Take Me Home for Christmas

by Aiden Frost

  “No!” hollered Amanda over her shoulder.

  Amanda could hear Carter grumbling to himself as she continued down the hall, seeking out Shandra. She knew Carter meant well when he gave those theatre tickets to Max, but if he was expecting her to settle down, he was seriously mistaken.

  Shandra was in her new office, about a thousand boxes and stacks of folders spread out over and around her desk.

  “What in the world is going on in here?” Amanda asked as she entered the room.

  Shandra looked up, distracted, but then smiled when she caught sight of Amanda. “Oh, girl, you have no idea.”

  Shandra looked frazzled, her normal calm façade gone. And if Amanda wasn’t mistaken, those were the same clothes she was wearing yesterday.

  “You okay?” Amanda asked her. “Did you spend the night here?” She looked around, realizing the counter was covered in Chinese takeout containers and more coffee than a normal person should drink in a week.

  Shandra nodded her head as she kneeled down on the floor, flipping off the lid of a box and pulling folders from it.

  “What are you doing?” Amanda asked. “Is the office moving?”

  Shandra shook her head. She flipped a folder open, perused it, then flipped it closed in disgust. Shandra looked up at her suddenly, as if she’d just realized there was someone else in the room. “I need to have an excess of...” Shandra stood, moving to her desk. She shuffled through the papers before finding a florescent pink sticky note and ripping it free from the desk. “Here,” she said, stabbing her long red nail into the note. “I need to find $767,000. And about thirty-five cents.”

  “For what?” Amanda asked, astonished.

  “For overdue accounts, contract renewals, you know, the simple things that will mean the difference between having a job come the New Year... or not.”

  “I thought Max was using his personal money for this stuff?” Amanda moved further into the room, trying to find the bag of coffee hidden behind all the mess on the counter.

  “The boiled dumplings are really good too,” said Shandra.

  Amanda waved her off. “I’m fasting after my eating habits from last night.”

  “But you’re making coffee,” countered Shandra.

  “I’m fasting on all things fried, sweet or otherwise ill-advised on an upset stomach.”

  “Yeah,” said Shandra, “like coffee.”

  “Could we focus, please? Did Max decide against saving the company?” Maybe he really was a conceited bastard after all? Amanda was silently congratulating herself for not sleeping with him. Again.

  Shandra reached around her, grabbing the coffee pot before it finished brewing. She filled a cup and replaced it as the drips sizzled on the hot plate. “What time is it?” she asked.

  Amanda looked at the clock on the wall. It read sometime after three. That couldn’t be right. She dug her cell phone out of her purse. “It’s 9:22.”

  “It’s Friday?”

  “Yeah,” Amanda responded.

  “That means I have until Monday morning to figure all this out. After that, people will be on Christmas break and there will be no hope in getting this settled before the New Year.”

  “Could you please tell me what it is we need to figure out? I thought this was all taken care of?”

  Shandra turned to her, and she could see then why Shandra had been avoiding answering her directly.

  “I’m not supposed to know, am I?” said Amanda.

  Shandra shook her head. “Max thought after he decided to use his inheritance, that everything would just be taken care of for the next six months.” Shandra paused, uncertain. “There is a hold up with the release of his money.”

  “Okay,” said Amanda. “Until when?”

  “Until, we don’t know. Max was in his first year of college when his mother died. He was still dating his high school sweetheart at the time. His mother’s death was really hard on him. He appointed his girlfriend to handle the placement of his finances. There’s nothing wrong with where things are, but there wasn’t a temporary setup. Something went wrong—or something is different than he thought it was—and her name is still associated with the account. We need her to sign off before it can be accessed.”

  “But we got our Christmas bonuses, and I spent... a lot of money on the Christmas party.”

  “That was from Max’s savings account.”

  “Shit,” said Amanda.

  “Yeah,” said Shanda. “Exactly.”

  “Well, can’t we just contact this woman and have her sign the forms?”

