. This is your future we’re talking about right now.”

  “I know. I know, you’re right,” Adrienne regained her composure. “And I know why you say you don’t even recognize me right now – it’s because I am not the same person you knew a week ago. I’ve changed.”

  “You’re telling me that we have been dating for a year, and then suddenly in one week you can completely change your personality?”

  “My personality hasn’t changed, but the things that are important to me have changed. My priorities have changed.”

  “I see that work is no longer a priority. And neither am I,” Jason looked down at his hands.

  “I'm so sorry, Jason. But think about it, we have been dating for about a year, right?”

  Jason nodded his head.

  “And what do we even really know about each other? Did you know anything about my family, or my childhood? I have never met anyone from your family – I may know your siblings’ names, but I don’t know how you all get along, or what your family’s Christmas traditions are.”

  Jason opened his mouth to say something and then changed his mind.

  “It’s not either of our faults, we were just so focused on work and going out – we kept everything surface level. And I guess I just want something deeper.”

  After an awkward good-bye, Adrienne waved to Jason as he got into his Uber to go back to the city. Her spirit felt light and her mind clear. Although getting to the decision to break up with Jason was a difficult one, now that it was done Adrienne knew it was the right thing to do. Following a sleepless night and cloudy-headed morning, Adrienne now skipped around the kitchen making another pot of coffee and putting cinnamon rolls into the oven. Unaware that Gretchen was standing at the kitchen door watching her, Adrienne hummed along to the Christmas music that played softly.

  “What has gotten into you?” Gretchen laughed.

  “Oh, you startled me,” Adrienne jumped a little. “Nothing has gotten into me. I’m just getting ready for the day. Look at the chalkboard – do you notice that number one? We have a big day ahead of us if we want to win this contest. Can I get you some coffee?”

  “It seems like you have maybe had too much coffee already. You are talking a mile a minute. And you know I am not a morning person,” Gretchen reached for a coffee mug and poured herself a generous amount.

  “Where’s Jason by the way? I figured he would already be dressed in his designer suit checking his emails,” Gretchen teased.

  “He left,” Adrienne said slowly.

  “He left – for good?” Gretchen asked.

  “Yes, for good. We broke up this morning.”

  “I’m so sorry, Adrienne. Are you okay?”

  “Thanks, I’m okay. I am better than okay, actually.”

  “Phew, that is such good news!” Gretchen sighed with relief.

  “What do you mean? He wasn’t that bad!”

  “I’ll just say you two were not meant for each other and leave it at that.”

  “Fine. Say what you want about him, but he was a good dresser,” Adrienne giggled.

  “If you’re into that look,” Gretchen shrugged.

  As Adrienne pulled the cinnamon buns out of the oven there was a knock
at the door.

  “Would you mind getting that, Gretch? I need to make a phone call.”

  “Of course,” Gretchen turned to answer the door.

  Adrienne snagged her phone off the counter and quickly snuck up the stairs.

  Once Gretchen saw Nick’s smiling face on the other side of the door, she perked right up.

  “I could get used to this,” she said.

  “Used to what?” Nick asked.

  “Used to seeing you right before I go to bed, and again when I wake up in the morning.” Nick and Gretchen were so busy making googley eyes at each other they forget all about Gabe who was still standing outside in the cold.

  “Excuse me? Lovebirds? Would you two mind if I came in now – maybe got some coffee?”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry, Gabe. Come in, there’s a pot of coffee and hot cinnamon buns in the kitchen.”

  Making himself at home in the kitchen away from the swooning couple, Gabe sat at the island sipping his coffee and hoping the sweet cinnamon bun would put him in a better mood. This to-do list on the counter certainly wasn’t helping. Adrienne came down the stairs and was surprised to see Gabe sitting in the kitchen.

  “Morning,” she said.

  Gabe turned around to face her and their eyes lock. “Morning.”

  “Thanks for coming back today. After last night, I wasn’t sure you would.”

  “Actually, I wasn’t sure I’d even see you here today. I thought you would be driving into New York with Jason.”

  The coldness in Gabe’s voice made it very clear how he felt about that.

  “Well, I’m not going in today. I just got off the phone with my boss to tell her just that, and I’ll probably get fired for it. So that’s great. As if the stakes for this contest weren’t already high enough, just add on to it that I’ll be unemployed,” Adrienne tried to keep from sounding panicked, but it wasn’t working.

  “Is everything okay in here?” Gretchen walked into the kitchen with Nick right behind her.

  “Everything is fine. Just fine,” Adrienne poured more coffee in a mug.

  “Adrienne thinks she’s going to get fired for not going into the office today,” Gabe caught everyone up.

  “That would be amazing! First you dump that unbearable banker, and now you can ditch that over-demanding, under-appreciating job!” Gretchen cheered.

  “Gretchen?!” Adrienne was stunned by her sister’s response.

  “You broke it off with Jason?” Gabe asked. Adrienne turned to him and nodded shyly, holding Jason’s eye contact for longer than normal.

  “Isn’t Gretchen kind of right, though?” Nick asked quietly.

  Adrienne thought about it for a minute. Then a smile spread across her face, “maybe.”

  “Okay everyone, let’s move on, shall we?” Gabe said, suddenly cheerful. “I have been looking at this to-do list and it appears that we have quite a bit of roof fixing and painting to do today.”

  Harkins Christmas List:

  Mow lawn

  Trim bushes

  Paint house

  Clean gutters

  Fix roof

  Paint front door

  Fix Paint front porch/pillars

  Paint and Re-hang shutters

  Rake leaves

  Dust

  Wash floors

  Clean refrigerator

  Buy Christmas tree

  Decorate interior

  Exterior Christmas lights, wreaths

  Clean bathrooms

  Fix garage roof where tree fell

  “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that’s actually why we are here so early this morning,” Nick started. “I don’t think we’re going to have any more help from Wallace’s tree guy or Jeffries Painting – they are ‘all hands on deck’ down at Town Hall.”

