Page 113 of Tame Me

Christmas Day at Lolita’s was always a huge event as their home was a revolving door of friends and family who came and went as they pleased. I arrived at her place just before lunch, and it was a miracle that I’d made here at all.

With the crap I’d been processing over the last thirty or so hours, it was a wonder I’d even crawled out of bed.

I hadn’t told her about Henry for two reasons. The first was that it would be impossible to talk about it without getting emotional, and the second was that it was Christmas. Nobody needed to hear my crappy story.

I pushed through the front door, placed my Christmas gifts under the tree, and went in the direction of the laughter coming from the backyard. About a dozen people were on the perfectly manicured grass playing quoits.

“Jane,” Lolita squealed and hugged me to her perky boobs. “’Bout time you got here. Us girls are outnumbered by all this testosterone.”

I chuckled and made my way around the grass, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Cal wrapped his muscular arms around me and planted a kiss on my cheek. Both Lolita’s and Cal’s parents were there, and they welcomed me as if I were their own daughter.

Cal’s brother wrapped me in a bear hug, and Lolita’s two brothers both kissed my cheeks at the same time, which had everybody laughing. A bunch of kids in the pool dive-bombed the water together in an attempt to get me wet.

“Ha, you missed,” I yelled to them when seven heads reappeared above the surface. Within five minutes of arriving at Lolita’s place, I felt a thousand times better.

The following five hours were a fantastic concoction of fun, food, and alcohol. Neighbors dropped in to say hi, and friends did, too; it seemed that every time we got settled into our seats, we’d be up again, saying hello or goodbye to someone.

It wasn’t until six-thirty, and the sun was beginning to set, that Lolita, Calvin, and I were the only adults left in the house.

“Can we do our presents now?” Lolita jiggled from foot to foot like a seven-year-old kid.

“Sure,” Cal said, and I nodded too.

While Calvin went to the kitchen to make Lolita and I Mojitos, Lolly and I went in search of Savannah and Maddox. We found them in the playroom, each on a separate television, playing different Xbox games.

“Okay, you two, enough of that.” Lolly clapped her hands together.

“Oh, but we only just started.” Maddox’s voice was way too deep for a nine-year-old boy.

“Stop! I don’t want to hear it.” Lolita strode to Maddox’s side. “Jane wants to give you your Christmas present.”

Savannah smiled at me. “Okay.” She tossed her controller aside, jumped up, and put her hand in mine. A wonderful glow washed through me when her tiny fingers grasped mine. Lolita wrestled Maddox from the lounge, and we walked into the room, where the Christmas tree was the epitome of perfection, just like everything else in Lolly’s life. Maddox and Lolita sat cross-legged on the floor while Cal and I sat on the lounge nearby.

Savannah sat on my lap, and as my heart swelled to bursting, I curled her long hair over her shoulder and squeezed her tiny body to mine.

Lolita plucked one of my gifts from beneath the tree. “This’s for Cal, from Jane.”

Cal rubbed his hands together and sat forward on his chair. Even though he had probably already guessed what I’d bought him, he didn’t deny me the delight of seeing his pleasure over my choice.

The kids giggled at my Big Ass Jar, and Lolita scowled at the jellybeans inside. He opened the jar, and he, Savannah, and Maddox reached in and grabbed a few sweets each.

Lolly opened her present from me next, and I watched the curiosity on her face dissipate when she pulled open the long rectangular box to reveal thigh-high purple boots, exactly like mine. She squealed. “Oh, yay! These are awesome.”

Despite it being twenty-six degrees Celsius, even with the air conditioner blowing cool air on us, Lolly tugged the boots on and made a show of strutting her stuff around the lounge room.

“Thanks, babe, I love them.” She hugged me to her chest.

The kids opened their presents, and each of them gave me a hug. After twenty minutes playing with them, they both slinked back into the playroom. Lolly handed a gift to me from both her and Cal, and I reflected that the diary she’d given me last year had changed my life. It would be difficult to repeat that.

The gift was about the size of a shoebox and very light. I unwrapped the Christmas paper, and my guess was right—it was a shoebox. Lolly had great taste in footwear, so I was excited to see what she’d chosen. I glanced at her and didn’t miss the edge of excitement simmering in her eyes. I lifted the lid, but it wasn’t shoes—it was another box.

Lolly and Cal chuckled as I unwrapped the next box, only to reveal another. I unwrapped six boxes, each one slightly smaller than the last, and with each reveal, Lolita edged forward across the floor toward me. I peeled off another layer of paper to reveal yet another box. This one was decorated with a red ribbon, and, hoping I’d reached the end, I yanked it off and opened the lid. Nestled inside was a plane ticket. My jaw dropped as I read it. “Sydney!”

“Yep. We’re gonna have a fucking awesome girly weekend in Sydney.”

I slid off my chair, and we hugged and squealed together. Lolita was the best friend in the whole wide world.

After the presents were done, we grabbed a cheese platter, filled up our drinks, and headed out to the spa by the pool. Over the years, we’d come to know the spa as the ‘crab pot’ because once us ladies got in there, we had trouble getting out. We’d been known to stay in there for hours.

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