Page 15 of A Grinchmas Delight

We turn into Mom’s driveway and the porch light is on, as promised and she’s standing outside in a robe and sweatpants.

She comes straight to the passenger side of the car and opens my door.

“Come on, you,” she says, offering me her hand. Dayra is standing next to her and all I can think is man she’s fast.

The two of them help me into the house and onto the couch. I lie there for a moment trying to listen to the two of them talking, but the alcohol is too much and I’m out cold before I can hear the first word.

CHAPTER FIVE

DAYRA

Zane is snoringon the couch in his mom’s house and I stare around the living room at all of the photos of him, his brother, and his sister growing up. They look so close and their mom is in so many of the photos with them. I do notice the one thing missing is his dad and I wonder what happened to him. The house is decorated with Christmas décor, the tree in the corner of the room is fluffy and tall and full of the most beautiful silver and gold decorations.

There’s a Santa in a sleigh statue on the old brick mantle and a string of Christmas lights across the ceiling in the whole room, giving it that holiday feel.

“I’m Missy, by the way,” his mom says, tossing a blanket over Zane and turning off the lamp.

“I’m Dayra.”

“Thank you so much for taking care of him this evening,” his mom says as we walk into the kitchen.

“Oh, it’s no problem. My cousin is the bartender and she called me when she noticed he was a little too drunk to drive.”

“So you weren’t at the bar with him?”

I shake my head. “No ma’am. I wasn’t.”

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asks, standing at the coffee pot pouring a cup.

“That would be lovely.”

She pours a second cup and sets it on the table, motioning for me to sit. I oblige, because I’m in her home and I just brought her very drunk, adult son home to her. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I guess I’ll figure it out. Besides, I’ve been in a lot more awkward situations. Like the one Zane put me in this evening beneath the stairwell. Well… i don’t know if awkward is the right term for what that was. My cheeks flood with warmth and I try and focus on something else so that she doesn’t see my embarrassment.

“I won’t interrogate you, I’ll save that for Zane when he sobers up,” she says with a smile. Her hair is a perfect mixture of blonde and grey and her eyes are the same shade of grey as Zane’s and I feel a fondness for her.

“Good deal,” I say, exhaling exaggeratedly.

Missy smiles at me with a warmth in her eyes and I can’t but feel a pang of jealousy for how motherly she must be toward her children. Unlike my mother who picks and chooses who gets her warmth, if you can even call it that.

“I’ll get him to his truck in the morning. And I’m taking the long way around so I can torment him a little.”

“I think that’s a great idea. With as much as he torments me at work, I think it’s a welcome thought he’ll get a little bit of a taste of his own medicine.”

Missy tilts her head to the side a bit. “You two work together?”

I nod. “Yes ma’am. He’s one of my bosses.”

“Interesting.”

My cheeks redden, somehow feeling like she is looking right through me. Like she can see us together at work. I take a sip of my coffee and we sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments.

“It’s getting late. I’m going to head home. I just wanted to make sure he got somewhere safely.”

“Thank you, Dayra. It was so very nice to meet you. I look forward to seeing you again.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I just smile at her and nod. She walks me to the door and I head to my car. The drive back to town feels oddly lonely. It’s not that I haven’t made this drive a hundred times over, with Missy’s house being only a few minutes away from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ken’s. It’s funny how you never quite know who’s just around the corner. A few houses down. Of all the places for him to have grown up, and somehow I never ran into him.

I drive home with so many conflicted feelings. About Zane. About how small the world is. About how I can feel something like this for someone that I despise ninety percent of the time. How someone who can be so crude and ugly can also be so attractive and kind in his own way. I decide to call my best friend for the rest of the drive because one, she needs to hear all of the things that have been happening since I’ve been MIA.

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