Epilogue
CHRISTMAS WAS NICE. I NEVER would have guessed it, but the mishmash of my parents, aunts, younger brother, and Harrison all smooshed into our modest childhood home was a recipe for a spectacular Christmas Eve.
As expected, both aunts loved Harrison as they got to know him over mulled wine and increasingly competitive board games.
On Boxing Day, my mom managed to rally Aunt Jenn, Aaron, and Harrison into a two-on-two pickleball match, and to everyone’s surprise, the lads were soundly defeated.
In the end, my mom’s tennis arms and my Aunt Jenn’s sheer force of will triumphed over baseline athleticism.
Or maybe they let them win. Hard to say.
I ended up winning the alpaca hand-knit sweater made by Stephanie (to be fair, I had bought, like, sixty-five raffle tickets) and gifted it to Harrison for Christmas, and he wore it for several days in a row before conceding that it needed to be washed.
I got everyone else smaller alpaca wool items like mittens and scarves from Stephanie’s farm, which was appreciated by all except for Aaron, who reminded me that he lives in Florida (I reminded him that he plays a cold-weather sport for a living).
Despite their pickleball loss, Aaron and Harrison hit it off so well that we drove up to Ottawa that weekend to watch him play against the Senators, and Aaron called in a favour to get us seats right behind the bench.
He doesn’t even do that for my parents. I thought he was just showing off for Harrison, but when I texted him about it later, he wrote back, I know hockey isn’t your thing.
Thanks for coming anyway, it was nice to see you out there.
I hope you had a good time. And then I decided that actually, I need to go to all my younger brother’s games, forever.
The Christmas holiday is done, and the cidery is closed until the end of January.
I spent the first two weeks of the new year hanging out with my aunts before they flew back to Greece and enjoying the time off without guilt.
The cidery opens back up next week, but I won’t be back for another three—the flight to Australia is so darn long that I want to make the best of the trip.
Harrison has already flown back to Melbourne to spend some time with his family, but I’m going to Brisbane, where his sister lives, to meet up with everyone there for a week.
Harrison really downplayed her career, I have learned, as she is a prominent CFO for a major company.
Anyway, apparently, we’re going to spend some time on a large boat.
Harrison and I have since watched every episode of the bad reality television boat show and are more excited about this than we would have normally been.
I started packing as soon as I booked the trip, but it was more difficult than I would have initially imagined, as Harrison, who only some weeks ago gave himself a rash from buying off-market long underwear, offered his opinions on vacation attire.
What do you mean you only have two swimsuits? he asks as he watches me pack my largest suitcase.
Two seems like a very normal number of swimsuits to have, I said.
He shook his head. Nah, not where we’re going.
It’ll be summer there, don’t forget, he said excitedly.
I didn’t think there was any way I could possibly forget, as he mentioned this about once per day since I booked the flight to come and visit him.
I think he was just very excited not to wear a giant padded jacket for a few weeks.
Truth be told, I am excited to see him out of a giant padded jacket also.
It’s been two weeks since he left, and it’s been too quiet in his absence after the business of the holidays.
Steven remains the only one unimpressed by how everything has unfolded so far, and he keeps taking underwear out of my suitcase in a very passive-aggressive manner.
He had started to warm to Harrison before the suitcase came out, but once I started packing, he became (rightly) suspicious of him and his motives.
I know that when I drop him off at my parents’, he’s going to be furious, but we’ll cross that road when we come to it.
I’ve never travelled over an ocean before, and this trip isn’t a short one.
I’m nervous but excited, because honestly, if all my hard work over all these years wasn’t for this, then what?
I have a team that I know that I can trust in my absence, a very handsome travel guide, and, maybe for the first time ever, no plan.