  Shandra laughed, this ironic, diabolical laugh. “She a doctor. And she’s currently spending her holidays with Doctors Without Borders. She is technologically unreachable until she returns to a more established part of the country.”

  “Oh.” A pile of thoughts rambled through Amanda’s head. She was going to lose her job. Max had a high school sweetheart that was there for him when his mother died. Of course Max’s first love was a doctor now.

  “So... you’re to find a bunch of random money now?”

  “Yeah. Max knows he had multiple accounts set up. But, that time was hard on him. He barely remembers signing the papers, much less remembering the companies’ names fifteen years later.”

  “This is do or die now?”

  Shandra nodded.

  “Does everybody else know?”

  “No...” Shandra stared off out the window toward the rest of the office staff, forlorn. “I refuse to ruin anyone’s holiday. There’s enough money from the sale of Max’s house and car to pay out bonuses and hold off the worse of the creditors.”

  “That’s why Max sold his apartment? So now he’s essentially homeless?”

  “Yup,” said Shandra. Then she teased, “You really know how to pick ‘em.”

  “Hey! Max is a good man—”

  Shandra laughed. She wrinkled her nose at her coffee cup and set it aside. “It’s about time you said something sensible.”

  Amanda glowered at her, but then she turned, looking out the office doors. She caught sight of Carter, sitting on the edge of his desk, showing off pictures in his phone to Marie. He looked so happy. She wanted him to stay that way. Amanda turned back to Shandra. “Okay,” she said. “I’m helping. Tell me what to do.”

  AMANDA STOOD UP FROM her place on the ground. She was liable to have carpet impressions on her knees for a week. “I can’t do this anymore,” she said to Shandra.

  Shandra looked at her, her eyes sad. “I refuse to fail at this,” she said. “I need to find those accounts.”

  “I’m not giving up,” said Amanda. She moved to Shandra, offering her hand and pulling her to her feet. “But we need to eat, sleep, and sit somewhere more comfortable than this floor.”

  “My apartment is smaller than this office,” said Shandra. “And my car is smaller than this desk. There’s just no way we could move it all there.”

  “Doesn’t Carter drive one of those big, soccer mom vehicles?”

  Shandra shook her head. “I think that’s his wife’s vehicle. He usually drives a car.”

  “Crap.” Amanda said to herself. She had an idea, but she didn’t want to say it out loud. But there was this little... tingling in the back of her head that told her she was being and idiot. She was spending her time trying to save someone else’s business, yet she didn’t want to invite him—or Shandra—into her home. Amanda blurted, “We can bring everything back to my house. I’ll rent us an SUV for the week. My car sucks, and we can use the SUV through Christmas. We’ll go out in style,” she said, trying to make light of something that was very hard for her.

  “Are you sure?” asked Shandra.

  “Yeah,” said Amanda, trying to sound nonchalant. “I live outside the city. My house is bigger than anybody else’s place here. But...ummm, you’re not afraid of rabbits, are you?”

  “Rabbits?” asked Shandra, confused.

  “Yeah, those fluffy things that hop around. I kind of have one that lives
with me.”

  “In your house?” she asked.

  “Yeah, in my house.”

  “Huh,” said Shandra. “In my country, a rabbit is food.”

  Amanda’s mouth fell open. “If I invite you into my home, you will not eat my bunny!”

  Shandra chuckled. “Actually I’ve got an open spot in my belly right here for one of your salads.” Shandra rubbed her stomach. “Ooh!” she said, suddenly excited. “I can’t wait to see your garden.” Shandra turned, throwing lids on boxes and stacking folders. She turned back around, her face excited. “Can we pick up some beets? Make ourselves one of those braised salads?” Amanda nodded, and Shandra continued. “I’ll need to pick up some cozy clothes. Can we stop by my apartment quick?”

  “Of course,” said Amanda. She opened her mouth to speak, but Shandra was too excited to notice.

