It's All Thanks to Santa

by Kayt Miller

  “Jo.” His voice sounds strained, choked. “You’ll be there in the morning, right? We have to spend Christmas morning together.”

  “That’s not a good idea.” I pat his arm. “Be sure to let me know if you liked my gift.”

  I turn and walk away quickly before I lose it.

  “Jo,” he says louder. “Where will you be?”

  Looking over my shoulder, I answer him with “I….” I don’t know. “I’ll let you know.”

  Sliding into Billy’s car, I concentrate on holding myself together. This holiday has sucked more than usual. It’s always been hard with Gisele. So, maybe I need to look at this a different way. Perhaps I can turn this thing around?

  “Clancy?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Would you mind if I stayed with Billy tonight?” I look at him. “To sleep.” Turning my head, I look my dearest friend in the eye. “I just want to sleep for about a year. My eye hurts. I’m not in the mood to celebrate. At least not right this minute.”

  “Sure.” She sounds disappointed, but I’ll make it up to her. “I get it.” I reach my hand out to her, and she takes it. “I get it. I really do.”

  “Thanks.”

  Chapter Eight

  “I’m not going to lie. I was a bit surprised you said you wanted to stay with me.”

  “Is that all right?”

  “Absolutely. I get it. The room is quiet. You can rest. We can order in some food, watch a movie.”

  “That’s all, though. Okay? Sex is off the table.”

  “I agree. No sex tonight. We’ll just have a quiet night in.”

  Why does that make it sound like we’re an old married couple. I snort, which draws his attention from the road. “Ignore me. I’m just tired.”

  “Do we need to go to the pharmacy?”

  “No, they gave me enough to last a couple of days. I’ll go after Christmas is over.”

  “That’s good.”

  Billy carries my bag, that was in Clancy’s car, up to the room. Walking up the steps from the first floor, he leads me down the hall. I see her before he does. Gisele is sitting on the floor, her back against the door to his room.

  “Great,” I say, too softly for her to hear.

  “William.” Her voice makes me flinch.

  Billy stops in front of me. Setting my bag down, he motions for me to stay where I am. “What are you doing here? I thought I made myself clear.”

  “You didn’t mean it.” Her voice sounds closer.

  “I meant it. Our deal is over.”

  “But….” I think it’s then she spots me. “What is she doing here?” she spits.

  “She has nowhere to go.”

  “Bullshit. She’s got that ugly friend of hers. She just wants your money.”

  I can’t decide what to do. I could run away, but I’m sick and tired of running. I could fight, but I’ve got none left in me. For once, I’m going to let someone else defend me. I just hope Billy doesn’t let me down.

  “You’ve turned her family against her based on a lie. She’s got nowhere else to go. I’m letting her crash with me tonight.”

  Only tonight.

  “You hurt her. Scratched her eye and left deep scratches on her face.”

  “Bullshit.” My sister hisses. “She did that to herself.”

  “You know what?” He steps toward her. “I’m thinking you have a serious mental issue. You’re a compulsive liar, you attacked your sister on Christmas… it’s an issue I think the firm would be interested in hearing about, don’t you?”

  “You wouldn’t.” Her voice sounds fucking terrifying.

  “No? Try me. Who do you think they’ll believe?”

  “Me,” she hisses. “As soon as I tell them you sexually harassed me and coerced me into being in a relationship with you.”

  “You’d do that? You’d lie to get your way?” He pauses. “Of course you would lie about me just like you’ve done to your poor sister for years. Your mom still believes you.”

  “My poor sister? She’s been nothing but a pain in the ass since the second she was born. Did I ever tell you I tried to kill her? More than once.” She laughs. “Mom thought it was normal. I’ve spent my whole life trying to get rid of that little cunt, and finally, I’ve succeeded. At least she won’t be there for Christmas, which means I’ll finally get all the presents.”

  “This is about gifts?”

  “Things were perfect when it was just me. For three years, I had all their love. Then that ugly, fat thing came along and I had to share. Everything!” she screams this time, which causes one or two guests to open their doors and peek out into the hallway. No doubt they heard some of what she said. How could they not?

  I’m starting to seriously worry about my sister. No joke, I think she’s psychotic. It’s a good thing I’m recording this whole thing. Clancy is going to want to watch this on repeat about a million times.

  “Gisele.” Billy’s voice sounds calm. Soothing. “Just go home. Enjoy your Christmas. Get all the gifts. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

  “I’m not going anywhere unless she leaves.” She points in my direction.

  “I’ll go.” I bend to pick up my suitcase, but Billy grabs it before I do.

  “No. You’re not leaving. You need a place to rest.”

  “Rest?” Gisele snorts. “She just wants to trap you into a loveless marriage. I hope you wore a rubber, William. I’m sure the last thing you want is to reproduce with that redheaded toad.”

  Since I’m behind him, I watch as Billy reaches into his backpack, extracting his phone. “If you don’t go. I’m calling the police to have you escorted out.”

  “Way ahead of you.” All three of us follow the sound of the deep voice. I recognize the handsome man dressed in black police garb. His name is Rory Kinkade, and I graduated high school with him. “Gisele. It’s time to go.”

  “Who called you? Did my fat-as-fuck sister call you?”

  Rory glances at me and gives me a sympathetic look. “No. Hotel management. There have been some complaints.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Gisele grumbles.

  “No matter. It’s time to go.” Rory holds out his arm like he’s showing her the way to the door. “Come along, Ms. Foster.”

  My sister huffs and stomps toward Rory. When she stops right in front of me, I’m tempted to hide behind Billy’s back, but I don’t. I stare into her crystal blue eyes. “This isn’t over.” She threatens.

