Chapter Five.
Jack
I watched the footage and shook my head in disbelief.
When Callie and the others entered the kitchen, a mist had been caught.
Harry had cleaned up the image, and we all saw it was a child, around six years old.
What totally lost my mind was a ghost watching the team as they returned to the kitchen and saw the items that had been placed there.
In a corner, near the pantry, stood the outline of a short woman, plump, wearing a dress from the nineteenth century.
She had a friendly face and was smiling as she took in their confusion. Somehow, I knew she was the one baking cookies.
“She is the epitome of Mrs Claus,” Freddie stated.
“She does have a kind face,” Callie agreed.
“You realise we’ve actually caught a ghost on camera?” Phil exclaimed.
“And can’t show it,” Connor said, and Phil’s enthusiasm collapsed.
“Damn, forgot about that. But this would prove we’re not a load of hacks,” he stated crestfallen.
“Yes, but we can’t. This won’t be going on TV. But Fiona and Simon will have the footage,” I replied.
“That’s something. How was the church?” Callie asked me.
“Nothing. Some of what they believed were shadow figures we were able to debunk. It was tree branches and movement. We didn’t get any hint of anything else.
There was a faint sound of music, but we tracked it back to a display.
It’s activated by movement, and when snow brushed past the sensors, it set the display and music off,” I said.
“Where do you want to go next?” Callie asked.
“Honestly, I think we should all stay where we all are. You two seem to be getting responses, so stick with it. Don’t let them get used to another team. I’m happy to hang out at the church and try to prove some of the other reports,” I replied.
“Not a problem,” Callie agreed.
I turned my head and saw Sunny settling into a deeper sulk. He’d hardly spoken a word at the church, content to hide behind the camera and not take part. Whatever was up his ass over Christmas, Sunny needed to get over quickly. Callie wasn’t messing around.
Sunny
I’d created this situation, and now I had no idea how to fix it. Not that I wanted to change how I felt about Christmas, but Callie was a different matter. She spoke to me, but like she did with a stranger, with perfect distant politeness.
“I fuckin’ hate Christmas,” I muttered as I trudged along the snowy path towards the church.
It was easy to pretend I didn’t hear the strangled gasp that came from the side of me.
Especially since there was nobody there, the worst thing was that I couldn’t even tell anyone why I felt the way I did, because I honestly didn’t really know myself.
Sure, I’d looked forward to a quiet Christmas going ahead, but with young kids, that wasn’t possible.
The feelings of being miserable and Scrooge-like had sunk into my bones, and I was happy embracing them. I wanted to burn every decoration in this town and bury all ho ho hos with the ashes. Lost in my thoughts, I stopped as I banged into Diaz’s back.
“What?” I snarled.
Diaz pointed. “They’ve moved.”
“Huh?”
“The snowmen have changed positions,” Jack said as Freddie filmed the snowmen.
“Got proof?” I demanded, and Jack frowned.
“Actually, Sunny, yes, we do. We filmed this on the way back to the hotel. Any further helpful insights?”
Wow, okay, I had to be bad if Jack had snapped at me. He was one of the easiest to get on with. If I’d upset him, then I was way past miserable. Unsure how to answer and not wanting to piss off the team I spent a lot of time with, I kept quiet.
“We’ll compare the two shots when we get back, but they’ve certainly moved,” Freddie said, sending me a glower as well.
“Let’s keep filming and head to the church; we might get activity now,” Jack replied.
Moving past them, I stomped forward, and something hit the back of my head. I spun around in temper; one of them had thrown a snowball at me. Instead of seeing guilt, they all gaped at me.
“Who threw that?” I snapped.
“Nobody,” Freddie answered.
“Someone did,” I insisted. Out of nowhere, a second snowball smashed into my chest, and I looked down.
What the fuck? I’d been facing them all, and none of them had moved.
“Who is out there? Who did you work this out with?” I demanded.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Sunny, I don’t know what crawled up your ass and died, but shut the fuck up. This area is well lit so that you can see all around us. If someone were throwing snowballs, we’d see them!”
Suddenly, four snowballs smacked into me. A childish laugh rose in the air and was quickly cut off. My temper snapped, and I bent down and rolled a large snowball and threw it back in the direction mine had come. A squeak sounded as the snowball hit something in mid-flight and splattered.
