The larger of the two packages contained a dark grey knit sweater that she had found at a department store on a recent out-of-town Christmas shopping trip with Sam. The smaller package was a plastic Velma action figure, complete with removable glasses…so that she could lose them, presumably.
Holding the present tightly to her chest, she merged into the hallway traffic, fighting against the flow of outgoing students dragging rolling suitcases and stuffed-to-bursting backpacks behind them. She knocked on Seth’s door and waited until she heard his “Door’s unlocked!” before she entered.
His suitcase lay open on the bed, displaying a mass of jeans, t-shirts, sweaters and flannels. Seth was holding a stack of games in one hand, obviously trying to decide which ones he wouldn’t be able to do without for the two weeks of break. He dropped the entire stack into the open suitcase and turned towards her with a grin.
“What’s this?” he asked nodding towards the gift.
“Nothing much,” Chloe said shyly, “just a little something for…you know…Christmas.”
“Okay. So…you packed then?” he asked.
“Yup,” she said, dropping her eyes to the floor.
“Heading out today?” he asked.
“Uh-huh,” she lied.
“Really. Where to?” he asked innocently.
“Sams’” Chloe said, still staring at the ground. Seth blew out a long frustrated sigh. She didn’t have to look up to know that he was watching her.
“Sam left last night. I hate calling you out like this Clo, but I saw her and I made sure to ask and she said you didn’t plan on going home with her for Christmas, sooo…” Seth paused, waiting for her to explain.
“Look, I’m sorry. I just…I just didn’t want you to feel bad for me or anything because I don’t have anyplace to go for Christmas. I don’t feel bad for me, I’d much rather just stay right here. I didn’t want to put a damper on your holidays though-” she fumbled.
“You can’t stay here, Clo, no one can. The dorm closes Sunday night and it doesn’t reopen until the Saturday before classes start. No one’s allowed in the building over break,” Seth cut in.
“I’ll go to a hotel, it’ll be fun,” Chloe said lamely.
“You’ll come home with me,” Seth said and zipped his suitcase shut.
“No…really, you don’t have to do that,” Chloe said quickly.
“It’s done. I already talked to my parents and they’re fine with it. Can’t wait to meet you actually.” He yanked the suitcase off the bed and set it upright on the floor.
“I don’t…I can’t…I don’t want to barge in on your family,” Chloe stuttered.
“You won’t. They’re expecting you now,” Seth smiled serenely.
“Oh come on Seth,” Chloe argued. “It’s just going to be awkward and strange. They’re going to be wondering what kind of person doesn’t spend Christmas with their family the whole time!”
“I told them that your family was going on a skiing vacation over break and that you don’t ski. Therefore you were planning on spending your vacation at home by yourself. My Mom was the one who insisted I bring you home…didn’t even have to ask,” Seth said calmly.
“And you set all this up when? Last night after you talked to Sam? Pretty quick,” Chloe observed.
“Set it up weeks ago. I had a feeling that you didn’t really have any plans, when I heard you tell your mother that you were going to Sams’. So let’s get packed.”
“No,” Chloe replied firmly.
“You’re going to break my mom’s heart,” he cautioned.
“You’re awful!” Chloe shot back.
Seth rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then put on his most mournful expression, making the saddest hazel puppy dog eyes she had ever seen.
“I should have asked you first, I know that. It’s just that I know you, I know how you think. I didn’t want to give you time enough to make up reasons why you couldn’t come. Maybe it’s not that I don’t want you to spend Christmas alone, maybe…maybe it’s just that I don’t want to spend Christmas without you,” he gave her a small, sad smile.
“You’re really awful,” Chloe said, but she was losing the battle to keep the smile off her own face. He must have read the signs because he seemed to know he had won his point. He slid an arm around her waist, and with his free hand, brushed the hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
“So, you need help packing?” he asked, with just a hint of smugness. He traced one finger around the curve of her earlobe and down her cheek. Chloe felt an odd little shiver race down her back.
