Page 114 of Run, Run Rudolph
No, it was Char. I was way behind on the GAL PAL chat, having not checked in since sometime in the night. Honestly, I’d been too afraid to check the chat this morning, worried that Estelle had erased their memories, too, and that I’d be all alone with the truth about Christmas and how close it had come to disaster.
Estelle had said Christmas was a go, but was Mr. and Mrs. Claus’s relationship fixed, too? What if Christmas was still on the line, but for other reasons?
Char was texting me directly.
Char
Are the skies clear?
Me
Yeah. Blizzard’s over. Another on the way, though.
Char
Did our mutual friend help you out?
Too late, I realized she was talking about Estelle and my Christmas problem, and not the weather. I had a whole lot of explaining to do to get her caught up, so I dialled her number.
“Yo!” She sounded happy and sleepy.
“How’s Mexico?”
“Fabulous.” There was a lift in her voice, and I could tell she was in love. “Tell me about Haden and last night.”
“You remember last night?” I confirmed. “Everything? Rudolph and all that?”
“I wasn’t that drunk!” she protested. “It was two drinks over three hours, Tam-Tam.”
“Just checking!”
I climbed the old wooden steps to the house’s second floor, where the bedrooms were located. The steps creaked as I went, the dry winter air making them extra vocal.
“Haden and I kissed last night.”
“Right, and…? How are things this morning? Did he stay over?”
I heaved a sigh. “No…”
“Oh, no. What happened?”
“Things were going well. And then we…” I checked the hallway and whispered, “We got summoned.”
“Summoned? By who? To where?”
“The magical courts.”
“It’s real?”
“Very.”
“Dang. Then what?”
“I’m pretty sure I used up all of your last credits last night.”
“That’s fine.”
“Brunch in five!” hollered my mom. “Tamara? Where are you?”
