Page 116 of Scrooged for the Holidays
My chest fills with warmth, and I smile at the older woman and her husband. “I’ll be in touch soon. We’ll figure things out, I promise.”
“Thank you.”
I want to say “don’t thank me.” I’m the one who caused her pain to begin with. Or at the very least, I was the messenger of it. But before I can, she wraps me in a hug. The move is surprising, and what’s even more surprising is the way I melt into it. When was the last time someone just hugged me like this?
My eyes sting, and I hug her back, pulling away before I actually cry. I clear my throat and say my goodbyes quickly. I’m halfway to my car when Holly calling my name stops me in my tracks. I turn around in the chilly parking lot to see her smiling face.
“Yes?” I ask.
“Merry Christmas, Greer.”
My body warms at her words, and my smile back is equally as bright. The words I never thought I’d say and mean again tumble from my lips. “Merry Christmas, Holly.”
Chapter thirty-five
Greer
Istandonthesidewalk between my and Avery’s childhood homes. It’s been years since I’ve been here.Actuallybeen here, anyway. The chipping door from my trip down memory lane is back to the new one. My parents kept the door I had gotten replaced for them.
It’s sadly funny that while I thought I bought it at the time for aesthetic reasons, it was more than that. Like I told Kai, Remi, and Sam, deep down, I did want them to love me, and this was my way to show them I cared.
She and my dad always complained about that old door, and when I finally got them one and they weren’t happy about it, I thought they were rejecting me, like my mom had with the ornament. But I think they thought I was rejectingthem, the way I was raised and the home I was raised in.
My stomach swirls with conflict as I stare at the door in question. I have a lot of anger and confusion over how to heal my relationship with my parents, and I understand it’s going to take time. Just because I had a wild three nights in some magical town with beings that shouldn’t be real doesn’t mean everything will be automatically fixed.
But for the first time in three years, I want to try. I want to attempt to mend fences with them. Time is only movingforward, not back. I won’t have forever with them, just like they won’t have forever with me.
“Greer?”
At Avery’s shocked voice, I turn my head toward her. She’s standing at her parents’ front door, her mouth agape.
“Avery,” I say back.
She’s frozen in the doorway, blinking at me. After she regains her bearings, she steps back inside, and I think she’s going to close the door on me, but she comes back into view a few seconds later. She pulls the door shut and runs out in boots and a coat that are far too big for her.
“Avery.” I laugh softly. “What—”
She slams into me, cutting off my air supply as she hugs me tight to her body. “Oh my god, Greer. I thought you might be dead!”
I crinkle my brow in confusion as I regain my breath and pull back. “Sorry,” I say. “I should have texted you when I got reception back.” I meant to, but my mind was tangled with thoughts of Holly’s Restaurant and what to say to Avery and my parents.
And there’s also Tim. I want to call him to apologize and tell him I’m not going to ask for his job to be taken away. In fact, I think he deserves a bigger bonus and a raise for putting up with me. If Mr. Cross disagrees, I’ll use some of my bonus to pay him.
Avery grips my shoulders as her blue eyes stare into mine. “I’ve been trying to reach you. I even attempted to check your location this morning, but I couldn’t get anything. At first, I thought you were just ignoring me, but I got increasingly worried when you didn’t message me anything else about work or Tim. Why didn’t you text me back or answer my calls or emails?”
I think of the one text that came through in the hotel room, but other than that, I didn’t get any. She did say she’d been trying to call me in the present Remi showed me, but I was still doubting everything I was seeing at the time.
I pull out my phone as Avery drops her hands. My eyes widen when I see the many missed notifications that have now come through, even a missed call from my mom and dad. My heart pounds in my ears, and emotion swells in my throat. I’ve tried to deny that the people in my life care about me, but they do, especially the woman standing in front of me. Avery’s proved time and time again that she does; I’ve just been too blind to see it, too jealous of what I thought she had all these years that I didn’t—not to mention being stuck in the endless wheel of always trying to prove my worth.
I clear my throat so I can speak. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t get them. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Avery exhales, the cold air of her frozen breath floating around us. “You freaking scared me. I thought I was going to have to tell your family you were missing on Christmas.”
“I’m here.”
Those two words transform her demeanor from worried to suspicious. “Wait. If you didn’t see my texts or missed calls, then why are you here? You avoid this neighborhood like the plague.”
Her loaded question is complicated to answer, but I settle for the easiest one. “Because I want to be.”
