Christmas Break

Chapter 3

Celeste

"Do you want us to come home, darling?" her mother cooed into the phone.

"No, it's okay," Celeste said, trying hard to keep the tremble out of her voice. "How would you even do that?"

Celeste had called her mom in a moment of weakness. After Jared left, she had been looking for comfort, but now she was regretting it. Her sob story had only made her mother worry, and there wasn't even anything her parents could do about it.

"Simple," her mother said. "We'll catch the first flight home."

"But you're on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean!" Celeste cried.

Her mother and father had been obviously disappointed when Celeste broke the news that she wouldn't be coming home for Christmas this year. Christmas had always been a big deal for her family, and she'd grown up loving the season with them.

But they had got their Christmas cheer back when they decided to do something special for themselves—a holiday Hawaiian cruise. A cruise they were already several days into.

"So? We'd get off at the next port and find a flight home," her mom said like it was really just that easy. "Hawaii does have airports, you know."

"Airports are not the problem. You're going to try and get a last minute flight? At Christmas?" Celeste said, incredulous. "How are you gonna manage that? Even if you can find one, it'd be so expensive!"

"Don't worry, darling. We'll figure it out," said her dad. "We have that emergency credit card for just this type of situation."

"I don't know if me getting dumped constitutes an emergency—" Celeste began, then paused. "Wait, Dad? Why're you—Mom, did you put me on speaker phone again?"

"Of course, I did! Your dad wanted to know what was going on. He cares about your life just as much as I do!"

"That's right," her dad added. "And I never liked that Jared."

Celeste sighed and rubbed at her face. She hoped they were at least somewhere private on the ship before putting the details of her broken heart on blast. "Uh, thanks, dad. I think."

"So, do you want us to get that flight?" her mom prodded.

"No, please don't," Celeste said. "I don't want you to cut your cruise short because of me. I know you've been really excited for this trip."

"We were only doing it because we knew you weren't coming home!" her mom said. "But now that you might be, that changes everything!"

Celeste felt a rush of guilt. Her parents had been so looking forward to their cruise, and now they were willing to cut it short just because of Celeste's mess of a love life...

"Don't worry about me," Celeste said. "I appreciate the offer, really, but you should enjoy your cruise. I'll be okay."

"Will you?" her mom did not sound convinced.