Page 17 of Not Like Christmas At All
“And that’s why I like it. Nothing wrong with that.”
“You’re right, my love, there is nothing wrong with that,” she coos.
“All right, I’ve got to run, Mom. My duvet is calling my name again. Love you guys.” I blow a kiss into the phone.
“We love you. See you tomorrow.”
Then, with a final wave, I hang up.
No sooner do I set my phone down does Pebbles come running from the kitchen, her bowl of dog food long past devoured. Taking a leap, she hits the couch next to me and lays her head in my lap.
She’s jonesin’ for my ice cream, and although her puppy dog eyes are hard to resist, I boop her on the nose instead of sharing. “No, no. Peppermint is bad for doggos.”
Doing my best to ignore her, I push the play button to turn on the movie I was watching, even though I know for a fact I won’t make it another fifteen minutes with the way my eyelids are feeling like they weigh thirty pounds each. But I am determined to at least make it to eight o’clock.
Abandoning my now empty ice cream bowl onto the coffee table, I pull my blanket up to my chest, snuggling in with my dog-shaped body pillow. Although it’s pretty bony and wiggly if you ask me—and it snores.
But none of that matters because soon I’m falling asleep, listening to the rhythmic breathing of my dog as I settle in on my cozy couch. I should get up and go to bed, but I can’t bring myself to care, let alone move, and soon my dreams are of happy Christmas memories.
“So tell us about this baseball player,” my dad prods after swallowing a large spoonful of his steaming hot soup.
I nearly choke on mine.
“Mom!” My spoon clatters against the oversized bowl in front of me as I set it down, sending a glare across the table.
I’ve been waiting for this all night though. From the moment I walked through the door of my parents’ house, I could feel his stare following me around, and I caught him suppressing a grin more than once—a telltale sign he was sitting on some information and was bursting at the seams to word vomit it.
My dad is a terrible secret keeper.
Mom shrugs. “You know I tell your father everything.”
“Yes, but in this case, there was nothing to tell,” I insist, then turn my attention to him to extinguish his excitement. “It was nothing, Dad. We went on one date. He was very nice, and he entertained me by going caroling with my friends, but we’re not even talking anymore. Also, he wasn’t a baseball player! He was the team’s doctor.”
“That’s even better!” His hands flail in front of him. “Why are you letting such a successful man get away?”
“Who’s to say he’s successful?”
“He’s the private doctor of a major league baseball team. If you don’t count that as a success, I don’t know what success looks like to you.”
My fingertips press into my temples as I lean my elbows on the table. “Like I said, he was very kind, but it would never have worked out. He lives up north.”
“You young people have no concept of time apart. A little long distance can be healthy. That’s what they did back in the day. Tons of successful relationships were long distance when the men went off to war.”
Oh God, here we go again.
“Leave her alone, Peter!” Mom smacks his chest. “Gen does not need a man to make her happy or define her success. She will eventually meet someone and settle down when the time is right.”
“Maybe he’s just not the right type of doctor for Gen.” Fern, my younger sister, shrugs her shoulders. Her lips purse with a mischievous smile.
Immediately, I shake my head in her direction and narrow my eyes. Fern is the only person I’ve told everything to. She’s a year and a half younger than me, and we’ve always been close. However, if she doesn’t shut her mouth right now, she is going to beveryclose to the ground instead.
Possibly six feet beneath it.
“Oh,” my older brother Elliott butts in. “Pray tell, little sis.”
“Did you meet someone at the hospital?” My mom’s eyes sparkle with curiosity.
“You met someone and you didn’t tell me?” Briar squeals at the same time my middle sister, Parker, scolds, “How are you going to meet a hot doctor and say nothing? I feel betrayed.”
