Perfect Christmas: A Paper Dolls Novel Read online

  “I've been eating,” Olivia reassured. “Just not today,” Olivia cocked an eyebrow and looked over at me.

  “Mom, she eats. I promise. Now, say hi to Natalie and we can move on,” I said.

  Mom gave me a skeptical scowl for a moment until she remembered that we had another guest.

  “It's so nice to see you again Natalie,” she smiled.

  They hugged and I walked further into the house. That's when I saw him. A tall guy, standing right beside my dad. He was in khakis and a polo. It was the guy from the bookstore.

  Olivia walked up beside me. I was too shocked to do anything. He and Dad were messing around with the Christmas tree.

  “Umm…” Olivia mumbled, staring at them and looking confused and leery of the new development.

  “What the actual-”

  “Avery!” My dad finally noticed me and came over. He hugged me hard enough that I couldn't breathe.

  “Uh, Dad?” I said.

  He let me go and then turned to Olivia, hugging her as well before he turned around.

  “This is Lieutenant Greg Wash. He's just back from deployment and we offered him a place for the holidays,” he finished.

  “Uh, we've actually met,” Olivia said while still half-hugging my dad and looking between them. “Briefly,” she added on.

  “Yep,” I said.

  “The bookstore,” Greg said, smiling. “I had the pleasure of running into Avery and Olivia when I first got into town.”

  I wanted to call him out but that would just ruin things.

  Mom finally had released Nat and she came in on the end of our introduction.

  “This is our friend, Natalie,” I said.

  “Nice to meet you,” Natalie said, leaning in and shaking his hand. She always did that infectious flirtatious lean. Smooth one.

  “Wha-uh- I mean- yeah,” Greg got flustered and shook her hand with a little more vigor and a bright nervous smile.

  I glanced over at Nat, scowling. She was laying it on. Not a big deal but he was enjoying it too much.

  “So, you know my dad,” I said.

  He glanced away from Nat and nodded.

  “I served under him,” Greg explained.

  His eyes went right back to Nat.

  “Uh huh,” I said.

  Olivia tugged on my arm to get me to look down on her so she could give me a reassuring smile.

  “Ah Avery, you should really show me your old room. You know and any embarrassing yearbooks or leftover diaries you've forgotten about from like kindergarten to high school,” Nat joked. “I'd really love to peruse these things.”

  “Oh god, you should see her books,” Olivia teased.

  “My books are fine,” I complained.

  I looked at Greg and then Dad.

  “Yeah, we’ll be right back,” I said.

  I took one of Olivia's hands and then one of Nat’s and pulled them with me.

  When we got to my room, I closed the door and rolled my eyes.

  “That guy,” I said.

  “That's bullshit,” Olivia laughed all bothered.

  “I guess I can see why he thought it was a good idea but why the fuck did it have to be him?” I lamented.

  “Maybe he's a stalker,” Olivia smiled. “He had to of seen your pictures all over the walls.”

  “Unless he hadn't been here before he went to the bookstore. And how would he know that's where we would be unless dad told him where I lived and he followed us,” I reasoned.

  “I’m just playing with you baby,” Olivia said, tugging on me to get me to sit on her lap on top of the bed.

  “Wow, Avery,” Nat said with an amused little laugh. “This uh… This is um…” She looked left and right, taking in the site of my pretty-much time-capsuled high school room. Her lips puckered and she whistled lightly as she spied around. “It’s something.”

  Olivia snuck her arms in around my waist and hugged me tighter to her, breathing me in.

  “What does that mean?” I asked.

  I eyed her, leaving the Greg thing alone for a second.

  “Uh- it’s just…” She walked to the bookshelf, put her finger down on my Breaking Dawn book and made it tip over and fall. “Really?”

  She stared at me with a skeptical look.

  “Come on, where’s the dirty stuff? Trashy clothes? Secret books? Magazines? Anything… Not. So. Pure?” She tilted to look into my closet and then swooped to look under the bed.

  “There's no point in having secret anything if no one cares what you do,” I said, shrugging.

  I looked around the room.

  “There are probably some terrible pictures in my albums,” I said, pointing to the nightstand. “They’re in there.”

  “Terrible pictures?” Natalie asked. “What do you mean.”

  She reached over to it and took it with her back to the bed. Sitting next to me.

  “Natalie’s old room was an adventure,” Olivia said, pushing my hair back so she could see me when she looked up. “So much to look at and find.”

  “I have a hard time getting rid of things,” Natalie smiled over at me and touched her hand down on top of my thigh. “Moving helped but still. My room is just the same. My mom won’t touch it. But then she still has hope I’ll come back and make her life easier, again. Allow myself to be her pincushion as well as her provider. Which I hope will never ever happen again.” She opened the album in her lap and immediately found pleasure in it. “Oh my God look how cute you are?! You’re so little...”

