“She showed up on Christmas Eve, at my folks’ place in Cincinnati, claiming she must have missed my last phone call to discuss our ‘itinerary,’” he said, making air quotes. “All apologetic about coming so late, since she was so sure I had something wonderful planned for us to do. I went into panic mode when Mom gave me this deer-in-the-headlights look. Especially since we had been talking about some hinted threats from the future in-laws, if their darling little girl’s feelings got hurt.” Daniel sighed and rubbed his face, then raked his fingers through his hair. “All I could come up with for an excuse was taking over the Tattler. Really busy, ignoring everything, keeping my schedule open for emergencies. It was kind of weird how she didn’t react when I said Tattler, because she’s from around here.”
I must
have made a sound. Trying to hold back the need to heave. My inner alarm of
impending doom was so loud I couldn’t think clearly for a moment or two. Daniel
gave me that worried look, like maybe I had turned green again.
“She was
all sweet and forgiving and said she understood, and she would keep New Year’s
free for us. I managed to sound halfway coherent and told her she was mistaken.
I never called her, never emailed her, never made any plans for the holidays,
and I already had plans for New Year’s.”
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