By Proxy(47)
“Well, he asked me to help with the Christmas Concert this year. It’s very good. The senior girls often do a special choral piece, and the orchestra plays. I’m helping to put together special freshman and sophomore choruses this year. If there are any students who excel at an instrument, they’re invited to participate.” She took a sip of her drink.
“What about your family?”
“Well, we still get our tree on Christmas Eve and decorate it after church. The traditional way. Pappa, Nils, Lars, Erik and me. Paul sometimes joins us too. And we have Glögg, and lutefisk, of course.” Sam cringed, and she grinned at him. “It’s not that bad!”
“It’s worse than ‘that bad!’” exclaimed Sam, thinking of the salted fish cured in lye.
“Well, it’s tradition. We have it. And then we—”
“Wait just a minute, Jen. Back up. Glögg?” He raised his eyebrows teasingly. Glögg was a hot mulled wine, made sweet with spices and dried fruit.
“Glögg for Christmas Eve only!” She looked sheepish, popping a fry in her mouth. “It wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without Glögg.”
“Women will have their vices.” He chuckled, surprised by her again, loving the gray areas that made Jenny…well, Jenny. “Then what?”
“We all sleep at Pappa’s. On the couch, under the tree or in one of the spare rooms, and then we exchange gifts on Christmas morning.”
“Paul too? The foundling principal?”
She tilted her head at him. “The Fourth Lindstrom.” She paused, her forehead creased in thought. “He’s like a brother to me, Sam. He came here five or six years ago from the East. We were lucky to get him. I mean, he went to all these fancy schools and he only chose Montana because of the parks. He vacationed here as a child, and he’ll tell anyone he loves the idea of summers off to explore the parks. Working at a school is the perfect job.
“Really, he’s too young and too dynamic for such a small school in the middle of nowhere. He should be the headmaster of a private school in Boston or New York. Did you know that Gardiner High School is ranked number one in the state of Montana? It is, and it’s all because of his ideas and programs. I know he’s been made offers, but he chooses to stay here in Gardiner.” She shrugged, looking uncomfortable, worried. “His family’s in Maine. He goes to see them Christmas week, usually, but it depends on when Christmas falls. If school goes right up to Christmas Eve, it’s almost impossible for him to get home. He’d be stuck in Chicago or Minneapolis for Christmas morning, which means he’s sort of stuck here without family. Of course we welcome him into ours.”
Of course. And of course he wants to make that family connection official. Sam put his burger down, his appetite fading fast. He finished off his beer.
“And then we go to Christmas morning services. After that, we drive up to Bozeman to my aunt’s house, my mother’s sister, and spend the day with family and cousins. Come home late at night or stay over if the weather’s bad. My aunt does a huge Norwegian Christmas meal and….and…that’s it, I guess. I’m off from Christmas Eve until New Year’s Day, so I get a nice long break.”
“What do you do? With all that time? Travel?” He suggested hopefully.
She gave him a look. “Travel! What…like to Hawaii? Ha! No. Sometimes I do go up and spend a day or two in Great Falls. Once I even stayed overnight in a hotel and treated myself to shopping and a concert. That’s when Ingrid still lived there, though, and so I had a partner in crime.” She winked merrily. “Otherwise, I read. Spend time with my Pappa. Go ice fishing with Lars until Paul gets home. Visit neighbors. Take walks in the park. Volunteer at church if they need painting or a closet re-organized or something like that. Just a quiet week off.”
Ask her! Ask her to come to Chicago for Christmas break! It’s the perfect time!
“How about you?” she asked, finishing her Coke and sitting back in her chair. “What’s your Christmas like?”
He sighed. The moment was gone. “Well, my office has a huge Christmas party, generally at a nightclub or other cool spot. Loud music, cocktails. I generally get invited to a lot of Christmas parties.”
“Fancy ones?”
He thought of the one last year that included a jolly Santa Claus, surrounded by beautiful women dressed as elves, handing out kisses and vodka shots. “Mmm. Some.”
“What else?”
“I don’t know. They decorate Chicago. There’s Christmas music everywhere, and decorations. The big department stores have great decorations, so I try to walk by to check them out. My office has a Christmas tree in the lobby.” Everything he was offering sounded so pathetic compared to the traditional warmth of Jenny’s Christmas plans.