  “Well, I was five,” I laughed. “You know you can always live with us if you ever need to,” I offered.

  I didn't need to look at Olivia to know she would agree.

  “Meh,” Natalie softly laughed. “Maybe if you move back here. Or even somewhere else. What reason have I to be near Stanford… I mean, other than cheering up your wife on all her cold winter nights.”

  Natalie took her right hand and used it to rub Olivia's back slowly.

  “It's a standing offer,” I said.

  I reached over and flipped the album to some swim team photos from high school.

  “Wow,” Nat said, brushing her fingers past my face in the photo.

  “Do I still look the same?”

  It was a photo taken at some meet. We were all smiling and goofing off. Sky had her arms around my neck and was hanging on my shoulder.

  I should have known. The way she looked at me while I looked at the camera, it was so clear that she had feelings.

  “Better,” Nat said. “But I like this girl too.” her finger was pressed over my face in the photo.

  “She was very unhappy,” I said.

  I leaned over and pressed a kiss to Olivia's temple.

  “Until you found me,” I said.

  Olivia nudged at my neck with her lips, waiting for me to notice that she wanted me to kiss her.

  I took her chin and tilted her face up with two fingers and then kissed her. Her eyes closed and she let herself feel nothing but me.

  When the kiss ended we looked at each other for a solid moment and I felt her loving me. These times were an affirmation.

  I had to break the gaze though. I wanted to show them.

  I reached over again and turned the album to another section. There were pictures of me and Adam the year he died. We were at a pumpkin patch, goofing off and posing with pumpkins.

  “That was seven months before he died,” I said.

  Natalie’s hands stilled and she stared for a moment.

  Olivia took the album from her and moved her head so she could see. “Wow…” She said. “He’s got your smile.”

  Adam and I were definitely brother and sister. We shared a lot of features; natural blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and athletic builds. Adam was never a swimmer though. He played soccer and lacrosse.

  “We have the same freckles on our nose too,” I commented.

  “It’s almost hard to look at these,” Olivia said, painting the pictures over with her hand lovin
gly.

  “I looked at them a lot after it first happened. Then I always skipped over them. I don’t think mom knows they exist. Adam’s friend took them and I got them developed myself. It was a good day. I remember how it smelled and that I got mad at Adam for dropping me off at home after the pumpkin patch so he could go hang out with his friends. I always wanted to hang out with him,” I said.

  I leaned on Olivia and closed my eyes. I didn’t ever let the memories come at me like this but it felt right here with this family. None of us had been born into it but we chose each other. I had two families. I was lucky.

  “Maybe I should show them to mom,” I said.

  “I’d like to see more,” Olivia said. “I’ve only seen the real little ones. And your dad still owes me those ones from Texas he promised. His baby sailor days.”

  “Yeah, you might have to remind him and there's another album down there somewhere. We were a picture happy family. I know Mom has some too in her room and the attic. Maybe we can go up there and investigate,” I suggested.

  We were going to have to go back out to the living room eventually. I just didn’t want to say or do anything that would make things awkward. The addition of Greg was still throwing me off and I hoped it wouldn’t get worse.

  “I want tonight to be nice so please smack me if I start to say something mean or stupid,” I requested.

  “No thanks,” Olivia huffed a laugh.

  “I’ll do it,” Nat teased. “Avery’s fun when she’s all riled.”

  “We should go back,” Olivia said. “I’m sure your parents want to see you. I must admit, I didn’t expect them to be so excited,” Olivia smiled nervously. “Especially your dad. I’m sure he’ll be barbecuing steaks out back with your new boyfriend soon.”

  I cringed. “He obviously is not MY boyfriend. He’s Nat’s,” I scoffed.

  I scooted off the bed and smoothed the skirt of my dress down. I was going to have to be a good little soldier for this to turn out perfectly.

  “Nah, he didn’t flirt with Nat,” Olivia said. She used both her hands to push Nat over. Nat pushed her back. Olivia pushed her again. “Stop it,” she laughed.

  “You stop it,” Nat said.

  “Nat flirted with him and he was flabbergasted. Anyone would be, look at her,” I said.

  “Nat didn’t flirt with him,” Olivia laughed. “She just shook his hand. It’s not like she had a long conversation with him,” she said, looking up at me accusing but playful still.

  Maybe she would be a shield of sorts. That would be kind of funny.

  “He doesn’t look stupid enough to try and flirt with me in front of my wife and family,” I said.