“Ummm…” she cleared her throat and tried to ignore the feeling of his thumb running slowly and lightly just under her jaw. “Uhhhh…” she tried again, unsuccessfully.
“Ummm yes or ummm no?” Seth asked.
“No,” Chloe said and backed away. “I can…it’s fine…just need a few things.”
“Meet you downstairs,” Seth called after her.
* * *
Chloe turned in her seat to press her face against the window. She knew from the last road sign that they were approaching Marquette. The pines were thinning out, leaving just enough space to see the hint of blue beyond.
“Maybe fifteen more minutes,” Seth answered her unasked question.
Chloe sat back and rubbed her hands together nervously.
“So there’s Rachel…” she ticked off on her fingers.
“Yep, she’s the sister you met, the second oldest after me, she’s seventeen,” he agreed.
“Margaret, she’s thirteen,” Chloe continued, raising another finger.
“Maggie,” Seth corrected.
“And Beatrice…Bea, I mean, and she’s five,” Chloe listed.
“Right,” Seth agreed.
Then your Mom’s name is Agnes, your Dad is James, your Dog is Max, your best friend is Mike, --I already met him because he goes to school with us-- your Grandma and Grandpa Maird are coming Christmas day from Flint, and your Grandma Jacobs, your mom’s mom, lives in Arizona, and can‘t make it this year,” Chloe finished.
“Good, he complimented her, “And don’t forget Aunt Pen. The cousins aren’t coming this year, and she’s not sure if she’s coming or not, because whenever they can’t come she always says she’ll spend Christmas with us, but ends up buying a plane ticket and flying out to see them last minute.”
“Of course,” Chloe agreed. “And there’ll be someplace I can go shopping?”
“Yes, Clo! Marquette is not Birch Harbor, we even have restaurants that aren’t called the Eat or the Good Food, believe me or not,” he laughed.
Chloe groaned and rubbed her forehead.
“What?” he asked, still smiling.
“I have this really small problem with anxiety…sometimes. I feel kind of…kind of nervous or sick or something,” she explained.
“Really? I would never have guessed,” he deadpanned. “It’s going to be fine. Rachel is very excited that you’re coming. My mom is so excited that I have a girlfriend that she’d love you if you had three arms”
“You don’t bring a lot of girls home?” Chloe asked without thinking. Seth burst out laughing.
“Yeah, sure…all the time. If you’re asking whether or not I’ve had a lot of girlfriends, and it took you three months to go there, so bravo on that one, then the answer is no, I haven’t. With hockey and all the things I have going…I…my schedule is pretty full,” he smiled and shook his head.
Chloe let the silence hang in the car for a moment. Then, carefully applying her casual expression, she examined her fingernails.
“So then, you know, how many…girlfriends, were there?” she asked.
Seth snickered and glanced sidelong at her.
“Two. One in high school, she ended up going to college out-of-state, and one freshman year, and she ended up deciding that she was more into professors,” he shrugged.
“Ouch,” Chloe tried to sound sympathetic, but she felt like smiling.
�
�So quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter…how many?” he asked raising an eyebrow, tauntingly.
“Just this one guy,” she said quickly. “In high school, we only dated for a month or two.”
She hoped that she came across as natural and unconcerned. The closest she had ever come to dating a guy was the night a male patient at Woodhaven had sat outside and shared a cigarette with her. She didn’t even smoke as a rule, it was just that it was the only time someone had offered her one.
“And what ended that?” Seth asked.
“He smoked,” Chloe said truthfully.
The road curved and the trees fell away. On one side of the street, a strip of frozen beach edged the grey expanse of Lake Superior. On the other, a row of humble beach houses squatted shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Almost there,” Seth said, changing the subject.
Chloe watched the cold, deserted beach race along next to them until another patch of pine trees and scrub brush leapt up to cover her view. The scene flashed quickly between pines and beach several times, before becoming an unbroken army of trees once again. And then Seth was slowing, turning into a drive.
