Page 20 of Under the Mistletoe

“Sure is,” I added, placing the car into park.

I swallowed hard, wondering what I’d been thinking when I said I’d bring her here. There was absolutely no reason I could think of why I should be with Noelle this early in the morning.

I watched as she opened the car door and climbed out, coffee in hand. When I didn’t move, she bent down and looked at me through the open door.

“Are you coming?” she questioned, still looking a little pale. “I don’t think I can face whatever it is alone.”

I took a breath and opened the car door, climbing out, my mind racing. What was I going to tell Bruce if he asked? I guess I could just say that she stopped in before we closed and that the weather was too bad for her to drive, I thought to myself as we approached the front door, Noelle’s hand in mine, until she heard the lock on the front door open. It was then she took her hand from mine and we both stood there staring up into the face of her father and my best friend.

“Dad, what is it? What’s the emergency?” Noelle asked.

He didn’t even look her way. He just glared at me. I’d seen this expression on him one other time and it didn’t end well for his opponent. I knew almost immediately that it was better to just rip the bandaid right off and explain things than it was to wait any longer or to make up some silly reason that wasn’t true.

“Look, I can—”

“Don’t say another fucking word,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Bruce, I think it’s best that we just go inside and—”

I didn’t get another word out. Instead, my coffee cup went flying, and the next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I felt a searing pain in my face as Bruce punched me.

“DAD! Stop!” I heard Noelle shout. “Mom, help me!” she screamed.

I lifted my arms, covering my face from yet another blow, when I heard Jenelle’s voice. All it took was for Jenelle to speak up and Bruce stopped.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” she demanded as she reached down and pulled Bruce off me. Noelle dropped toher knees by my side and began checking me over, ignoring both her parents.

“Are you alright?” Noelle questioned, pulling some tissue from her coat and dabbing at my lip.

“Bruce, I am so disappointed in you. You’ve just made an absolute fool of yourself in front of all our neighbours,” she scolded.

I looked up at Jenelle, thankful she took control of the situation. I didn’t want to hit my best friend in front of his daughter, but if I had to, I would have.

“The three of you get up and get inside this house, now!” Jenelle said, turning and heading inside.

The two of us sat in the living room, neither one speaking a word to the other, only staring. It had been years since Bruce and I had a fight, and honestly, I couldn’t even remember what it was about. I didn’t know why he’d even attacked me to begin with, since we hadn’t even shared that Noelle and I were together. So he’d better have had a damn good reason, otherwise his actions were far out of line.

He looked away from me when Jenelle and Noelle came into the room. Jenelle carried a tray with four cups of coffee and placed it in the centre of the small coffee table, while Noelle set down a plate of fresh cookies beside the tray of coffee before she sat down beside me.

“Now, I think everyone has calmed down enough so we can have a civilized conversation,” Jenelle said, gently nudging Bruce on the side with her elbow.

When he didn’t speak, Noelle tapped my knee with her hand. I was glad to be the one to start this, because right now he owed me an explanation.

“So, what the hell is your problem?” I gritted, staring at Bruce, who was now staring at me again.

I looked at Noelle, who grabbed my hand and squeezed, reminding me to stay calm. When I looked back at Bruce, I noticed he was staring at our hands, so I pulled mine away from hers. I didn’t know if I was going to have to defend myself again, and I figured it would be best to have both hands readily available.

“My problem?” Bruce huffed. “Let me tell you what my problem is. Did you forget what you were supposed to be doing last night?”

I thought for a moment, remembering many things from last night, but not one of them involved me having plans to do anything that I could remember, so I shook my head.

“We were supposed to go to Callum’s divorce party.”

Callum was one of our fellow marines who was in a shitty marriage. The night he announced he had finally come to his senses and filed for a divorce, we all agreed to give him a huge welcome to being single again party once it became final. So, when he told us that his divorce was a sealed deal, we planned the party, and we were to meet him once the bar had closed. Last night was the night. It all came flooding back to me, Bruce was going to pick me up, and we were to celebrate the fact that our buddy was finally free from the hell he’d been living for the past twenty years.

“Oh, fuck,” I muttered under my breath, running my hands over the couple of days’ worth of stubble on my chin. It was then I realized exactly what was going on at the time he would have picked me up.

“Oh, fuck is right. Imagine my fucking surprise when I swing over to the bar to pick you up only to see you clear as day fucking my daughter over a goddamn bar chair like she was just another one of your whores!”

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