25. What Do The Lonely Do At Christmas
WHAT DO THE LONELY DO AT CHRISTMAS
K andi
“It just didn’t feel like Christmas with you gone.” My older sister, Holly, pouted as she rested her head on her boyfriend, Chris’s, shoulder. She rubbed her ankle and smiled sadly at me.
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I couldn’t avoid it.”
“This new job is requiring too much of you. I would love to give that new boss of yours a piece of my mind,” my mother, Christina Jolly, stated as she handed my father a bourbon and sat on his lap with her spiked eggnog.
“It’s just one year out of many. We had the memories, and she’s here now, so let’s make the most of it,” my father, Nick Jolly, remarked before kissing my mother’s upturned cheek.
“But we didn’t get to spend her birthday with her, and that’s what upsets me the most. I have never been away from my child on her birthday since she was born,” my mother argued.
“Baby, she’s twenty-nine. It was bound to happen sooner or later,” he objected.
Holly hid her giggle behind her hand. My big brother, Nicky, shook his head. We were all used to the shenanigans. Our parents would argue about us back and forth like we weren’t in the same room with opinions of our own.
“Do you like the new job?” Nicolette, Nicky’s girlfriend, asked. Nicolette was lying on the floor with her head in Nicky’s lap. He was pulling his fingers through her curls.
“I love it. Honestly, it’s not a new job but a new role at the same company. It was a promotion that was unexpected, and it came with a twenty-thousand-dollar salary increase. So I couldn’t complain.”
“How soon can we eat? I’m hungry,” Nicky complained.
“Well, if Kandi were here yesterday, it would all be done. As it was, I wasn’t inspired to cook until she arrived today, so we have another thirty minutes,” my mother stated.
My father had an old Temptations Christmas album playing softly in the background.
It was adding to my melancholy. As I looked around the room and saw Nicky and Nicolette playfully teasing each other, my mother sitting on my father’s lap and him nuzzling her neck, and Holly and Chris singing “Give Love On Christmas Day” to each other, I couldn’t help but think about Kayn.
With all the gifts that he had been given over the last few days, I was certain the best gift that any of us could have given him was love. He had been sorely lacking in it, and considering how his parents behaved, it was no wonder he was starved for love.
I wondered what he was doing now. I missed his touch and having his arms wrapped tightly around me. I missed his smile and his smooth, rich voice. I missed the way he fought the urge to laugh about something and smirked instead, but the humor couldn’t be erased from his eyes.
I hopped up from my spot on the floor by my parents and stated, “I’ll be back.
” I headed into my old bedroom to call Kayn.
I knew that he had to be feeling lonely because he didn’t have any plans.
It made me think about Christmases past, and I wondered what he used to do on Christmas Day.
No one should be alone, especially when they had someone who cared for them a great deal.
“Hello?”
“Hey.”
“Hey, baby. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. I was just thinking about you and wondering what you were doing.”
“Sitting here watching an old Christmas movie.”
“You? That’s a shocker,” I teased.
“You act as if I don’t watch movies.”
“I know that you watch movies, but can we admit that before this week, you were a bit of a Scrooge with your bah-humbug attitude?"
“I was not.”
“Yes, you were.” I giggled.
“Okay, you’re making it worse than what it was.”
“Kayn, how about we take a survey of the people you know, especially your staff.”
“Never mind. You’re doing too much now, little girl. Did you like your Christmas gift?”
“Which one?”
“The CD.”
“That’s all I was playing when I first got here. It made me realize that I left my CD player at home when I moved out.”
“I can see how that might happen. No one listens to them anymore. They’re kinda archaic.”
“Yet, you bought me a CD.”
“Somehow, I thought you might have one or know where to find one.”
“Screw you, Kayn.”
“I would like that very much. A man couldn’t ask for a better Christmas present.”
I giggled and rested my hand on my belly. With my eyes closed, I whispered, “You’d better stop before you turn me on.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It is when you’re not here to relieve it.”
“Arrangements can be made.”
“I like the way that you’re sounding, Mr. Kayn. You sound like you’re in the spirit of giving.”
“I am. I got a whole lot that I can give to you, Kandi.”
“Mm. Glad that you see things my way. I guess I brought you around to the light.”
He chuckled. “You made me a believer, okay?”
“Well, since I did that, how about you come over for Christmas dinner with my family and me?” He paused for so long that I thought he had hung up after a while. “Hello?”
“I’m still here. That wasn’t exactly the type of giving that I was thinking about. My spirit of giving involved you and me getting naked in private, with me between your thighs and you screaming my name.”
“Mmm, . . . not quite what I was thinking.”
“I noticed.”
“But it does sound like a lovely way to top off a perfect day. So, what do you say about dinner?”
“Nah, I’m good. I’m tired. I’ve showered, and I’m just watching this movie to help me fall out, Kandi.”
“Have you eaten?”
“I was about to make a couple of sub sandwiches.”
“That sounds so pathetic. Subs on Christmas Day when you could be eating a Christmas ham, macaroni and cheese, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans with red potatoes, and?—”
“Okay, okay. What you tryna do, torture a man?”
“No, just telling you how pathetic you are.”
“Damn.” He chuckled. “You don’t take it easy on a nigga, do you?”
“Not when that nigga ain’t acting right. I mean, that’s the least you can do considering that I had to spend an impromptu week with your family, spent my birthday alone in a hotel, and most of Christmas Day traveling.”
“Hey, I tried to make up for the birthday. You told me it was the best you ever had.”
“And was. But still, that doesn’t negate the fact that I had to be alone for most of it. Besides, that can’t make up for the entire week with your family.”
“You saying you don’t like my family?”
“Saying y’all come with your share of drama.”
“That we do,” he replied with a thoughtful tone. “Tell you what. Text me the address, and I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.”
I ended the call, jumped off the bed, and did a fist pump before I started dancing. The smile that took over my face was cheesy, but I didn’t care. My baby was on his way over.
I stopped dancing and thought about that. It was odd how quickly I considered him my baby. I needed to slow my ass down. I headed downstairs and found my mother and sister in the kitchen.
“Mama, can we have one more for dinner?”
“Sure, baby. The more, the merrier. Who is it?”
“That boss of mine who you wanted to give a piece of your mind.”
Mama and Holly turned and stared at me in confusion.
“He didn’t have anyone to spend the holidays with. He’s been such a Scrooge in the past that no one wanted to be bothered with him. I thought if anyone could change him and help him find the Christmas spirit, it would be us,” I explained, pouring it on thick.
“Sounds like we have a mission, baby. Go ahead and set another place at the table while your sister and I put the finishing touches on the meal.”
“Thanks, Mama,” I replied and kissed her cheek and Holly’s before I dashed off.
I heard snickering and my mama whispering, “She ain’t fooling nobody,” as I left the kitchen, but I didn’t care.