Page 60 of The Holidays with Dr. Mitchell
Somewhere down the road, Jim and I started to see life differently. I’d like to say it was before we met our wives, but it was after nearly losing them that we worked to keep our heads out of our assess and appreciate everything in life that we were blessed with that money could not buy.
I was relieved my son didn’t rely on our wealth to make him happy. I loved that, at this age, he was experiencing that true happiness came from being around those you loved—even if it meant walking down some isolated path in the middle of the forest.
This was what it was all about, being together, doing stupid shit, and having fun. The most important thing was that we were together, and the only thing that came close to making me as happy as that was knowing that we would be home for Christmas.
CHAPTER 32
Ash
Thirty minutes after sundown, with no sign of the men returning, I’d decided enough was enough, and I needed to call the tree farm where Jake and the guys had planned to go.
“Okay, thank you so much,” I told Mrs. Gersbach. “We are indebted to you.”
“Nein, Schatz,” she responded in German before continuing in English. “It is Christmas Eve, and we wish you well.”
I smiled at the kindness everyone in this beautiful town had shown us since we arrived, even after the guys made a mockery of the Nativity scene.
“All right,” I said, walking into the sitting room of this grand chalet. “You girls either aren’t going to believe this, or it won’t surprise you at all.”
“They got lost?” Nat laughed and looked at Addy, continuing their card game. “Go fish, cutey pie.”
“Oh, God,” Avery said. “Why didn’t they call us?”
“Because, as I suspected, no one took their cell phones,” I chuckled. “Most importantly, Mrs. Gersbach said the men don’t want us to know their sleigh broke and that they were rescued walking in snowshoes,each of them leading a reindeer.”
“Of course, they don’t,” Laney chuckled. “I can see it now, Jim and Spencer excitedly filling us in on how Jake and Collin finally fucked up their Christmas extravaganza.”
“Knowing them, they won’t want us to know their sorry butts were rescued five miles away from the house. Who knows? There’s a good reason for it?”
“It’s calledpride,” Carmen stated with annoyance.
“I figured you’d be more sympathetic because Dad and John are out there at the mercy of Jake and Collin?” I said to my stepmom.
“Oh, no,” Carmen said sassily. “I have no sympathies for a man who chooses to go along with the games to cover up a serious, potentially life-threatening situation.” Then she sighed, “The only one I might feel sorry for is my grandson, but if he goes along with this cover-up, he gets no sympathy from Abuelita.”
“Well, I agree with Carmen,” Nat chimed in. “And we fuck with—” She stopped herself and covered Addy’s hand after she cussed, “Sorry, honey. Aunt Nat didn’t mean to throw out the mother of all curse words.”
“You know who my mom is, right?” Addy said with a laugh since everyone knew the F-word was Avery’s favorite.
“Excellent point,” Nat said. “Now, why don’t we ladies be the ones to end this little war that’s been going on since we left the Maldives?”
“Well, if we’re being technical, itstartedwhen we arrived in the Maldives,” Laney said.
“It doesn’t matter. Eventually, all this nonsense caught up with every single one of them,” Nat said. “And I say it’s timewe get some straight answers about what happened to the sleigh and find out why no one was smart enough to carry a phone for safety purposes.”
“Agreed,” Carmen stated. “This could’ve been very bad. What if they weren’t found until it was too late? No, I won’t let them get away with acting like nothing happened.”
“You’re right. They think they’re going to waltz up here as if nothing happened?” Avery added. “It’s typical of them.”
“Totally typical,” I chuckled. “I guess I should’ve known this would always end with us putting them in their places.”
“As it should always be,” Nat teased. “Now, what exactly did Mrs. Gersbach say to you?”
“Well, she told the men that we called to ask the Gersbachs if they could go looking for them because we were worried,” I started. “And after they were rescued, they insisted that she call me back to tell me nothing had happened, and nothing went wrong. So, being the upright woman she is, she immediately told me the truth instead of their tale.”
“Women always looking out for each other, right?” Avery said, shaking her head at the bullshit the guys were attempting to pull. “And the only reason they’re pretending everything is perfectly fine is because they know they screwed up, and it could’ve been much worse.”
“As if we wouldn’t notice they have no tree? That wouldn’t be a dead giveaway that something went wrong?” Laney questioned.
