Page 59 of Imperfections Forbidden
“I know exactly where they are.”
“Well, where are they?”
“If you would stop running around here like a mad woman and relax, you would remember you put them in the bottom of your suitcase yesterday.”I open her suitcase and pull them out.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“You didn’t ask, and I didn’t know you were looking for them.All I saw was a blur of strawberry blonde and red around me.”I forcefully try to close her suitcase before I give up and sit on it until Ava stops spinning to zip it with me on it.“I wish you could be here for Christmas, you could be the buffer between me and my family.”
“You’ll be fine.I would love to stay and go to the ball with you, but I told my parents I would spend Christmas and New Year’s with them.”
“I know.I’ll be fine as long as I stay away from Nick and Kate.”
“If she gives you any lip, tell her to stick it up her wannabe loved ass.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
“I would be happy to do it for you.I wish I could.I don’t know why my parents want me there.They live separate lives.”
“They miss you, and you’re their only child.You’re Daddy’s little girl.”
“I know, but the only time they see each other is on holidays.They have a huge Christmas dinner and an over the top extravagant New Year’s Eve party.After that, we all go our separate ways, and they go back to their separate lives.I don’t know why they don’t get a divorce already.”
“Ava, you’re the only person I know who wants their parents to get divorced.”
“It’s the truth.It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“If your parents got divorced and started new relationships, you would make their lives miserable.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“If your father brought a hot, young thing to Christmas dinner, by the time you were finished with her she would run screaming into the night.”
“Yes, I would.Get a damn divorce before you do shit like that, okay?”
“Okay, got it.Your father better not do that.”
“You got that right.Give this bitch a hug before her plane leaves.”
“Come here, bitch.”
I help her drag her luggage down the stairs into the taxi and watch her cab drive away before I turn and walk back into the building by myself.I have a whole week to be alone with my thoughts.
The first thingI hear when I walk into my parents’ house on Christmas morning is Christmas carols in every room of the house.It seems like my Christmas spirit came here this year.My mother likes the holidays, but she has never been big on decorating the house.All around me are candy canes, mistletoe, and lights.What the hell?
Going into the living room, I see everyone is sitting down.My parents on the couch, Sasha in front of the tree on the floor, and her parents trying to get her to stop shaking the boxes before she breaks something.Kate and Chris are sitting next to each other on the other couch, laughing at Sasha’s antics.My favorite song is playing, Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas.”They look like the loving, perfect family I remember as a child.Where do I fit in now?
“Laugh now, Kate.When you have yours it won’t be so funny trying to control a three- year-old child on Christmas morning.You and Nick will see.”
It’s a stab in my chest when I’m reminded of Nick and Kate having a baby together.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to manage a three-year-old.Our child will be well-behaved from the day he’s born.He will listen to every word I say.”
“You keep dreaming, sis.You’re going to learn real fast.Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
