Page 7 of A Curvy Carol

“What do you mean you don’t like Christmas?” I asked incredulously. I set down my cup.

She shrugged looking down at her mug, the marshmallows a melted white goo on top of the drink. “It’s just so overdone at this point. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve lived in Garland my whole life,” she explained.

“I thought that was the one big upside of moving here,” I said, glancing around. “How big of a deal Christmas is here. It’s like I’m in a storybook or something. I have to admit it’s always been my favorite holiday, but my parents are so busy this year. They don’t have time to do all the fun stuff in town.”

“Well, then, this should be an interesting arrangement,” she said, “seeing as how I hate doing all the endless Christmas activities.”

I made an exaggerated gasp. “So I’m basically stuck with Scrooge for the holidays?” I quipped.

That made her smile, which made me grin like an idiot. I liked being the one to make her smile.

“Basically,” she said. “Can’t say I’m sorry. If you want to back out, now’s the time.”

Something about the way she said it made me think that she was like me and didn’t have much of a choice about being here. At least way less of a choice than me. So I didn’t fall for her bluff.

“No, it’s okay. I’m in,” I replied.

She seemed to droop a little bit, but she didn’t say anything. So I was right. I was curious about why she had to do this, but I made a mental note to ask another time.

“There’s one condition,” I added, taking another sip of my hot chocolate. It really was the best I’d ever had.

“What is it?” she asked.

“We’ve got to do everything before Christmas Day,” I said. “I really want to experience a Garland Christmas.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“And who knows? Maybe I can convince you that Christmas isn’t so bad after all.”

Carolynn shook her head, but I could see the corners of her lips turn up into the slightest of smiles. “We’ll see.”

She stood up.

I pointed to her hot cocoa. “You haven’t finished your drink. You’re leaving already?”

“It’s not my favorite,” she said. She asked me for my number, and we quickly exchanged info. She tapped out a message and hit send.

An address appeared on my screen from a new number. Her number. “Meet me there tomorrow at 10 a.m. sharp.” She turned to go but then looked back. “And wear your pajamas.”

5

CAROLYNN

The next day, Whit showed up at the Garland Express. I’d arrived early, just wanting to get out of the house so I could work on my latest cross-stitch project in peace.

Mom hadn’t stopped peppering me with questions since I’d gotten home from meeting Whit yesterday, and it was driving me crazy.

I was pretty sure she had all these hopes and expectations for me hanging out with Whit.

Which was utterly mortifying. Especially no guy had been interested in me to date. Surely it wasn’t about to happen now when he was about to start at Garland High and meet all the pretty, skinny girls there.

Really, I just wanted to get this whole thing over with so I could have some time to myself. Although, it was already way better than feeling stifled at activity after activity with my parents. At least Whit was my own age, although he seemed to be like everyone else in Garland: crazy about Christmas.

“Hey,” Whit said, coming up to me where I sat on a bench in the waiting area. He wore buffalo plaid pajama pants, black snow boots, and big black winter coat.

“Hey,” I said, hastily putting my project into my bag. In the back of my mind I wondered what he thought of my form fitting black fleece pants and matching top. But he seemed more concerned about my project.

“What’s that?” he asked as I got up from the bench.

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