  “We’ll need a system, you and I. We’ve got to figure this out. Could you imagine if we find the money that saves the company? Max will have to throw a pretty big bonus our way, right? I wonder if it would be enough to get me out of my apartment? Maybe I should move further out of the city like you. But no, then I’d have to drive places and I prefer to walk. But maybe a townhome. Something right on the edge. A bit more room. Near the park...”

  Amanda continued to listen to Shandra prattle on about all her new ideas. She supposed she was allowed a bit of rambling after having not slept in two days and running on nothing more than Chinese food and caffeine.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  AMANDA AND SHANDRA sat together at Amanda’s bar top counter. Shandra had showered while Amanda prepared dinner, and they both seemed to enjoy sharing the job of cooking. The salad was excellent and Shandra looked much more relaxed now that she was clean and in a pair of sweats.

  “Do you want to work more tonight?” Amanda asked her.

  “I need to try,” said Shandra. “Tomorrow will be our only day to make phone calls. I want to have a list of names before then.”

  “We’re just randomly going to call places and see if Max has an account there?”

  Shandra stabbed another beet with her fork before answering. “I think we have to. I spent two days going through those boxes and they turned up nothing. We could spend two more days and lose out on any time to make the calls.”

  “Okay,” Amanda agreed. “But how are we going to make phone calls on Max Avery’s behalf? It’s not like either of us has a deep enough voice.”

  “You could pretend to be his wife,” Shandra suggested.

  Amanda shook her head, vehement. “I’m pretty sure even that doesn’t get you past the gate-keepers of financial accounts.”

  “It doesn’t have to get you past them, it just needs to get you to them. We don’t need to know anything else, besides which company Max’s holdings are at.”

  Amanda sighed. “Can’t you?”

  Shandra shook her head. “No. I have enough of an accent that if I start calling for my ‘husband,’ they’ll immediately flag me as some kind of con artist. Plus, the whole idea makes me nervous. I’m not a very good liar.”

  “Oh!” said Amanda, turning to her. “But it’s okay for me to be a liar?”

  Shandra shrugged, then swirled her crust of bread through the remaining vinegar dressing on her plate.

  Amanda blew out a puff of hot air. “This is ridiculous,” she said. “You and I have only been friends for six months, and yet you’ve gotten me in more trouble in the last month than I have in my entire life.”

  “What trouble are you in?” Shandra asked, eyeing her.

  Amanda lowered her head, her eyes catching Bunny as he hopped off with one of Shandra’s slippers. Amanda’s voice was quiet. “I went on a date with Max last night.”

  “Ooohhh!” Shandra squealed, almost scaring Amanda clear off her stool. “Tell me. Tell me!”

  Amanda looked up at her beneath her lashes. “It was really nice,” she admitted. Amanda stood, walking into her bedroom and coming back with the picture from the other night. She handed it to Shandra. Shandra looked at her a moment before opening the cardboard cover.

  Her eyes grew huge when she saw the picture. She stared at Amanda with disbelief. “You got Max Avery to take a picture with you and Santa Claus?” Shandra stared back at the picture. “You two look adorable.”

  Amanda took the picture from Shandra’s hands and held it in her lap. “I screwed up though.” Amanda looked down at the picture. They really did look happy.

  “What happened?” asked Shandra.

  “He wanted to come home with me.”

  Shandra’s brow wrinkled, not understanding.

  “I didn’t let him,” said Amanda.

  “Oh.” Shandra looked around, then said, “But you let me come here.”

  “I know. Even that was hard for me.” Amanda shrugged, suddenly feeling ridiculous.

  “Well, thank you,” said Shandra, reaching out and placing her hand on Amanda’s knee. “But I’m not the one you’re going to fall madly in love with and live happily ever after with.”

  Amanda rolled her eyes at her.

  “What?” said Shandra. “You even said you’d given up on looking for a Prince Charming. Whether you admit it or not, it’s what you want. You gave up because too many men have disappointed you. And you’ve given up because you’re scared of getting exactly what you want, and then having it taken away.”

  Amanda opened her mouth, wanting to argue. She closed it, thinking. “It was the best frickin’ date I’ve ever had. And there was nothing special about it. We just... hung out. We ate too much fudge and too much bar food and just... talked.”

