How My Brother's Best Friend Stole Christmas - Molly O'Keefe Page 0,18
own terrible relationship with Sam’s father, we didn’t actually have much proof of “real love.”
“I just want my brother to be happy,” I said.
“Happy sounds good,” she said. “We could use a little bit of that around this home, too.”
I tried real hard not to perk right up. But the fact that Betty was talking about Sam meant he was not here. I rested easy in my chair and took a sip of my perfect coffee. “Sam’s not happy?”
“He’s just at loose ends, I think. I don’t know that he spent much time thinking about what he would do after serving. And now here we are.” She looked up at me and there was something so still in her that I set down my coffee.
“He’s not going back?”
She shook her head.
“Is it because of the injury?”
“It’s his story to tell and I won’t say anything more, but I’m worried, and since you two are such good friends I think you should know, too.”
“You’re freaking me out, Betty.”
“He has nightmares,” she whispered. “Insomnia. And he’s short-tempered and he won’t let me hug him. Or help him.”
“PTSD?”
“Yeah, sure,” she said. “For about five years. But this is something else…”
Grief and worry settled in my stomach. There was a cost to what the country asked Sam to do. What he’d signed up to do. And I hated that that cost was so high. And I hated that what had happened during the party made our friendship so strange and maybe…maybe impossible too?
Fuck. I thought. Just…fuck.
“Come on, enough sad things. He’s home. Your brother is married.”
“You have cake!”
“I have cake!” Betty said, lifting her hands in the air, and suddenly we were both laughing. Because we had amazing things to be grateful for, not the least of which was each other.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling emotional.
“Thank you, honey,” she said, grabbing my hand. “All these years coming out here when you didn’t have to. Bringing me the angels, giving me things to look forward to. You’ve been a blessing.”
I had to remind myself that just because I’d grown up without much love didn’t mean I couldn’t recognize it when it came my way. And this was love.
“Are you going to let me have some cake?” I asked.
“Well, you’re excited about it now, but the recipe called it out of the ordinary and they weren’t lying. There’s so much ginger it burns a little.”
“Burns?” I asked and took a piece of the moist, dark cake with the thin white glaze over top. “That’s exactly how I like my cake,” I joked. I took a bite and she wasn’t kidding. There was a lot going on in that cake.
“Oh my gosh,” I said. “That’s…”
“Painful?” she asked, trying her own.
“Interesting?”
“One of the reviews called it difficult.”
I went back for another bite. “It grows on you,” I said.
“That’s because you like difficult things.”
She laughed, and so I did too, and of course that’s when Sam walked in the front door, letting in a blast of cold air that just ruined everything.
He had been out shoveling snow. He wore his big Carhartt coveralls and a black hat that made his face look even redder. He saw me sitting there and looked away. Kicked his boots off on the plastic mat.
“Don’t you go bringing in all that wet!” Betty said.
“I’m trying not to,” Sam said, and I took a big sip of coffee. What was the deal with his voice and my heart? It was like one of those paddles they used on heart attack victims. It made me all haywire.
“Look who came to visit!” Betty cried, gesturing towards me like she was Vanna White and I was the letter E.
“Hi, Sophie,” he said, looking up at me through his black lashes and then away like he couldn’t stand the sight of me.
“Sam.”
“Merry Christmas,” he said.
“You too.” I was trying so hard to sound normal and cheerful but somehow I just sounded like one of the Chipmunks. Betty looked between us, like she was well aware of the strange undercurrent we couldn’t hide. Or maybe it was just me.
“You’re in time for some cake,” Betty said.
He took off his boots and came into the trailer in his socks. He filled up the whole space. “I’m gonna hop in the shower.”
Yeah, that was the final straw. I wasn’t going to sit here while a few thin walls away Sam was getting naked and running soapy hands up and down the body he did not want me to touch.
I jumped to my