The pines bowed away to allow a drive and a tall, graceful, butter-yellow, Victorian-style house. Two high-peaked roofs, with decorative white trim work along the eaves, soared sharply upwards, and on the left side, a tower-like section, lined with windows and topped with a pointy sugar-cone roof of it’s own. A roofed porch, starting at the front door and circling around the tower and behind the house displayed a vibrant green pine garland looping across it’s rails. It was tied at every fourth post with bright red bows. Past the house, the trees ended and Chloe could see the sparkling grey of Lake Superior once again.
“THEY”RE HERE!” Chloe heard the call from inside the car with the windows rolled up tightly and the heat on full blast. Her stomach lurched.
A tiny, dark-haired girl launched herself off the front porch and ran towards the truck faster than her small legs could handle. She stumbled forward and almost face-planted on the driveway, but managed to recover in time, running a few more steps to hit the side of the truck with a resounding thud.
Seth cringed and laughed at the same time. He opened his door slowly, allowing the clumsy child time to back away.
“Alright, Bea, alright!” he laughed. “You’re gonna break your neck one of these days. Where’s my hug?”
The child lunged from the ground and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, swinging freely for a moment, while Seth choked and then got an arm under her. The front door opened and people began to spill out onto the porch, each, with Seth’s dark hair.
“Bea, this is Chloe,” Seth introduced them.
The child smiled shyly and buried her face against his chest. Chloe knew the feeling, she even envied the girl her ability to get away with it.
They walked towards the family on the porch. Chloe felt like every one of them was staring at her expectantly.
“Seth! Chloe!” a girl’s voice came from behind the group.
Rachel pushed her way to the front and bounced down the stairs to them. The rest of the family followed slowly behind, all wearing identical welcoming smiles.
“So glad you’re here,” Rachel threw an arm around Chloe and gave her a quick informal hug. Then she turned to Seth, faked a punch to his gut and hugged him instead. “Mom’s been yelling at everybody to clean faster all day!” Rachel complained.
“She’s lying,” Seth’s mom smiled serenely, but then fired a quick warning glance at Rachel. “Agnes Maird, I’m Seth’s mom.”
Chloe shook her hand.
“She wasn’t lying. Agnes really wants to impress you, so make sure you tell her how clean her house is, or we’re all going to get in trouble later,” Seth’s dad said solemnly. The girls all snickered.
“James!” Seth’s mom threatened, but she smiled in a resigned way and shook her head.
“James,” Seth’s dad repeated and held out his hand. Chloe shook that one as well.
“I’m Maggie,” another girl with long dark hair held out her hand. Her smile was a perfect mimic of Seth’s when he was up to something. “I’m the middle child, don’t pay any attention to me, nobody else does.”
“Oh geez,” Seth rubbed his face. “This is my family, family this is Chloe. Don’t worry, they take some getting used to, but they’re all very nice…mostly.”
“I’m the mostly,” James said, studying the sky, a hint of a smile on his lips.
“Mom’s the mostly!” Rachel argued.
“You have a beautiful house,” Chloe interrupted, looking at Seth’s mom.
“The house that pasties built,” Maggie said and the other girls giggled.
“Thank you, dear,” Agnes smiled at Chloe. “Well, come in. Come in before you all freeze!”
Chloe followed the tribe inside. There was a tiny wood-floored foyer beyond the door, with an old fashioned coat tree that seemed ready to topple over from the amount of winter coats slung over it. Directly in front of her, a long hallway stretched to the back of the house alongside a slightly-off center stairway. To her right, a wide-arched entryway framed a dark room with a table and chairs, most likely a formal dining area. To her left, another wide arched entry gave access to a spacious wood-floored living room. The far corner, which was rounded, was the base of the tower, and centered in it was the Christmas tree.
It was absolutely picture perfect. Every ornament was silver or gold. Many of them angels, some cherubic, some elegant flowing-haired women. Silver and gold ribbons meandered through the branches and met at the top in an artfully done, many-looped bow. Even the wrappings on the presents beneath it were all done up in silver and gold paper. Chloe took a step towards it.
“Your tree is…it’s so pretty,” she said.
