Page 45 of Don't Hate the Holidays
Jack is shaking his head before I’ve finished. “If any of my cousins have a real problem with someone, they don’t wait to say it. You haven’t seen it, but Uncle Henry’s got a sharp temper, and he gave it to all his kids. Problems are aired in the moment, if they’re big enough to air at all. We’ve all been together most of the day. I’m sure you’ll see some sort of argument before everyone leaves.”
A bit of relief goes through me that Jack isn’t expecting giant family drama. “Okay.”
He’s right about seeing some sort of argument. It’s in progress when we get back, and Grant is one of the parties. Janet is the other. Georgia tells us Grant was calling Hugh a horriblename because Hugh is a bit behind developmentally, and Janet overheard and went into protective mother mode, hurling insults at Grant.
Uncle Henry forces Grant to apologize when he hears Janet’s raised voice and comes running into the yard. Janet mutters a half-hearted apology after Grant does, and everyone is quiet until Aunt May suggests we play a card game. It’s strange to see the tension lift away so easily. Janet seems more serious than before we got back, Grant as surly as he’s been since I met him, but the game lightens everything, overwriting the strain that had been showing.
It makes me think of my dysfunctional family, and how an argument like that between my uncle and I would end in us avoiding each other more than we already do, for several days. This is so much healthier.
Mrs. Benson orders Chinese food for dinner and we play charades with Christmas song titles once everyone’s done. Hugh goes into meltdown mode when he wants to take a turn but doesn’t know how to do it. Aunt May says they should head back to the hotel, then, since it’s been a long day for everyone, and the big family Christmas Eve is over.
The little family Christmas Eve isn’t quite done. Janet calms Hugh down and sits on the couch with him. We watch an animated Christmas short, and then Mrs. Benson pulls Hugh onto her lap and reads “The Night Before Christmas,” helps him put a few cookies on a plate for Santa and leave it on the end table near the tree, and gives him to Janet to bring him to bed. It’s a late night for him.
“Thank you for letting me stay,” I tell her once she’s put Hugh in Janet’s arms.
Mrs. Benson faces me fully, her expression serious. “I wanted to talk to you about that, Eli.”
My heart constricts. Does she not want me to come over tomorrow?
“If we asked your uncle if you could stay here tonight, would you want to?”
The stupid worry flies away in an exhale. Jack is grinning behind her back, so he must have known this offer was coming. I can’t look away from Mrs. Benson. “You’d let me?”
“Your bed is much more comfortable than the couch, but this couch isn’t bad.”
I’d take a sleeping bag on the floor tonight, if she offered it. “Absolutely!”
Her face is still more serious than usual, though a tinge of a smile shows through. “This way you can have Christmas morning with us, from the start. Unless you have plans with your uncle.”
“Nothing.”
She nods and grabs her purse. “Then let’s go ask him for permission.”
It’s about nine-thirty when we reach my house. Jack and Mrs. Benson wait in the kitchen while I find my uncle. He walks out from his study when he hears me call for him.
“Took you long enough,” he says by way of greeting. “I almost watchedWhiteChristmaswithout you.”
I falter. “You waited for me?”
He nods stiffly.
I gesture over my shoulder. “Jack and Mrs. Benson are here, waiting in the kitchen. We wanted to ask you something.”
He frowns but follows me to the kitchen, where Mrs. Benson immediately says, “Merry Christmas, Remington. I hope you’ve had a nice holiday so far.”
“Yes, it’s been fine. You all have a question for me?”
Mrs. Benson explains.
“You don’t want to watch the movie, then,” Uncle Remington says, looking at me. “You could have texted and said as much.”
“I don’t want to take away what little you do have to do with your nephew,” Mrs. Benson says in a rush, “so if you want to watch a movie with him, I can come pick him up after. But I want him to have a true Christmas morning, with everything that entails.” Mrs. Benson’s voice hardens. “I promise you I can give that to him, if you won’t. And I don’t think you will. Am I right in that assumption?”
“We don’t have specific plans for tomorrow, if that’s what you mean.”
Her gaze could pierce armor. “It is.”
Uncle Remington shifts his attention to me. “I have no problem with you spending the night there tonight, provided you’re in your own bed.”
