Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Wyatt
I enter the house, and my cheeks feel numb. “Look at you, Wyatt.” Mom smiles. “Your cheeks are just as rosy as Santa’s.”
“Mom, I’m not a kid anymore. I know Santa doesn’t exist,” I say, just as Casey walks by. She smacks me in the chest.
“Would you shut up, my kids don’t know that, and I will not have you ruining Christmas,” she warns, giving me the stink eye. Then she places a hand on each side of her mouth. “Kids and David, Wyatt is done working, we can leave.”
Cheers break out.
“Come to the kitchen and clean up,” Mom urges me. “I made you a bologna and cheese sandwich.”
I hate those but I keep my mouth shut.
While I am washing my hands in the kitchen sink, Mom places the sandwich on a plate and puts it on the kitchen island in front of a chair.
“Enjoy,” she says, and she turns out of the kitchen.
No way am I eating that. I place it in a wrap in the back of the fridge. I spot a container of mac and cheese and pop that in the microwave instead. It’s a large plastic container and it’s full, which is good because I am hungry, and I have a hearty appetite.
My sister walks into the kitchen and stops dead in her tracks. “Did you just take that out of the fridge?” she asks wide-eyed.
I shovel another large bite in my mouth before answering. “Yeah, why?”
“I made that for my kids for the car ride,” she says, irritation lacing her tone.
“Shit. Sorry.”
“Now they’re going to be cranky the whole way.” She rolls her eyes.
“Where the fuck are we going anyway?” I ask.
“Language, Wyatt,” she chides.
I wince.
“We’re going to Grams’s old cottage to spend Christmas there,” she explains.
“You’re fucking with me,” I say to her. They could not have been that excited about going to a boring cabin in the middle of Bumfucking, Nowhere.
Even if it does have a nice lake and scenery.
In the winter there is nothing to do there except maybe snowmobile and I don’t even know if the thing is still working, it must be so old by now.
“Language again, and what do you mean? We loved going to visit Gram in the summers,” Casey says.
“Keyword summers,” I repeat to her. I continue to eat the mac and cheese and she gives me an incredulous look. “There’s a bologna and cheese sandwich ready in the fridge.”
“Gross. My kids won’t eat that.”
“Okay then, I’ll make them Nutella sandwiches,” I concede.
“Fine, but you get to drive with them to the cabin hyped on sugar,” Casey says.
“The mac and cheese was worth it,” I assure her.
She rolls her eyes again but this time she has a playful smile on her face.
“This is going to be so boring,” I say to Casey.
“My kids are excited about the hot tub and building a snowman. We’re also going to do a campfire and make smores, and the Montgomerys are having their famous Christmas party.”
“They still have those? I haven’t been to one of those since I was seventeen,” I say. They were always so boring. I’d steal booze with some friends, and we’d go drink outside in the cold and cause trouble.
I head to my room and pack my suitcase because as it turns out my parents want to stay at the cabin until after New Year’s. Fuck me. It’s worse than being at home unless some of the old crew will be there, which I doubt, because college seniors have better things to do over the holidays.
We head out in two cars. Mom drives with Dave and Casey. I head out with Dad and my sister’s two ninjas, Taylor and Kai.
Casey gave them her iPad to share and said they should be quiet most of the way.
About ten minutes into the drive, Taylor and Kai are fighting because they can’t agree on a movie to watch. Kai undoes his seat belt and puts his feet on the ceiling.
Dad chuckles heartily at this antic.
“Kai, put your feet down, you’re getting the roof dirty,” I explain, but he doesn’t listen. Instead, he tries to pull the iPad out of his sister’s hands. Taylor has a death grip on that thing and they are basically tumbling around the back seat. I turn around to try and separate them.
“Do we need to pull over?” I ask them.
No response. Just more fighting.
Dad is laughing.
“I never fought with Casey. Why are you laughing?” I ask him.
“You and Casey had a big age gap between you. Ten years is a lot for kids. These two are only two years apart. Kai is the older one and he’s the boy, so they are basically the same age, which is why they are fighting.”
Dad was a social worker for most of his life, so I get that he understands these dynamics, but I spent my morning outside in the freezing cold and I just want some peace and quiet.
“I’ll give you each five bucks if you sit down and shut up until we get there,” I say.
Both Taylor’s and Kai’s eyes turn round and wide. I watch them contemplate my offer. They also look to each other for approval and when Taylor shrugs her shoulders, Kai agrees too.
That’s how I buy myself peace and quiet for the drive.
The snow falls the closer we get to the cabin.
“Did I tell you the Lockharts sold their house in town and spend the whole year at their cabin next door?” Dad asks. It’s the first real conversation he is having with me since I got home that doesn’t involve hockey or chores.
“No, you didn’t,” I say, grating my jaw.
This vacation keeps getting worse and worse.
The Lockharts’ daughter was in my class at school.
Willa was an annoying overachiever and drop-dead gorgeous.
She also won the last spot on our school’s mock trial team.
The very spot I was hoping to win for myself.
Even though the Lockharts lived a couple doors down from us, I never saw Willa.
She was too busy in her room studying. “What was Casey saying about a hot tub?” I change the subject because I pretty much had a crush on Willa Lockhart for all four years of high school.
Not only did she not look my way, she probably thought I was some dumb jock.
“It’s an amazing unit. Powerful and large. We got an amazing deal on it. It was installed between the two properties, so we only paid half. It’s a great deal because now your mom’s decided we should spend a lot more time up at the cabin and with my back problems it’s going to be the perfect fix.”
“Back up,” I say. “What do you mean it’s between the two properties?”
“We own the tub with the Lockharts,” he explains like it is obvious. “That way we only paid half and get to reap all the benefits.”
I’m really very confused. “So you and the Lockharts plan on spending your days in the hot tub together?”
Dad chuckles. “Don’t be ridiculous. Ned isn’t using that thing and neither is Sandy,” he says of Willa’s parents.
His argument doesn’t seem logical. Why would they pay for something they don’t plan to use?
“We got a good deal. That’s how we could afford it,” Dad explains with a wide smile.
Who am I to put a damper on his parade? It probably wasn’t a good deal but more that they paid for half of the tub.
“Are we there yet?” Taylor asks.
“You just broke your silence,” Kai chides. “Now I get your five bucks.”
They start to fight again and I slide down my seat ,but there isn’t much room to slide because I have long legs and they hit the glove compartment. I take my cap and put it over my eyes, and for the next twenty minutes I try to block out my niece and nephew bickering.