Unfolding

Chapter 22

Christmas

"What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future."  – Agnes M. Pahro

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"Have you seen my silver tear drop earrings?" Mom asks me as she's frantically flipping over the cushions on the living room couch.

I shrug in response. "Where are you going all dolled up?" I tease her. She's wearing a black lace top cocktail dress that comes down mid-thigh, and a pair of velvet black pumps. She'll get dressed up once in a while when she goes out with her friends, but never this fancy. 

"Oh –" She looks up, a soft blush forming. "It's nothing. I'm just going out with a friend."

"A friend huh?" I probe as I stop and give her my full attention. "Does this friend have a name?"

"Anthony?" She pipes out nervously.

"Well," I probed. "When do I get to meet him?"

"What do you mean?" Mom asks taken aback by my response. "You want to meet him?"

"Mom," I gave her a pointed look as I crossed my arms. "He has to be pretty special for you to even consider bringing him up. So yes – I would love to meet him. Why don't you invite him over for dinner tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" She breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Yes!" I laugh giving her a slight nudge. "Now why don't you go borrow a pair of earrings from my room. We don't want you to keep poor Anthony waiting."

I think really cute mom was nervous about bringing up her special friend. She's not very open about her love life – or lack of – and I never really bothered to ask her about it because that's just weird. I figured when she was ready to start dating, she would let me know.

However, now that I think of it, she's never mentioned anyone since her and my dad split up. I'm sure there have been men in her life, but she's never brought them around or said anything. Something I'm grateful for because I've heard horror stories about people's significant others.

Nevertheless, I guess we'll find out tomorrow when I meet him if he's a goner or a keeper.

.............

"Look what the cat dragged in." I laugh as I open the door for Caroline and Brooke to come in. Both of them were bundled up and carrying a bunch of presents in their arms.

"Shut up." Caroline grumbled. "It's like negative zero outside right now."

"You could have just stayed home." I challenged, knowing Caroline would somehow manage to make it to my house even if she had to walk over here in three feet of snow and negative thirty. The thing about Caroline and her mom is that they just can't be around each other for too long, otherwise it gets ugly.

Her mom had her when she was older, like in her late forties, so her patience for kids had pretty much worn off by then - not to mention she raised two kids prior to that. Her mom was also at that point in her life where she wanted to enjoy her independence, and Caroline being Caroline, tends to step on her toes a lot. Don't get me wrong, they love each other and her mom is really cool – they just need limited interactions.

And so, when Caroline and I became friends, we developed a winter break tradition. Every few days, she'd come over so she could avoid her mom and we'd binge watch really crappy Christmas movies on Netflix. Christmas Eve was no different, with the exception of exchanging presents.