  “He’s not going to,” Olivia reassured. “And I was just teasing you about the bookstore.” She stood up and held my hand. “Come on, let's go. Don’t let stupid things bother you. It’s nothing.”

  She turned me and rubbed her hand down my back leading me out.

  Nat got up too and followed us out.

  Out in the living room mom was serving hot cider off a tray. I took one for myself. It was something to hold and something to do other than flounder.

  “So, girls, what’s been going on?” Mom asked.

  “Just school,” I shrugged. “Finals and all that fun. Olivia aced everything and she’s like two years ahead of me,” I laughed.

  “That's not even true,” Olivia said. “Avery’s been practicing like it's her full-time job and we haven't had enough time together so this break has been good. How are you?”

  “Oh, we’ve been good. We went on a cruise and we’ve been keeping busy. I have my meetings and work. What about you Natalie? Have you been on anything we need to watch?”

  “Oh,” Nat said. Visibly thinking about. “Just a couple bit parts. I've met a few great people and I've been doing these similar roles in horror films. You know, sexy vampires, things like that. It's not the greatest,” Nat laughed. “But I've traveled a little. And I've loved that. Plus it beats Vodka shoots.”

  “That sounds so exciting. Where have you been?” Mom asked.

  “Canada… Italy. Mexico,” Nat tried to remember.

  “She's like a pinball,” Olivia teased. “No two minutes in the same space.”

  Olivia spoke of her with pride but of course she was also teasing.

  “You and my dad should start a club,” I said.

  I wasn’t even trying to be mean but it probably sounded that way. Why else would Mom give me that look.

  “What? It’s true,” I said.

  “What’s true?” Greg asked.

  He and Dad had rejoined us, done with the tree for now.

  “That Dad traveled a lot,” I said.

  “Yes, that is true. I should have spent more time at home. That was a mistake,” he said.

  There was nothing in his voice but sincerity. That didn’t stop anger from flaring inside of me.

  “So, why aren’t you with your family this Christmas, Greg?” I asked.

  “Ah, well, they live in Maine and I’m stationed out here so they went on a European trip for Christmas and I stayed in town. Your dad was nice enough to let me come here so I wouldn’t spend Christmas alone,” he said.

  Fuck. His family just took off to Europe. It sounded familiar.

  “That sucks,” I said.

  “It is what it is. I’m not complaining. I’m about to have a great meal with a great family,” he said.

  I wanted to puke. He was too perfect. I grimaced and felt Olivia’s hand close over mine.

  “Are you from Maine?” Olivia wondered.

  “Portland, Maine. I was born and raised there,” he said.

  “It's a nice town,” Olivia said. “Do you miss it?”

  “Sometimes but I’ve always wanted to travel and see everything that I could see. That’s why I joined the Navy after college. I’ll probably go back to Portland at some point but for now I’m happy to be out,” he said.

  “I get that,” I said.

  It was pretty funny that he ended up being here. Dad looked at him smiling while he talked. That was what got under my skin.

  “Greg is going to move up fast. He’s about to go into law school and join JAG when he graduates,” Dad said.

  I clenched my fist and cleared my throat, taking a sip of cider and wishing there was alcohol in it.

  “JAG?” Natalie asked, looking over at me and trying not to react to my obvious change in mood. When I left her in need she turned instead to my father, to explain what it meant.

  “Judge Advocate General, the lawyers of the Navy,” Dad explained.

  “Girls, how about a game of Pictionary?” Mom said.

  She was so much better at reading the mood than Dad was. He was as oblivious as ever.

  “Pictionary,” Olivia repeated. “Yes,” she laughed. “Are you going to be on my team?” She looked up at my mom.

  “Certainly, and that means Avery will be with her dad and Nat can be with Greg. It works out perfectly,” Mom said.

  Oh god. She was trying to match make. I wanted to argue. I’d rather put myself on Greg’s team. It would get me out of playing with my dad.

  “Wonderful,” Dad said, breaking out the game.

  He had it waiting on the table by the couch. He set everything up and made sure everyone knew the rules before we started playing.

  Looking around the room, half of us were obviously prisoners here. Nat kept touching Greg’s leg. They were talking and laughing. Secret words I couldn't hear. Nat was just so good with every time of person and I’d never met a person who didn’t end up loving her. Not even me.

  Mom and Olivia went first. I watched them, Olivia drew and Mom guessed. I just kept looking over at Greg and Nat.

  This was ridiculous. I glanced at Dad and watched his grin grow as he looked on. He was bursting to shout out an answer. Mom finally got it right and Dad cheered.

  Of course, Olivia's drawing was beautifully done.

  “Good job!” I called out.

&nbs
p; My anger melted a little but I couldn't let go of everything.

  When Olivia came back I kissed her cheek and pulled her close.