Chapter Twelve
Neva
She wasn’t sure what Angie was thinking, making this kind of promises so close to Christmas, but Neva would put her foot down once Amanda could take the kitten again. The twins would be sad, for sure, and she felt a bit irritated with Angie for making them hope they could keep it.
There was just no way she could watch Angie suffer the way she had known she would.
The problem was, Neva was running out of options. She imagined things would improve once they went back to normal after the holidays, but she didn’t want to rush her family through them either.
Angie loved Christmas.
They all did.
There had to be a way to make it merry for everyone, without stress or pressure.
For the twins, it was the last day of school, and Christina would be home tonight. They had busy days ahead, and yet Neva felt herself drawn to a cabinet in the basement she hadn’t opened in years. Because they had decided on a different path together, and there was no more room or time.
The paint in those tubes was dried out, but she found a sketchbook and some pencils.
The sketchbook was half-filled. Neva both frowned and smiled at sketches she didn’t remember creating, then felt the warmth of tears in her eyes, from an emotion hard to define.
A mix of wistfulness, gratitude…and love.
Her family, Brad included, often made an appearance. Angie had always been her muse. Neva had fallen for her the first time they met in the small-town diner where Neva had spent the day people-watching and looking for inspiration, and Angie squeezed in time for a small coffee break.
Neva flipped to an empty page and sat down in an armchair, pencil in hand. She didn’t have time for this trip down memory lane, but she couldn’t resist it either.
She continued until her ringing phone startled her, and then she hastily put away the sketchbook. There was no time for this.
“Hello?”
“Hi.” Angie sounded as guilty as Neva felt. “I’m sorry, but I’ll be late today. I have to catch up on work and then a few errands after that.”
“Oh. Are you sure you’re not avoiding the kitten? The last word has not yet been spoken on the issue, I promise.”
“Thank you, but no. I’ll be okay. Could you pick up Christina from the bus station?”
“You won’t be joining us?” This was strange after the way Angie had been acting about Christina attending Caron.
“I still might, but I can’t promise anything. We could all go out for dinner?”
“I guess that works. See you later. Love you.”
“Love you too,” Angie said before she ended the call.
Neva still had so many questions, but she had to figure out the logistics for the rest of the day. A look at her watch told her it was time to pick up Fiona and Elsa. First things first. Christmas would come either way, whether they were ready or not.
When she arrived at the school, the twins were hyped up on holiday cheer and anticipation for Christmas activities and the big day arriving soon.
To Neva’s relief, they didn’t ask about the kitten. She wasn’t sure whether they were just stalling but she would take it.
“Hey, how about we go get Christina, and then we can have lunch at the Christmas market?”
Angie must be rubbing off on her. They were always so careful to have the kids eat right and not overdo it on sweets…but this was only once a year, wasn’t it?
Besides, Neva felt like a sweet indulgence herself.
“Can we have churros with caramel?” Elsa asked hopefully.
So be it.
“Sure. Let’s go, and later we will go on a long walk with Brad to make sure we are still hungry for dinner.”
The twins laughed at her words. Neva was wondering what errands Angie had been talking about, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it either.
They stopped at home to leave the girls’ schoolbags before she drove them all to the bus station.
A huge tree stood in the lobby, sparkling with many lights and ornaments.
Despite all the current challenges, she felt excited seeing the wonder in the girls’ eyes, happy they’d have Christina home for a bit. Everything would work itself out, wouldn’t it?
She looked past the tree at the board that announced the bus’s arrival.
“Come on,” she said, taking both girls by the hand. “Let’s go get your sister.”
***
Christina all but flew at them, hugging first her sisters, then Neva.
“I’m so glad to be here!”
Neva could sympathize. She hugged her oldest daughter tightly.
“And we’re happy to have you here. Are you up for having lunch at the market?”
“Always. Isn’t Mom here?” The smile vanished from Christina’s face. “Is she okay? She’s been acting weird.”
Tell me about it, Neva thought, feeling instantly guilty.
“She’s fine, just working overtime. We’ll all go out for dinner later.”
Christina nodded. Her expression was much too restrained, too adult, and Neva had a hard time gauging if she was satisfied with the answer. Regardless, she had to feed all of them now.
The bus station was almost close enough to the Christmas market to have delicious smells wafting over to them, or perhaps that was her imagination. She could use some indulgence. Everything else, they’d address later.
They left the car at the station and walked on foot, music and anticipated smells greeting them soon.
First stop was the churros stand. Neva knew the twins would be hyped up on sugar, but they had a few days left before Christmas, and the market with all its excitement came around only once a year so…
She would have to be okay with it, and strangely, Neva realized, she was.
Many things were different this year. She and Angie had built a life on caution, on making sure there was enough to give their children the best possible life.
One little slip wasn’t going to break the bank or their daughters’ health.
They walked past the generously decorated merry-go-round and the wooden German-inspired Christmas pyramid to the other side where more food stands were located alongside arts and crafts.
Neva noticed that Christina had gone silent, taking in the familiar sights.
They tried to make it at least once a season, though with her coming home later from Caron, it hadn’t worked out the previous year.
This was something else that made her feel guilty now, even though Christina had always stressed how happy she was at the prestigious boarding school.
“Everything okay, sweetie?” she asked. She had to raise her voice slightly above Jingle Bells coming from the speakers.
“Yeah, sure, just a little tired,” Christina said with a shrug. “What are we having?”
“What do you feel like?”
“For real?”
“Yes, for real.”
Neva glanced from her to the twins who had, despite their best efforts and a pile of napkins, caramel on their fingers and cheeks reddened from excitement and the cold. They looked happy.
She was too, with Angie and their family, though she couldn’t help thinking she was missing something. Her little trip down memory lane, picking up that pencil again, had shaken her. She missed painting.
“So, what will it be?”
“I think I want the cheese fondue. They would never serve that at Caron.”
“Well, once a year is perfectly fine.”
She produced some wet wipes so Fiona and Elsa could get a little less sticky, and they moved on to the cheese fondue. Neva had some too, and she made sure that sweet wasn’t all the twins ate.
They were about ready to head back to the car when she stopped cold.
In another corner was a jewelry stand, the vendor someone familiar: Nadine, their neighbor whom Angie had brought to dinner the other day. On whose door she had pounded for some never-explained reason. The woman leaning close to her, whispering, was…Angie?
What did that mean?
Neva felt her face flush when her mind went to all kinds of worst-case scenarios as to why Angie was so close with the jeweler. She wasn’t in her right mind. Neva knew that Angie was loyal to the core, that she loved her.
More likely, she was looking for a gift. That made sense. That’s why she was working late, because she used her lunch break for an errand. Right?
In that case, Neva shouldn’t let it on that she’d seen her.
Everything was all right.
They’d still go out to eat tonight, have her parents come over for Christmas Eve dinner and see Angie’s for lunch before they went on their cruise.
Everything according to plan.
“Okay, let’s head home, girls. I have a bit of work to do before we meet Mom for dinner.”
Fiona laughed. “That’s okay, we are not hungry!”
“I bet you aren’t. Come on. Let’s go.”
She wasn’t sure how to interpret Christina’s expression.