“I know, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. I’ve haven’t had a big Christmas since I left home. I have to concentrate really hard on my memories to bring back the excitement of them.”
Lu smiled. Christmases had always been good when they were growing up. On Christmas Eve they had the Supper Club party. Every year was a different house, but the core people were always the same. As all the kids had grown, so had the party. Christmas morning they spent at home, but they’d always had lunch with the Pellitteris. The tradition never changed, even as Lex left, Lu had Nina, kids grew and moved on with their lives. The shared memory floated between Lex and Lu, a translucent bubble of commonality.
Lex returned her smile. Then he reached into his back pocket and pulled something out. He held it out to her. Hesitantly, Lu reached out and took it from him. Breaking eye contact with him, she looked down at the mystery object. She could tell that it was a plane ticket. She didn’t study it, just looked back at him with questions in her eyes.
“What’s this?”
“I am hoping you will join Nina and me in Malaga.” At her startled expression, he continued quickly. “I rented a huge house, and I bought the ticket for the twenty-third through the twenty-sixth. You won’t be with us the whole time. Just for Christmas. Nina and I will have to leave before everyone for my game.”
She couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t look at him. She stared at the ground, trying to get ahold of herself.
“Breathe, Lu,” Lex whispered. He hadn’t moved any closer, but his voice felt like he’d touched her intimately. Still holding his distance, he continued, “I know Willa’s coming here so I bought a ticket for her too. And just so you know how much of a coldhearted bastard I can be, I bought a ticket for Pete too. I figure that will tip Willa’s scale on my behalf. So that really just leaves you.” He took a very small step toward her. “I want Nina’s first Christmas with me to be special and I figure having all of her family there would make it that.”
Lu’s head came up. “You’re not playing fair,” she snapped.
“I rarely do when I want something,” he retorted.
“I need time to think, Lex.”
“I can appreciate that. It took me eight months.”
Confusions clouded her face. “Eight months for what?”
“To think about everything.” He laughed a kind of bitter bark. “Since you are going to think this through, you should probably have all of the information.”
“There’s more?” she questioned with a look of horror on her face.
Smiling, he said, “A little more, yeah.”
Drawing a deep breath, she said, “Out with it.”
“I invited Dr. A. and your dad …” He paused. “And my mom.”
She couldn’t have been more shocked. “Are they coming?”
“Yes. But I got them each suites at a resort down the road.”
“Good thinking,” she blurted.
“I also think it’s only fair to tell you that I am planning to finish our conversation during this trip. There are questions I have and things I need to say. I need you to think about that really hard because if you agree to come, we are going to talk.”
She merely nodded her head. Her mind refused to kick in. She just kept imagining the devil Willa perched on her shoulder shaking her head.
Without turning away from her, Lex yelled, “Nina, you ready?”
As Nina came flying out of her room, struggling to contain her excitement, Lu tried to pull herself out of her stupor.
“I’m ready,” she said needlessly. Coming to stand in between Lu and Lex, oblivious to the tension between them, she leaned in to Lu, hugging her. “I’ll miss you. But we can FaceTime, right?”
“Of course.” Lu slid partially down the counter so that she and Nina were on the same level. “Remember: please and thank you. Listen to your father.”
“And I get to open your presents when I get home, right?”
Lu smiled. “Absolutely. I love you, baby,” she managed as she hugged Nina tight, keeping her eyes closed so she didn’t have to look into the sun that was Lex.
Nina pulled away first, turned to Lex, and said, “Let’s go.”
Lex put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her to the door. As he was about to open it, Lu caught up with them. She reached out tentatively and touched his shoulder. When he turned to her, Lu asked, “Why now?”
He didn’t even hesitate. “You graduated.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked, thoroughly confused.
“You graduated and everyone was there but me. It was like a cold bucket of water in my face. I can’t really explain it other than it woke me up.” With that he shrugged and opened the door. “We’ll call you when we land.”