“Damn. Sunny hit a ghost!” Freddie exclaimed.
I stood, feet planted and arms crossed, daring anyone to throw more snowballs. Big mistake. Around thirty snowballs headed toward me all at once, and I couldn’t defend against them. They pounded into me, and I stumbled back.
I heard Freddie laugh, but it was cut off as she took one to the face.
Jack growled and took three snowballs. He crouched, making some of his own. I stared at Diaz, hoping she’d take my side. Nope, mischief crossed her face. The sharpshooter everyone had feared in the army bent down and began launching snowballs with the precision of a crosshair.
Before I could blink, a war had broken out, and the team’s laughter mixed with the children’s and adults who were invisible to us.
I stomped to one side, even as my heart warmed at hearing the joy in the children’s voices.
I moved away and sat on a rock as everyone cavorted in the snow.
Woo hoo, a snowball fight! Talk about a Christmas tradition. Jesus, could you get any cornier?
My glower encompassed the entire scene, human and ghosts alike. I wasn’t charmed, amused, or even heartened by this, and I didn’t bother withholding my disdain. Not even when more snowballs than I could count hit me at once and signalled the end of the fight twenty minutes later.
I wiped snow from my face. Nope, still hated Christmas.
◆◆◆
“Are we going to talk?” I asked Callie as she got ready for bed.
“What’s there to talk about? You’re determined to shit all over this, and your attitude is not helping. If you’d go, I’d send you back to New York State to wait for us.”
“Wow. Thanks, babe,” I replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, now you know how I feel.”
“Callie, I can’t help it. I can’t stand Christmas, but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you or the baby,” I said.
The fight left Callie, and her shoulders slumped.
“This whole village may seem like a cliché, but to me it’s magical.
I’d love to visit here at Christmas with the kids, but you’re destroying that dream for me.
I had desired to take my kids to Lapland.
Those dreams got me through many lonely, cold nights, Sunny.
And you’re just pissing all over this and not even trying to hide how you feel. ”
“Babe, this is a huge cliché, you’re right.”
“But can’t you find the magic in this? For me?” Callie almost begged.
I wanted to say yes, but I shook my head instead. Callie’s face fell, and I felt like a total asshole, but I’d not lie to her.
“Then I guess the baby and I will be celebrating Christmas without you and not as a family,” Callie replied and climbed into bed.
She turned on her side away from me as her words struck fear into me.
Did she mean she’d leave me alone at Christmas to live her dreams?
What the fuck? This was not what I envisioned for our future.
Maybe I needed to get my head around what she wanted and what it meant to give it to her.
Would it really break me to at least try?
Connor
Callie was pale when she came down for our version of breakfast, and it worried me a little.
This town was putting a wall between her and Sunny, and I wished I’d never brought them here.
Who’d have thought Sunny would turn out to be a raging asshole over Christmas?
I’d only ever seen him dote on her, so this was a complete turnaround for him.
I hoped he’d find his way out of the funk he’d settled into.
“Do me a favour, please, Connor. Sort the teams to investigate the workshop. We each need to take a level,” Callie murmured as she leaned over to me.
I nodded and watched as she played with her food.
She sipped her orange juice and spoke in a brief mutter to Jack.
Jack inclined his head and tilted his head towards me.
The atmosphere took a turn for the worse as Sunny entered.
Cherry rose and headed to him, and I hoped Sunny’s mom would knock some sense into him.
Cherry
Sunny’s behaviour was beginning to grate on me.
Liv had spoken to me last night, asking if she’d forced this attitude with her demands for Christmas as a child.
I’d assured her, no, Sunny had missed a good half of her childhood Christmases, having been abroad serving.
To make up for it, I often held half her presents back for when Sunny came home.
We then scheduled a second Christmas Day with all the decorations and trimmings.
Sunny needed a swift kick up his ass to remember that.
His behaviour was killing Callie, and I’d seen the lonely little girl she’d once been. Whether Callie realised it or not, that lost, abandoned child was staring out of her eyes right now. If my son couldn’t see that, then he was a damn fool. And I hadn’t raised an idiot.
“What the hell has got into you?” I demanded as I dragged Sunny to a spare table. He made to move away, and I speared him with my Mom look.
Sunny ground his teeth and sat down.