  Shandra scrutinized her. “You were drunk?”

  “No,” said Amanda. “That’s the thing. We didn’t go to the pub until the very end of the night. I think I sipped half a glass of wine, if that.”

  “So you had fun with him and you were both sober?”

  “Yeah. No one knew us there. That’s what Max said—we could be ourselves because no one knew us.”

  “And you still didn’t let him go home with you?”

  Amanda shook her head, disgusted with herself. “No. What’s wrong with me?”

  “You’re a typical girl from a messed-up home whose carrying more than her share of baggage. You’re like me—you don’t think you deserve anything nice when you feel like you’re broken.” Shandra clamped her mouth shut, staring down at her empty plate. “I’ve been up too long,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

  Amanda hitched her under the elbow, pulling her to her feet. “You have been up to long, but you’re exactly right. I don’t know how to change that though. I don’t know how to figure out who I should let into my world and who I should keep out. I wish I had a magic ball—something that would tell me who I could trust and who I couldn’t.” Amanda shook her head. “Being alone for the rest of my life terrifies me. But I’m just as terrified of being hurt.”

  “I wish I had the answers for you,” said Shandra, “but I haven’t figured them out for myself.” She allowed Amanda to lead her out of the kitchen and toward the bedroom. “I do know that I want to fix this for Max though. He’s a good man. His father is an even better man. They deserve to be okay. And I think the more I feel better about myself, the more I feel like I deserve to be happy. I’ve wanted to move out of my crappy apartment since the day I moved it. But still, I punish myself because I know what my family’s life is like back home.” She steadied herself against the wall as Amanda pulled the pillows from the bed, replacing the pillowcases.

  “We’ll figure this out,” Amanda told her. “But right now you need some sleep. You’re barely standing upright. I’ll put together a list of names that I can call come morning. Now, sleep,” she commanded of her.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  AMANDA WOKE TO FIND Shandra sitting cross-legged in her living room chair, Bunny curled up in her lap, and a notebook resting on his little head.

  “Morning,” Amanda mumbled, trying t
o unfold her body from the couch.

  “Good morning,” said Shandra, smiling at her.

  “Did you sleep okay?” Amanda turned her eyes to the window. “It’s still dark outside.”

  “I don’t sleep much,” said Shandra. “I’m usually up early and go for a run. But there’s no street lights here. I figured I’d get lost and no one would ever find me again.”

  Amanda chuckled. “I’m not that remote out here.”

  “I like it,” said Shandra. “The quiet was weird at first. But then Bunny here asked me for a cuddle and suddenly things seemed okay.”

  “You have a hard time relaxing your mind?” Amanda asked her.

  “It’s always busy,” said Shandra. “Which is good a lot of the time, but...” she shrugged.

  “Yeah,” said Amanda. “You want breakfast or coffee or anything?”

  “Not yet.” Shandra turned around the notebook she was holding. “Tell me about this.”

  Amanda leaned forward in the darkened room. Shandra held her notebook where she’d been writing down all her ideas and plans for the rooftop. “Gimme a minute,” said Amanda. “I’ve got to pee and I feel like there’s rocks in my eyes.”

  Amanda left for the bathroom. As she splashed water on her face, she wondered how much she should tell Shandra about the rooftop plan. She knew Shandra was the reason it was even an idea, but what if she took over? What if she took on the project as her own? But Amanda knew nothing about rooftop escapes, and Shandra had a way about her. She knew how to get things done. Amanda returned from the bathroom and started a pot of coffee.

  “Look at this,” said Shandra, excitedly. She turned the notebook around for Amanda to see when she walked back into the room. Shandra had sketched another version of the rooftop, this one drawn out in a view from above. “Look at the advertising we could do with a great aerial view.”

  Amanda moved next to her, kneeling on the ground. “Is that an ‘A’?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” said Shandra, “for Avery. I was just playing around, trying to find a main focal point.”