  “The four of us are going to have to try and do all of this ourselves today? It’s not possible,” Adrienne started to panic.

  “The garage window has been replaced, but I’m afraid that means the tree that fell on the garage, which has only been half removed, will have to stay looking how it does. I don’t have the equipment to completely remove it,” Nick said apologetically.

  “How bad is it right now?”

  “Well, it’s completely off the roof. The remainder of the tree trunk is between six and seven feet tall.”

  “We’ll figure something out,” Gabe said.

  “All we can do is try. What we get done is what we get done. That’s it. And we do have up until around 5 p.m. tomorrow night,” Gretchen said.

  “I was thinking we save all the exterior decorations for tomorrow. You know, let the paint dry before we start wrapping lights and hanging wreaths on everything,” Adrienne said.

  “I think that’s a great idea. So, what’s the plan then?” Gabe asked. “Nick obviously has to work on repairing the hole in the garage roof. Jeffries said he put all the roof shingles in the garage, so we can repair the ones on the main roof, and the garage roof with those.”

  “Nick, do you really think you can get the hole fixed in one day?” Gretchen asked.

  “If all goes according to plan, I definitely can. But I really need to get started now. Gretch, you can be my assistant on the garage roof, and Gabe and Adrienne can work on the main roof. Hopefully they can get that done by noon and can then start painting the house.

  Energized by their plan, the four friends finished their coffee and breakfast and got to work. After getting dressed Adrienne searched for Gabe – she found him in the garage.

  “Wow, this place is destroyed,” Adrienne looked around. She had not been in the garage since the tree fell on it. Splintered wood, glass from the window that was smashed, and sticks and leaves scattered all over the garage floor. Thankfully no car was parked in there at the time, and Adrienne’s father didn’t keep his tools and things in the garage, or there would have been double the damage and expense.

  “Yeah, it’s pretty bad. Didn’t Nick say the roof shingles were in here? I don’t see them, do you?”

  Adrienne scanned the garage quickly - clearly there were no shingles in there.

  “They’re not in here. Let’s go ask Nick if he knows where else they might be.”

  Gabe and Adrienne walked back through the house and outside into the cold. Pulling her jacket tighter around her body, Adrienne wished she had worn a hat. Once they started work on the roof, she would need to dress warmer. The temperature was going to be frigid today.

  Gabe could see Adrienne was cold and he longed to put his arms around her and pull her close. But his mind remembered back to that awful day four years ago when he arrived at 22 Oak Street to visit her and she was gone. Poof. No good-bye; no explanation. Just gone. It was as if she vanished into thin air taking his heart with her. He needed to keep reminding himself of the pain Adrienne put him through, or risk going through that heartache all over again. He wasn’t sure he could survive it.

  Up ahead, Adrienne saw Nick and Gretchen giggling together as they positioned the ladder onto the garage.

  “Are you two going to be able to get any work done together? Or are you going to be cuddling and giggling all day?” Adrienne hoped she didn’t sound bitter.

  “Hey guys, how’s it going?” Nick ignored Adrienne’s question.

  “Any idea where else Jeffries might have put the shingles? There’s nothing in the garage but splintered wood, broken glass and tree branches,” Gabe explained.

  “Really? I could have sworn he said he put the shingles in the garage. Let me call him and ask,” Nick grabbed his phone out of his jacket pocket.

  “Kurt? Hey there, it’s Nick. I’m over at the Harkins place and we are about to start replacing some of the broken roof shingles. Where did you say you put the shingles you had delivered?”

  Nick paused to listen, and the three friends watched the look on his face change from a smile to concerned to a frown. Adrienne’s heart started to race. She and Gretchen exchanged knowing glances.

  When Nick hung up the ph
one, the other three were staring at him, anxiously awaiting the seemingly bad news.

  “What is it? What happened?” Adrienne asked.

  “Well, I must have misunderstood Kurt the other day. What he said was, when the shingles get delivered, have them put them in the good half of the garage.”

  “Who was supposed to deliver them?” Gabe asked.

  “They haven’t been delivered -- should have been here yesterday. They’re coming special order through some roofing distributor, Custom Roofing. Gabe, maybe you could find the number online and give them a call?” Nick suggested.

  “Sure. I can do that. But if they don’t come today, can’t we just go down to the hardware store in town and buy some other shingles?”

  “Unfortunately, we can’t. You see these are custom multi-colored slate shingles – they aren’t something you can buy in your average store. Since we didn’t need a ton of them, Kurt called in a favor and got them donated to us – so it’s even more difficult to give these people a hard time since we didn’t even pay for them.”

  “Okay. I’ll give them a call and see what I can do,” Gabe said.

  All that positive energy that was buzzing amongst the four of them came to a jarring halt. There was nothing more frustrating than having a bunch of work to do, the time to do it, but having to wait on something out of your control in order to get started.

  “At least you two can continue what you’re doing,” Adrienne said to Nick and Gretchen as Gabe stepped away to contact Custom Roofing.

  Just then a gray pick-up truck pulled in front of the house. A middle-aged man holding a clipboard with a pencil tucked behind his right ear walked efficiently up the front path toward the group. What now? Adrienne thought to herself.

  “Hello there, I am looking for a Miss Harkins. Adrienne or Gretchen?” the man said.

  “I’m Adrienne Harkins.”

  “Hello Miss Harkins. My name is Seth Brower, and I work as an Inspector for the town of Chestnut Ridge. It has come to my attention that you have been having some work done on the property here at 22 Oak Street. Is this correct?”

  “Yes, that’s correct,” Adrienne answered, instinctively feeling the need to defend herself.