Page 53 of Ghost of Ex-mas Past
Bea leans back and looks up at me, eyes shining. “I’ll be here.”
27
Bea
After such a heavy day,I can’t even think about getting up. Charlie and I lay on the bed, just holding each other.
Charlie’s the most driven person I know, and hearing his biggest fears—some of which have come to pass today—makes my heart ache for him.
I knew his summer with his grandmother had been rough. I’d heard it in his voice every time we talked on the phone. First, there was anger at his parents for sending him away for the summer, and then there was anger at his grandmother and a general anger at the world. He had come back different. I’d taken it to be that he was ready for his independence, to graduate and go to college and make his own life decisions.
Charlie sweeps a hand over my hair and presses his lips to my forehead. I’m glad he’s back, but I still have questions.
“What’s the plan now?” I ask, my heart fluttering in my chest. I can understand Charlie’s actions, but where does that leave us? What does his future look like?
Charlie takes his lips off my skin and the point of his chin rests on my head. “Arlo and I have a few ideas that we haven’t explored yet. He reminded me on my drive back—repeatedly—that selling to ImmUniverse was a strategic sale. They wanted my business and my product. There are potential buyers or investors who would look at the sale from a financial perspective. The right buyer would do a better job of growing the company than I would. There are people who do that for a living—take a small-to-midsized business and buy it from the founder and scale it up to another sale or an IPO. And we haven’t even discussed a sale with my staff and doing something like a management buyout, though I think that’s less likely.”
Nash had asked me a lot of questions about Charlie and Rivrse, many of which I couldn’t answer. He wants to talk about it again after the holidays, but I don’t really know to what end. It’s probably not worth bringing up to Charlie right now.
“But,” Charlie continues, “ultimately, what it comes down to is that I still have a huge commitment to my company. I work a lot. And it’s stressful and hard and there are times when it’s debilitating. But I want to get out of it. Maybe someday I’ll start a new project, but I’ve learned a lot from this one, and I can make a better exit strategy from the beginning. I also have savings, and I want to start a family someday. It’s not the security I wanted, but”—Charlie rolls us slightly so he’s leaning over me, my shoulder brushing the wall—“I’m realizing that doesn’t matter as much as I thought it did.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I agree.
And then Charlie kisses me. It’s slow and careful; loving. Just when I put my fists in his shirt to pull him over me and deepen it, my phone buzzes. It’s extra loud because my phone has gotten wedged between the wall and the bunk bed, and Charlie lifts off me so I can rescue it.
There’s a text from Naomi.
Naomi
Um, are you guys done up there? We still need to do the family pictures.
“Well, as much as daydreaming about the future is fun, this Christmas is not over yet.” I show him the text. “It’s time to put on your pajamas again.”
We do the family pictures,including one of me and Charlie together. Charlie and I serve as judges for the snowman-building contest, which kept our families occupied while Charlie and I sorted ourselves out. Jasper’s snowman is peeing into the woods, while Naomi’s snowman wears her stethoscope (which she inexplicably packed for vacation). Susan’s snowman is wearing a cape of some kind, and she tells us it’s an effigy to Skadi, the Norse goddess of winter. Mom and Dad made a pair of snowmen holding hands, which Charlie and I, motivated by our reunion, chose as the winner.
Jasper roasts a turkey for dinner. Afterward we hang out in the living room, my pregnant sister on her back, head in Jasper’s lap, while he has a protective hand on her belly. I think she’s fallen asleep. Charlie and his parents disappear at some point and must have a long, wearing conversation, because he comes back tired and needing cuddles.
When we go back upstairs, I grab my things from the room I shared with Naomi and “move” into Charlie’s room. Charlie is brushing his teeth while I check my phone.
There’s a picture from Brin—she and Marco are, again, posing in front of a giant pile of presents. The background is unfamiliar, but there’s a message from her too.
Brin
You won’t believe the week we’ve been having. We’ll tell you all about it when you get home.
Merry Christmas and we miss you!
XOXO
Brin and Marco
PS: I may have gotten too much into the holiday spirit and kissed Marco. Argh! What was I thinking?
Bea
Merry Christmas to y’all too. Enjoy your days off and I’ll see you soon.
PS. Wait. Am I supposed to be surprised that you kissed him, or surprised that you haven’t been secretly banging this whole time?
