by Rebel Hart
I tossed the strap over my shoulder and headed out the door. I had to talk to Chris, then I could decide what to do.
16
Chris
I had never been the type of guy to walk down the street all smiles, whistling a tune. In fact, usually when I saw guys like that I wanted to stop them and ask for the number of whatever doctor they saw that was giving them such a good Xanax prescription.
But I guess now I was on a different sort of drug. Hazel had stirred something up inside of me, and I had some idea of what she must feel walking down the street during December, admiring all the lights and decorations, basking in all the music and everyone’s collective good mood.
It didn’t go unnoticed at the office either. My assistant immediately thought I was sick because I was so happy and nicer than usual. She didn’t know that I could finally confirm their Christmas bonuses later that afternoon, and it was always a good day when you got to give people money and then go home to have dinner with a beautiful, smart, funny, clever woman.
But my first item on the agenda that day was to review a few marketing plans with our PR lady, Brenda. She had compiled some vintage stock ads from Palmers back in my grandfather’s day and was suggesting using them again to remind people that we were more than just a store. We were a family tradition.
“I love it,” I told her, scanning the old black and white and sepia toned photos and illustrations spread across my desk.
“You do?” she asked, seeming surprised. “Sir, that’s great! I was excited about this idea. I just wasn’t so sure you would…”
“No, I say run with it.” My eyes focused in on one picture in particular. A Rockwell style illustration of a family sitting around a table for Christmas dinner. “Mind if I hold on to this one?”
“Not at all,” she replied, gathering up the rest of them to take with her.
“Great work, Brenda. Thank you. Can you send my assistant in on your way out?”
“Certainly, sir.”
When my assistant popped her head in, I requested for her to send one of our staff personal shoppers up to meet with me. That photo sparked an idea, and I had some shopping to do.
We walked around the store as she scribbled notes and barked orders at the salespeople while I fired off a list of things I needed and pointed to various things I needed to purchase.
Around housewares, my phone rang. I checked the screen and saw it was my mother.
“Hey, I’m glad you called me back,” I answered. “I have an idea I wanted to tell you and Dad about. More than an idea. A plan. I want you both and Ann and the kids to come to my place for dinner on Christmas Eve. I’ll take care of everything. All you have to do is show up.”
“Christmas Eve?” she replied, not sounding too thrilled.
“I know you two don’t have plans. You never do. Why shouldn’t we spend the holiday together?”
“Actually, son...in light of your father’s retirement, this time we do have plans. We’re packing now and leaving in the morning for a two week cruise through the Caribbean. I’m sorry to put a damper on your dinner plans, dear. But you’ll have to carry on without us.”
I turned to the personal shopper, who was holding up two different napkins for me to choose from. I pointed to one and directed my attention back to my call.
“The Caribbean?” I repeated. “You’re leaving in the morning?”
“I’m afraid so,” she said, but her tone didn’t sound sorry at all.
“Mom, let me talk to Dad. Is he nearby?”
I heard the shuffling of the phone being passed off followed by my father’s voice. “Son! Did your mother tell you the good news? We’re finally getting that extended vacation we’ve been dreaming about for years. I feel bad that now you’re stuck in the same spot I was for so long. Chained to that drowning company. But I know you’ll see us through. Like your mother says, I have to let go at some point.”
“Dad, couldn’t you guys put the cruise off until after the new year?” I proposed. “Surely one benefit of enjoying your retirement is that you can spend more time with your family now. And I’ve been thinking...We really don’t spend enough time together. Don’t you want to see your grandkids for Christmas?”
“It’s a lovely idea, Chris. But maybe next year.”
“I have a feeling that’s going to turn into an endless string of ‘maybe next year’s until something happens and it’s too late,” I sighed. “I’m insisting, Dad. Just do this for me. One dinner is all I’m asking...Just us family.”
“Your mom’s heart is quite set on this cruise,” he answered. “I am sorry, but...not this time.”
I hung up the phone, exasperated. The shopkeeper still wanted my opinion on this tablecloth or that, and what china did I decide on? I sucked up all my determination and carried on with it until we were finished. I didn’t know how I was going to make this work with my parents dead set on a tropical cruise in the middle of Christmas, but I had to come up with something.
I finished all the shopping and gave the instructions for everything to be delivered to my place. After the bonus announcement to all the employees, my mood felt lifted again. I could find some way to pull this off.
I went home and set to another task that I rarely gave any thought to, much less attempted myself. I poured a glass of wine and started wrapping presents I had bought for everyone. I could have paid someone to do it, but it was the kind of thing Hazel would say you should do yourself. It makes the gift more special if it’s wrapped by hand, and I agreed.
Once I had a few glasses down, I started to get in a good groove of wrapping and tying each one up with ribbon. Then, my phone rang again. This time it was my sister calling.
“Ann, did you get my message?” I stood and looked around the chaotic spread of wrapping paper, tape, and bows.
“Yes, what’s this urgent matter all about? I take it you’ve been following what they’re saying about you online?”
