Page 54 of A Holly Brown Christmas
And there were many.
Double crap.
She and Lucas had been spending so much time together and sharing so much about their lives that maybe this was something they needed to deal with as well.
The sooner the better.
No matter how afraid she was of the outcome.
It wasn’t going well.
After a ten-minute interrogation about his relationship with Holly, Lucas had put his foot down and demanded that they talk about their parents and not his personal life.
“Can we please focus?” he asked wearily. “I have appointments this afternoon, and you both have kids to pick up from school, so…”
“Okay, okay, you’re right,” Anna said. “I actually talked to Mom last night.”
“And?” Kat asked.
“And…I tried to convince her that she needed to come home because Christmas is about family and she told me we could get together after Christmas. I mean…what’s that about? This coming from the woman who would freak out if we all weren’t there by December 23rd!”
“I know, right? You know, I honestly just thought they were bickering, like…no big deal, just the usual stuff married couples do. But this is starting to feel real,” Kat added.
“They’re acting completely oblivious to the fact that they’re ruining the holidays,” Lucas commented, raking a hand through his hair in frustration. “Well…newsflash: telling your kids you’re getting divorced ruins the holidays.”
“I get that no one wants to say it, but…they’ve been off for a while. You guys saw it last year. They barely spoke at Christmas dinner unless it was about the thermostat,” Kat reminded them. “They know how to put on a show for strangers, but they haven’t really hidden it from us. We just didn’t want to see it.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t think they’d ever actually pull the trigger. Especially now,” Anna said. “And are we really just going to let them go through with it without at least trying to get them to work it out?”
Silence fell for a beat, thick and heavy, and Lucas was relieved that he wasn’t the only one on the fence with this whole thing. But…
“We can’t just… let this happen, right? Not like this. After thirty-eight years? Over what—vacation plans or whoever’s not getting enough attention? Or maybe retirement plans and dishwasher schedules?” he demanded.
“It’s not just that. It’s everything they haven’t said for years. But maybe if we get them in the same room—really talking…”
Anna quickly interrupted her sister. “They’ll what? Fall back in love between handing out the Christmas bonuses and dessert? Or maybe we wait until Christmas day and it happens between the stuffing and the gift exchange?”
Kat rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say it was a perfect plan, I just… I can’t imagine splitting holidays. I can’t do Christmas Eve at Mom’s and Christmas morning at Dad’s. It’s weird. And if they’re both looking at these new lives with younger people, it’s just going to be awkward. I refuse to call some woman who’s younger than me ‘mom.’ I won’t do it!”
Lucas looked between his sisters and fought the urge to roll his own eyes. “No one’s calling anyone else mom, so relax.”
“But you don’t know that, Lucas,” Anna said. “If they are being this petty, who knows what sort of weird rules they’re going to inflict on us!”
“I get that, but they’re still our parents. And they’re still family to each other, even if they forgot that at the moment. Maybe they just need a reminder.”
“Do you really want to play marriage counselor?” Kat asked.
“No. I want to play family. Just for one more Christmas, at least. I want to know that we at least tried. Then they can do whatever the hell they want. Because I’ve got to tell you, handling all this party stuff is freaking exhausting.”
Katherine bit her lip, thinking. “Okay, what about dinner? All of us. Just the five of us. No grandkids, no spouses, no plus-ones. We cook, we listen to some Christmas music or have It’s a Wonderful Life playing in the background like we used to, and we talk.”
“You think they'll go for that?” Anna asked. “And do we do it before or after the party? Because I thought we were trying to get them home for that.”
“That was the plan,” Lucas said. “But if we don’t think that’s viable, I’m open to anything. We can still host the party without them.”
“That will kill Mom,” Kat said with a smirk. “I kind of think we need to get them there for the party and then maybe have the dinner the next day. They can’t possibly be mad when they’re the ones causing all these issues.”
“Okay, but we still haven’t figured out how to get them there,” Lucas reminded them. “This feels like we keep going around in circles and nothing is getting accomplished. There needs to be a way that guarantees that they are going to come home for the party without any plus-ones.”
