Page 9 of A Grinchmas Delight

“Let’s get you home.”

I take his arm and stumble out the door without so much as a glance back at Zane, who’s still sitting at the bar, looking angry at the world as usual.

The car ride to their house feels like an eternity, with the world spinning and my stomach churning. I almost don’t make it, but we pull in the driveway when I was just about to ask Uncle Ken to stop the car. I throw my door open and take two big steps into the grass before I start vomiting.

Shots get me every time but I just can’t seem to help myself some days. After I throw up everything in my stomach, I wipe my mouth with my shirt and make my way inside. Uncle Ken is sitting on the steps waiting for me when I walk up.

“You okay, Day?”

I nod. “Yes sir. Sorry. I’m going to try and go to bed now.”

“I made the bed in Dolly’s old room for you. I’ll grab you a trash can for beside the bed.”

I walk inside and take the small trash can before heading to the room. There’s a bathroom that connects to this room and the other spare room so I splash some cool water on my face and run a wash cloth over it. I gargle with some mouth wash and fall into the bed.

I spent so many nights in here as a kid that it still feels like home. The room is no longer spinning and it doesn’t take long before I’m dead to the world. I wake the next morning with a pounding headache. I sit up and roll out of the bed, nearly screaming when I roll on my tailbone. It hasn’t hurt at all when I’m sitting but I must have hurt only one specific spot because when my weight was on it, that was intense.

I pinball off the wall and make it to the bathroom to pee then brush my teeth with a washcloth since I didn’t pack a toothbrush. I gargle with the mouthwash twice for good measure and tip toe out into the kitchen.

The smell of coffee brewing has me salivating. I find Uncle Ken and Aunt Cindy sitting in the living room watching the news, drinking coffee.

“Good morning,” I squeak from the back of the couch.

“Good morning,” they say in unison.

I pour myself a cup of coffee and join them in the living room.

“Dolly’s home if you want to say hello,” Uncle Ken says.

“I’ll let her sleep, she probably didn’t get in until the early hours of the morning.”

“Suit yourself. What are your plans for today? Are you going shopping with all of the crazies?”

I shake my head no. “I went shopping one time on Black Friday and that was enough for me.”

He chuckles and Aunt Cindy nods her head in agreement. “You won’t catch me out there getting trampled over a tv.”

I laugh and sip my coffee. I miss the slow mornings here. It’s so comforting and welcoming, something that my own home was missing for most of my childhood. Well, something that is still missing. I don’t feel this at home at my own childhood home.

“I’m about to head home. I have a tiny girl who is waiting for me to come home.”

“Oh, that’s right! Why didn’t you bring her with you?” Aunt Cindy asks.

“I wasn’t planning to stay this long.”

“Next time, bring her anyway! We would love to snuggle that little thing.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I gather my things and head home. It’s gloomy outside today and all I want to do is crawl in my bed and nap with Reese Piecie snuggled up next to me. I run into random drizzles of rain on the way home and the temperature keeps dropping. I have the heater on my feet but I still have a chill.

I pull up to my little house and rush inside just in time. The sky falls out after I make it inside. I open the back door for Reese and she just stares up at me, as if to saywhat do you want me to do with that?. I laugh at her and pick her up, giving her a kiss on her small cheek.

“I don’t blame you, little girl. I wouldn’t want to go out there either.”

I turn the heater on in my bathroom and turn on the shower. I need a shower and a proper tooth brushing before I can lay down. I spend the rest of the day napping and then I spend the entire weekend in bed, lounging and relaxing before I have to return to work on Monday.

I haven’t heard another word from Zane and I won’t dare be the one to text him. Even if curiosity is getting the best of me. I want to know how he ended up out there. Was he stalking me? Did he have some sort of tracker on me? I let these thoughts plague my mind for days before I finally convince myself to put them down and not think about it. I don’t care why he was out there. It’s none of my business.

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