“You can’t pay attention to that kind of stuff,” I said dismissively. “No, the urgent matter is actually about our Christmas Eve plans. I need your help. Mom and Dad are set on going off on some cruise, but it’s really important to me that we get together for a family dinner. I want to see you all.”
“You just saw us at the gala, Chris.”
“No, I mean really see you,” I argued. “I want us to sit down and have a meal together and just...talk, you know? I want to know about what’s going on in your lives beyond what I can read on Forbes.com.”
“Chris, I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately,” she shot back in an irritated tone. “But Joey and I are busy, as I’ve told you many times. And it sounds like Mom and Dad are too. With everything going on in the company, this is really no time for you to be cracking up and worrying over some frivolous holiday.”
She ranted on for a moment more before I finally realized she wasn’t going to budge. I hung up the phone and stood in silence for a moment, trying to force myself to accept that I just didn’t have that kind of family.
No. I decided I wasn’t going to let that be the end of it. I left the present wrapping mess in the middle of the floor and called my driver around to take me to my parents’ house. I barged in past all of the staff and showed myself up to their bedroom, littered with suitcases and stacks of clothes.
“Mom? Dad?” I called out, circling the room.
“Chris?” my mom appeared around the corner, looking shocked. “What on earth are you doing here? I thought I told you…”
“I’m here because I am practically begging my family to get together for Christmas, but everyone is apparently too busy! How do you not see the problem with this?”
“It’s just one day out of one year, darling. There will be other Christmases…”
“But it’s not just one year,” I told her, shaking my head. “It’s every year. Every single year. We never make the time for each other, and I’m beginning to think that’s why this holiday feels so empty to all of us. We’re
missing the most important part in the equation...This family.”
“You’re being dramatic,” she waved. “It’s that Hazel girl that has you all riled up, isn’t it? I knew from the looks of her that she was too sentimental. I just didn’t think she’d manage to get you all worked up along with her. You’re smarter than that, son.”
I could feel my blood boiling inside as I clenched my fists, trying to hold it together. “You actually don’t know much about me at all, Mom. You wouldn’t know because you haven’t asked. Because we haven’t been able to have a conversation longer than five minutes when we weren’t at some fundraiser or networking event. If wanting to change that makes me too sentimental...Well, then yeah. I guess I’m guilty. But I don’t see the problem with that.”
Her face dropped as my Dad came in behind her, looking back and forth between us. “What’s going on here?”
“Your son was just explaining to me, his own mother, that I apparently know nothing about him.”
“I don’t say that to hurt you,” I insisted. “Please...I’d like for it to change. I want everything in our family to change. I want us to be closer...to really get to know each other. And now is as good a time as any to start.” I stopped for a moment, letting my pleas sink in. “Could you guys just do me this one favor and...stay. Don’t go on this cruise. Stay and have this dinner with your kids. Your grandkids. I’m not asking much. There will be plenty of other cruises after Christmas.”
I waited, full of hope that they’d change their minds. But the longer I stood there in silence while they avoided looking me in the eye, I knew it was all in vain. Nothing I could say would stop them.
Just before walking out, I stopped and faced them one last time. “Did you ever consider that maybe the reason our family business is failing...is because we don’t have much of a family left? Or...maybe we never did.” I pulled the folded illustration from my pocket and smirked at it. The thing that sparked my whole idea in the first place. It hurt to look at now, so I walked over and placed it on their bed. “I wonder what Grandpa would say about us if he could see us now.”
17
Hazel
It was starting to get dark out and I still hadn’t heard anything from Chris. Our original plans for dinner were supposed to start in an hour, but he wasn’t answering my calls or texts. Meanwhile, I was endlessly stewing everything over in my head about what to do with the article. I knew if I could just talk to him...we could figure something out together. But apparently that was the one thing I couldn’t do.
When I felt overwhelmed with problems, long before I ever knew the comfort of Chris’s arms existed, there was one place I could always go to feel better. I called a cab across town to my parents’ house and was relieved to see their cars in the driveway. Payton’s car was there too, which only made it better. I needed my mom and sister to talk through this with me until I heard from Chris.
I used my key to let myself in and was surprised to see everyone already gathered at the kitchen table. “Oh, hey. Everyone’s here. Good,” I murmured, marching into to plop down next to them. “I’m having one hell of a day.”
“Oh no, dear. I’m sorry. Well, you can tell us all about it,” my mom smiled awkwardly, jumping up from the table. “Let me get you something. Hot cocoa? Juice?”
“Dad’s bourbon,” I groaned.
“Coming right up!” she sang, flitting over to the liquor cabinet.
I noticed immediately that something was off. Everyone had weird smiles plastered on their faces and were staring at me with a certain kind of fear in their eyes.
“What’s going on?” I asked in alarm.
“Nothing!” Payton smiled wider. “Nothing at all!”
Dad slid his hand across the table to hold mine. “What happened, sweetie? Why was it such a bad day?”
I knew they were all being way too nice, but I was also too flustered to care about whatever other weirdness they had going on.
