Page 20 of What Happens This Christmas
Maybe I needed to finish my morning coffee before engaging any further with her. I picked up my mug again and looked out at the street. It was busy, full of people and traffic already. Then again, the sun was up, almost at its peak. Not that it did much to warm the frigid temperatures or melt the blanket of white we were under. “Mmhmm,” I murmured as I took a hearty sip.
“What are you doing today, Cici?”
I sincerely hoped she didn’t plan on sticking by my side like glue this whole trip. She needed plans of her own. “I’ll be supervising Bob’s team as they decorate the tree.” One look down at my fourteen-carat gold watch with diamond accents, and I knew I didn’t have enough time.Thank goodness.“I take it you’ll be going out today?” I asked, eyeing her choice of clothes.
Eloise crossed her arms and leaned forward. “Maybe. What you’re doing sounds boring.”
I rolled my eyes. “Why, thank you, you’re too kind.” If it wasn’t absolutely absurd, it was boring to Eloise. I didn’t understand her, or the way she saw the world.
“Just think, if I go out, I might meet a man.” She fussed with her clothes. “Then maybe I can move to New York, and we can be neighbors. We can have each other over for dinners, go and get our nails done together, and spend almost every waking second with one another.”
“How lovely a picture.” If lovely meant hellish. I didn’t think I could stand being that close to Eloise for any length of time, especially not for life. Besides, she wasn’t taking my impending divorce into account because she didn’t know about it. So, things wouldn’t look quite as rosy once Nick was out of the picture. Not that I even understood how she thought she could possibly get a man looking like that.
Eloise chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, but he needs to have great dick game. The last guy I was with did not. Can you believe that?” She got up and walked to the railing, leaning her armsover the cold metal. “He spent his whole life walking around with this magnificent piece of meat between his legs, and he never once picked up how to use it. I mean, it’s like come on, buddy, if you need to, learn to play with yourself before playing with others.”
I’d definitely heard her correctly. I only hoped she was finished talking and didn’t go on. As my gaze met hers when she turned around to face me, I realized she was finished and waiting for me to respond. Not that I had a clue what to say. Honestly, how in the world was I supposed to react to that? “Some people…” I finally managed, swallowing hard as I stood up.
“Are you going inside?” she asked, coming to stand next to me. “It is colder than if I’d been wrapped in a block of ice. You know what I think I need in my coffee?” She paused but only momentarily, so she obviously didn’t want me to interrupt by answering. “Bourbon. Something to put hair on my nippies, you know?”
Wrapping my hands firmly around my mug, I sighed. “I can’t say that I do.”
“Forget that.”
I wished I could, but I didn’t think there was such a thing as a brain scrubbing unless it was in a horror film. “Tell me about you and my BIL.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Although, if she knew me at all, she knew that was completely unnecessary.
“It’s the holidays. We’re busier than ever.” I ran my thumb over the mug. “Our social calendar is booked, as usual, and we just came back from a short trip to Long Island. It truly is a beautiful place.” Eloise had never been to our house in Huntington, not that it mattered at this point. Nick would probably take it in the divorce, considering it was a shorter commute for his bar job.
Her head fell down, and a snore rolled off her lips, but she immediately snapped back up, her eyes growing wide. Then she swatted my arm, leaving her hand there and pushing me a bit. “I want the juicy details. The insider information that no one else is privy to because they’re not your sister.”
Insider information?Well, that would be that our marriage was ending. If it was a movie, then we’d be watching the credits roll at the moment. That part where you had one foot in the aisle and the other still at your seat as you waited to make sure there was nothing left to miss. “There’s not much to divulge. Our lives are fairly quiet.”
She released a pained sound that made it seem like she didn’t buy it. Not that she should have. My sister was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “Far from it, but okay. You can keep your secrets. Just make sure they’re dirty. Otherwise, they’re no fun. And what’s life without fun?”
Yes, how could I forget? She was all about the fun. Too bad life wasn’t always fun. Or even funny. Unless it was in the mocking sense. Sometimes it was downright dreadful. That was where shopping came in for me. Everything looked brighter, better, when I was shopping. Like I was in one of those movies where the mannequins came to life and talked to me, cheering me on, encouraging me to go for it. If only I could run out and do a little shopping right now. Away from Eloise and her questions.
“Last I’d heard you were in California,” I said, derailing the conversation. “Maybe you should go back, soak up the sun and all that.” And things could go back to the way they were around here.
“Oh, no. I told you, Cici, I want to be here with you, spend time with you. I think it’ll be nice.”
Nice.A few minutes around my sister, and I think I’d lost all touch with the word. Just then, my phone signaled a text message. Saved by the notification. “If you’ll excuse me, this isNick.” I picked up my phone and waved it around in the air. “Then I have to get ready to meet the decorators.”
I made my escape before she could stop me and read Nick’s text.
Nick:Why is the photographer calling me to confirm?
Candy:I’m not sure. My phone didn’t ring.
Nick:Well, they did. Confirm, that is.
Candy:Excellent. It’s bad enough we pushed it this close for our holiday cards.
Nick:No one will care.
Why didn’t he understand how important these things were? Besides the fact that there was a very real deadline for holiday cards, what would people think if we sent them out any later? Or worse, we didn’t send them out at all?
While we were at it, perhaps we should forgo decorating the tree. Who needed to tend to minor details like that?
Chapter 11
