43. Christmas Eve Eve #2
“For being here.” I blink back at him and really look at him. “For knowing I needed you.”
“You need me?”
“Always. You’re my best friend.”
Archer’s face looks back at me, hopeful, and almost pained.
I smile up at him as I take the next step down. I’ve never been so grateful to him.
“Erika?”
I stop once more on the next step. “Yeah?”
The pause lasts longer than it should with additional silence from downstairs.
“Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Archer.” My smile almost hurts my face. It’s the biggest smile I’ve released since the night of the mixtape.
He’ll never know how much it means to have him here with me in Blitzen to experience all of this. My emotions already heightened, I take to the curve of the staircase.
Helen’s staring blankly at her phone as I reach the bottom. My heart plummets to my feet.
“Tell me,”
Helen shoves a local news feed in my face.
“It’s not him, I promise. He’s not one of the injured. I’m calling the chief’s wife to prove it to you.”
My alarm goes off, and I recognize my normal wake-up hour set for Christmas Eve and today’s events. My stomach aches and growls and I squint when the sun shines through the living room window across the sectional where I apparently fell asleep.
How could I fall asleep?
Archer’s snoring on the other end, and quite nearly a thousand text notifications fill my phone, from Merry Christmas to Have you heard anything from Kourt?
I blink my eyes open to clear the fog and zero in on one particular notification for a local news article.
Boonesborough County Lumber Mill fire is coming into containment this Christmas Eve morning with three firefighters in critical condition at Pikesville Regional.
It’s not known what fire departments the victims are from.
Their identities have not been released.
There is no word on just how much damage has been done to the lumber mill.
I fly off the couch like a psychopath who just heard Kourt’s name listed among the three.
Calm down.
If it was one of our guys, the chief’s wife would’ve called us by now.
I’m met with a fully dressed-to-the-nines Aunt Josie as my socks slide me into the kitchen. A drink holder of iced coffee sits sweating on the counter, and her stiletto nails crack a raw egg into her juice glass. She’s wearing a full face of makeup.
Just as my worried mind tries to distract itself with some sarcastic thought about her waking up at four in the morning to shellac foundation on with a butter knife—her signature scent assaults my senses.
I don’t know exactly what kind it is, I just remember playing with the bottle when I was a little girl.
Something with Caesar and pheromone in the title, and to my dismay, the decadent, overpowering scent of what gold should smell like consumes me.
Overwhelmed with emotion and the precious memories of my bold Great Aunt Josie in all her infamous glory, I lunge toward her and throw my arms around her.
“Oh, Aunt Josie—” My tears stain the collar of her blouse, and she doesn’t flinch, but pulls me closer to her swan-like neck.
“ ‘Put your arms around me and hold me tight!’ It’s what you used to say to me when you were a child.
You all but demanded it when you’d beg to sleep with me and stay up late to watch old movies.
” Aunt Josie strokes the back of my hair.
“Rapunzel was your very favorite fairy tale, and you must have made me read it a million times. It’s still in your trunk, you know.
The one we bought at the estate sale and had it refinished in fabrics from India. ”
I sniffle and try to stop from shaking, as the tears continue to fall. I haven’t hugged her for this long since I was a child.
“You had such an imagination, my brave little doll. I could take you everywhere and you thrived, but I also watched you when we went nowhere. How inventive you were to play alone, this only child who came with her own source of built- in entertainment. I always felt you had something in you I didn’t.
I envied your ability to take flight or stay put, your laughter in rain or shine.
I seek that my darling—that magic you possess. ”
She lifts me away from her. “There, there. No shame in tears. Anything worth anything at all has to be worth a tear or two.”
“I’ve missed you so. Why did you bring me here?”
“Three things, duck. I’m more impressed by you than proud.
That’s saying a lot, because I’ve always been and couldn’t be prouder of you.
You have exceptional taste. I knew you’d turn heads in Blitzen, but to turn that one, as well as having that handsome Chicago head doing a double take?
You are no longer my prodigy with men. You are my sensei. ”
She takes my face in her hands as she did Helen’s last night.
“That being said, I hope you learned the intended lesson: You, my beautiful great niece, are a big fish no matter the pond you swim in. I pray you won’t forget that.
I had an attic full of Christmas décor and the town had a storage busting at the seams with lights.
They sat dormant for a decade or more, until my own flesh and blood came, saw, and conjured . ”
She raises her glass of raw egg to me in a toast and swallows.
I want to ask her everything.
Did she plan me and Kourt?
Is this still my house? Was it a gift or a loan?
Did Helen have something to do with it? What exactly is Helen’s job description?
And… Where the hell has she been?
If I know my great aunt, I won’t find out where she was until she wants me to.
Instead, I muster, “Have you heard anything?”
“Ah. You’re just like your father in that regard. A one-track mind in matters of the heart. Not yet, but hopes are high.”
“And the third thing?”
“Oh, yes. I bought caffeine, but you simply must shower and dress first. I love you darling, but you look dreadful. I can’t have you greeting Blitzen’s most eligible bachelor you snagged looking like that.
Now, get dressed. It’s Christmas! And wash your hair.
He’s the one who’s been putting out fires. Not you.”