“It’s this article about Chris and the annual display,” I explained. “My editors want me to go ahead with the original piece I wrote, which wasn’t very nice...at all. And apparently everyone is publishing all this awful gossip about him and the company now. So we have to put out something, and it can’t be the positive article I was working so hard to rewrite. I don’t know what to do. I want to be honest...but I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Oh honey, that’s terrible,” my mom cooed, delivering the glass of liquor I requested. “And Chris seems like such a nice man once you get to know him. What a shame that everyone is attacking him.”
“Yeah. He’s a cool dude,” Payton agreed. “I’m sure it will all work out though! You’ll figure out the right thing to do. You always do! Isn’t that right Dad?”
“Of course!” he answered enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastically. “There hasn’t been a bad day yet you haven’t survived. And if anyone knows how to come up with the perfect solution for something, it’s you. I know that much.”
Payton and my mom started nodding in agreement like crazy, and suddenly I felt less passive about the vibe in the room. “What’s going on here? Why are you all acting so weird?”
“Us? Weird?” Mom blushed and laughed. “No, never. Especially not right now. We’ve just had one too many Christmas cookies or something. I’m always telling you that sugar can really do a number on you!”
“Yes, way too many cookies. But everything’s fine! Totally one hundred percent fine!” Payton insisted.
I watched them all staring back at me, looking even crazier than they did a minute ago. “Why am I suddenly having flashbacks of that time everyone sat me down to tell me the cat ran out in the street…” I braced myself against the table, realizing something bad was about to happen.
“Well...there is just one tiny little thing we need to tell you,” Mom said slowly, like she was handling a ticking time bomb. “But maybe now isn’t the best time with everything else that’s happened.”
“When the hell else would we tell her?” Payton snapped. “Christmas Eve is the day after tomorrow!”
“Okay, you’re all really starting to freak me out now,” I fretted. “What’s going on!?”
Mom reached out for my hand and squeezed it tight. “Oh honey...it’s just that...well, we know how important our family Christmases are to you. But...as it turns out...we might be doing things a little different this year.”
“What do you mean...different?”
“Different as in...huh, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll just spit it out. Different as in your father and I...We won’t be here.”
“What!?” I shrieked.
“One of my clients gave us tickets for a free trip up into Canada!” Dad interjected quickly, trying to circumvent my freak out. “There’s all sorts of tree farms we’re going to tour, and we’re getting treated to a stay at a top notch skiing resort! Isn’t that wonderful!?”
“All expenses paid,” my mom gushed. “Hazel, sweetie...I know it’s Christmas and all, but we just couldn’t turn it down! Your dad has always wanted to take a trip like this, and it just fell right into our laps! Like a Christmas miracle!”
“But...not having you here on Christmas,” I pouted. “It won’t be the same without you.”
“We promise we’ll make up for it next year,” Mom smiled with a nervous hope.
I hated the idea of celebrating without them, but then I started thinking...They did deserve a trip away together, and Dad had been dreaming of a tour like that in Canada for years. Maybe it was their own little Christmas miracle, and I certainly didn’t want to be the one to put a damper on it.
“You know, it’ll be okay,” I decided finally. “We’ll miss you like crazy, and it won’t be the same. But maybe I can stay here at the house while you’re gone! Payton, Margo, and I can carry on all the usual traditions. It’ll be kind of nice for us to have the sister bonding time!”
“Uh, actually,” Payton chimed in, clearing her throat. “There’s something else. T
he thing is...I won’t be here either.”
“What!?” I shrieked again, even louder than before.
“Josh invited me to come with him to his family’s Christmas back in Oregon,” she explained. “And I’ve never been anywhere else for the holidays. I thought it sounded exciting, and he really wants me to meet his mom.”
“You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me!” I groaned, dramatically sinking back in my chair. “How long have you and Josh even been dating!? Like two months!?”
“Four,” she corrected sheepishly.
“And you’re ditching your own family on Christmas to go spend it with people you’ve never met and one guy you barely even know! No, you can’t do this. I won’t let you. Mom and Dad leaving is bad enough, but you can’t go too. No, no, no.”
“Honey, don’t you think you’re being just a little hard on your sister?” Mom suggested gently. “I told her it was a great year for her to spread her wings a little, with us having these plans to be gone and all. Maybe you could find something new and special to do as well!”
“Yeah, you’ve been doing everything else with Chris,” Payton noted. “Can’t you two make your own plans or something?”
“Oh that’s just great, Payton! Yeah! Hi Chris, I know I was just forced to publish a really nasty article about you, but I’m pathetic and have no one else to spend Christmas with...so what do you say? Wanna hang out? Ugh, get real.”
“Sweetie, I think your mom and sister are right,” Dad said. “You might be overreacting just a tad.”
“No!” I flew to my feet. “Going into the living room and tearing down our sham of a Christmas tree would be overreacting! And believe me, I thought about it! Why even have it if we’re not going to gather around it for Christmas!?” I started storming towards the door. “I can’t believe all of you.”
I pulled out my phone as I walked out, slamming the door behind me. My hands were shaking with anger as I rushed to call Margo, but there was no answer.