“Thank you,” I replied. “It’s nice to see you, too.” It actually was—Mrs. Jackson had always been friendly to me when Hal and I were kids, even though her daughter Vanessa had had the worst crush on me—unrequited, obviously.
“Mm-hmm. You all have a good evening. Bye, girls!” She waved to Marnie and Steph then walked out the door and shut it gently behind her.
Now that I was inside the house, I was relieved to see that the Christmas spirit hadn’t entirely deserted the Bell household. There was a tree in the far corner of the living room, so heavy with ornaments, lights, and tinsel that I was a little surprised the branches could hold it all up. Beneath it were a heap of bright, inexpertly wrapped presents, and paper snowflakes, snowmen, reindeer, and candy canes were stuck all over the walls as high as little hands could reach. “This place looks great.” I gave Steph another squeeze before setting her down on the carpeted floor. She smiled up at me, and it was like I could feel my blood pressure going down, just by being with them. “Did you girls make the paper decorations?”
“Yes!” Marnie shouted from the dining room, where she was wiping her feet off with a dish towel. She had her dad’s thick, curling dark-red hair, spilling out of its ponytail holder in all directions, and his blue eyes and wide smile. “We made some in class and then my teacher taught us all how to make stencils so we could do more at home, and Daddy helped me cut them all out, and then Steph and I spent all day decorating them!” The pile of markers, crayons, glue sticks, and bottles of glitter on the dining room table attested to all the work she and her sister had put into things. “Do you like them?” she continued, trotting back into the living room and stopping in front of me. “I made most of them, and Steph did a few, too.”
Steph pointed at a very, very purple snowflake taped to the bannister of the stairs.
“Yeah, like that one,” Marnie said. “But I did the ones with the unicorn reindeer!”
Unicorn reindeer? Looking a little closer, I could see that some of the reindeer cutouts had not just a set of antlers, but tiny horns taped to their foreheads. “That is incredibly creative,” I told her. “They all look amazing.”
The girls beamed, and Steph took my hand. Her hair was still obediently lying in its braid, a redder shade than Marnie’s, and the face that looked up at me was the same heart shape as her mother’s. The only thing the girls had in common was their eye color and their verbosity—or, at least, that had been true the last time we’d visited. Steph had yet to say a single word tonight.
“I’m so happy you’re staying for Christmas!” Marnie said.
“Mmm, for a while anyway,” I replied, suddenly reminded that I was going to have to call Jessie tonight and cancel our meeting for tomorrow. It was hard to think about work when I was with the girls, but I knew I needed to.
If I wrote a list of what I needed Jessie to do, and worked from my laptop here, I should still be able to get everything ready by Monday.
Marnie interrupted my musings. “Did you bring presents?” she asked excitedly. “Can we put them under the tree?”
“He already mailed them,” Hal reminded her from where he was hanging up his coat. “You asked him that on the phone last week, remember?”
Her shoulders deflated. “Oh, yeah.”
“Maybe they’ll get here tomorrow,” I suggested. “As soon as they’re delivered, you can put them under the tree with the others.”
Marnie’s good humor was instantly restored. “Okay! Maybe Mom’s will come then, too!”
I watched Hal take a deep breath and saw Steph look down at the floor. “Maybe they will,” Hal managed after a moment. “For now, it’s past your bedtime.”
“Not mine,” Marnie protested. “Just Steph’s.”
“Both of yours.” Hal reached his arms out to Steph, and she let go of my hand and folded easily into his embrace, still quiet. “It’s after eight.”
“There’s no school tomorrow!”
“Marnie Josephine Bell,” Hal said with all the authority of a tired, cranky parent. Marnie sighed heavily but began to stomp up the stairs. Hal followed, carrying Steph, and I grabbed my bag and came up last of all. The guest room was on the second floor, if I remembered right.
Hal motioned to the right side of the hall. “Last door,” he said, nodding his head that direction. “Sheets are fresh, and there’s a clean towel and washcloth on the dresser.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
He made a face at me. “I invited you here. You think I’m not going to try and make you comfortable? You’re as much my brother as Nicky. You belong here with us.”
I couldn’t have spoken then if I’d been on the witness stand—trust Hal to take the awkwardness out of being here in just five words. Luckily, Marnie made sure I didn’t have to talk.
“Daddy!” She whirled on him with the air of a girl who’d just been struck by lightning. “Is Uncle Nicky still coming over tomorrow? I was going to call him and check, but I forgot!”
“He’ll be here,” Hal promised her.
“Are you sure?” she persisted. “Maybe we should call him now.”
“Maybe you should go brush your teeth, how about that?”
“Maybe we should call him first, and then I could brush my teeth.”
Hal pointed a finger firmly at the bathroom door. “Maybe you should brush your teeth right now, before I take your phone privileges away for the rest of the week.”
“God, Dad.” She turned and stomped into the bathroom.
“Eight going on eighteen, I swear,” Hal muttered to me, absently rocking Steph from side to side. Her eyes were closed, her arms tight around her father’s neck. “The girls share this bathroom. Your room is the old master. It’s got an en suite, no worries there. I’m still downstairs.” Hal had helped rebuild the master bedroom downstairs when his mother’s knees got bad. When he’d inherited the house, he’d modified the new space for him and Ariel.
“I’ve got it,” I said.
“I’m wiped. I’m going to bed after I get the girls down.” I wasn’t surprised—I could see the exhaustion in his face. “I’m going in to the office tomorrow morning to handle some last-minute scheduling issues and a few things my lawyer has set up for me, but I’ll be back by noon. Nicky’ll be around to help take care of the girls, though, so don’t worry about having to look after them on your own.”
“That’s reassuring for them, but I wouldn’t mind either way.” I’d known the girls since they were babies, and though I’d never visited them in their own home before, I’d taken care of them for short periods of time while their parents went on date nights in New York City.