“Oh, you uhhh…you like the tree?” Maggie asked, again arching an eyebrow in a look she had seen on Seth’s face too many times to count.,
“Well there you are, Mom,” Rachel grinned wickedly.
Agnes Maird gritted her teeth and rolled her eyes skyward.
“Here we go,” she said to the heavens.
“Mom changed the tree last year,” Seth explained. “We used to always have a crappy tree with mismatched handmade ornaments that we made when we were like, toddlers or something, and Mom decided that since we were all growing up, it would be nice to have a more formal tree, with a theme, that actually looked nice.”
“Not lovingly made keepsakes,” Rachel snickered. James smiled innocently.
“Thank-you Seth,” Agnes said, doing her best to ignore the others. “What they’re not telling you is, that I kept all the old ornaments and put them on the tree at my shop, where I see them everyday and can still reflect on the loving hearts of my family!”
All the kids and Seth’s dad laughed together, and even Agnes couldn’t help but smile.
“Well it’s…it’s really nice. I really like it,” Chloe stressed.
“Did I tell you I am so happy you’re here?” Agnes said warmly, “Because I am! These rotten kids, I tell you!”
“Yup, so glad you’re here,” James agreed. “We just didn’t have enough estrogen in this house.”
They all laughed again and Chloe smiled, feeling that she might actually be in on the joke.
“Come on upstairs, Clo,” Rachel said. “You’re staying with me, I’ll show you my room. Seth! Get her suitcase, you big dumb oaf!”
Upstairs, a short hallway ran in both directions with doors lining the walls on either side. Rachel turned left. Chloe followed.
Rachel’s room was painted a loud blue-purple and was plastered with posters of rock bands, paintings, and funny sayings like: “IF YOU CAN”T CONVINCE THEM, CONFUSE THEM!” Two floor-to-ceiling windows on the back wall gave an expansive view of Lake Superior, a beach, and a short dock. Rachel stood next to her bed, her hands clasped behind her back, and tried not to look too proud.
“Wow…great view,” Chloe said, “and really nice…room. Cool, I mean.”
> “Yeah,” Rachel agreed modestly. “I had to clean it up a bit. You can have the bed, I’m going to camp out on the floor.”
“Oh no…no you don’t have to do that, I’ll take the floor,” Chloe offered quickly.
“Yes I do!” Rachel argued. “You’re the guest. Sorry about all this. You probably thought you’d get to sleep in Seth’s room, but mom and dad are reallllly old-fashioned about things like that.”
“Oh no!” Chloe argued quickly, “No, that’s fine. I wouldn’t want- I…it’s… I’m fine this way.”
Rachel dropped onto the bed, drew her legs up and sat yoga-style.
“So I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff I want to ask, of course,” she began.
Chloe swallowed audibly. She was saved by the banging of a suitcase being dragged up the stairs.
“Oh hey, there’s Seth,” she exclaimed. Chloe backed towards the doorway and peered desperately into the hall.
Seth was hauling both their suitcases up the stairs, one on top of the other, and had a backpack slung over each shoulder.
“You show her around?” Seth called to his sister.
“No,” Rachel said with attitude.
“It’s because she’s extremely rude,” Seth explained, dropping their bags in the hallway. “Okay, this is Maggie’s room-” he tapped the door frame across the hall from Rachel’s. Chloe peeked inside. It was a tower-like room, lined with windows. An oak framed full-sized bed with a large patchwork quilt was pushed against the only straight wall. Strands of white twinkle lights wound around the exposed rafters of the cylindrical roof illuminating a dragonfly mobile and a long set of wind chimes with fairies. One framed poster hung on the wall. It was of Einstein standing at a chalkboard. There was a quote underneath him, but it was too small to read from the doorway.
“Used to be my room, but I up and left for college, so I lost my claim on it,” Seth explained. “And this is Bea’s-” he pointed to the door next to Rachel’s. Bea’s room looked like a flower garden. There was a mural hand-painted on one wall, depicting huge, strange-looking flowers of all colors. She had green curtains over her window and they were held back with loops of fake vines.
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