  “Sure it is.” I shrug. “I just taped your entire rant. I plan on putting it out on social media as soon as you’re out the door.”

  I see her claws this time. I’m able to jump away from her reach, but Billy’s not so lucky. She’s clipped his arm and it’s bleeding.

  “That’s it,” Rory shouts. He reaches for her arm, but she swings her high-heeled foot out and connects with his shin. “Damn it,” he growls. He’s able to get her by the arm which he brings behind her back roughly. Even though she’s struggling, Rory is able to grasp her other hand and bring it behind her back. In seconds he’s got cuffs on her. When she tries to kick back at him, he swings his legs out, causing her to lose her balance. She’s on the floor a moment later, Rory’s knee in her back. Pulling the radio from a spot on his belt, he presses the button on the side and says, “Code nine. Officer needs assistance.”

  “Are you taping this?” whispers Billy.

  “Fuck yes.” I giggle just loud enough for Gisele to hear me.

  “You’re fucking dead, Josephine,” she spits. “Wait till Mom hears.”

  “Oh, she’ll hear, Gizzy. As soon as I send Dad part one of this little film.”

  Billy looks at me with an arched brow.

  “What? I’ve never had video evidence before.” I kiss my phone. “Thank you, Apple.”

  Billy wraps his hand around my elbow and tugs at me gently, “Mind if we drop our things off in the room, Officer?”

  “Sure.” Rory no longer has his knee in my sisters back, probably b
ecause he’s zip-tied her feet together. Even if she could get up, she wouldn’t be able to walk. I quickly take a snapshot of my sister restrained, and I set it as my home screen image.

  What? She deserves it.

  “We’ll be in room 210,” Billy says. With my bag in one of his hands, he takes mine in his other and pulls me along until we’re at his door.

  As I wait for the door to unlock, I hear her speak again. I quickly hold my phone up and hit record. “You’re fucking dead, Jo.”

  Hitting a few buttons, I smile. “All I have to do is upload this entire thing to Instagram and Snapchat. Now,” I sigh, “time to send this to Dad.”

  When she starts crying, I can’t help feeling a little bad, but then I recognize the fake tears. I’ve heard them my whole life. “Fake tears,” I say to Rory. “She’s so good at it, even water comes out. But don’t fall for it.”

  “Got it.”

  As a second officer appears at the top of the steps, Billy pulls me inside the room. Setting my bag on the bed, he turns to me. Leaning down, he kisses me softly. “You’re the most fascinating woman I’ve ever met, JoJo Foster.”

  I know I look perplexed. “This is a shit show.”

  “You’ve been through the ringer, and you’ve still got a sense of humor.”

  “I have to be able to laugh.” Or else, I’d die.

  When we hear a knock, Billy peeks out the peephole then opens the door right after. Rory steps in and smiles down at me. “Jo. You okay?”

  “I am, thanks, Rory.”

  “Good.” Turning to Billy then back to me, he says, “I’m going to need you to hand over the phone. Evidence.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll get it back to you as soon as I can. I’ll also need you to come down to the station in a while so we can get your story. She’s already blaming you, Jo.”

  “What a surprise. She’s psycho.”

  “See you two in a while, yeah?” Rory nods as he walks away.

  I say loud enough for him to hear, “Yeah, Rory, we’ll be there.”

  When the door shuts, I collapse on the bed. Rolling onto my side, I bring my knees up until I’m in the fetal position. God, I’m tired. “I just want to sleep.”

  And I do. For about thirty minutes until Billy shakes me gently. “Time to go, babe.”

  “No,” I whine. “I’m so tired.”

  “I know. We’ll hurry down there and get back to the room as soon as we can. We’ll pick up food on the way back. Sound good?”

  “It does.”

  The ride to the police station is quiet. I suspect Billy’s wondering how the hell he got caught up on all of this, and I’m wondering where I’m going to go after this is all over. I certainly won’t be able to go home.

  “Ready?” We’ve parked in front of the police station. I turn to my right and see my parents’ car parked two spots down.

  “My parents are here.”

  “Did you send the video to your dad?”

  “I never got the chance.” Which means this is going to be bad.

  Inside, there’s not many people about, but it’s loud due to the screaming banshee in the other room. “We’re here to see Rory,” I say to the woman behind the front desk. I recognize her from school. She used to be a para-professional there when I was in high school, having worked with students with special needs. She’s changed jobs. I wonder if she likes it. Maybe I should see if there are any jobs here.

  Rory appears through an open door. “Jo?”

  I nod, taking Billy’s hand in mine. “Come on.” When we cross the threshold, the first people I see are my parents. My dad’s face is unnaturally pale, but my mom’s is red as fire. I halt my steps, not sure what to do. When Dad looks back at me, I can’t decide if he hates me or if he feels bad. I choose the latter; otherwise, I’d run right out the door. Mom, on the other hand… if looks could kill.

  “Haven’t you done enough?” she spits.

  “They haven’t seen the video,” states Billy.

  “Apparently not.” I turn to Rory. “Can you please show them the video?”

  “I tried, but your mom refused.”

  “My dad?” He shakes his head. “Let’s try now.”

  We follow him over to the table where my parents are sitting. “Dad?”

  He nods.

  “Will you please watch this?” I point to my phone. “It’s why we’re all here.”

  “Fine. Sure.”

  “Stephen…,” my mom says warningly.

  “I’m watching it. If you don’t want to, that’s your problem.”

  Uh-oh. My folks are fighting.

  “Fine.” She sniffs.

  Mom 1,000,000. Dad 1.

  Rory holds my phone at an angle so my parents can watch as my sister confesses all of her sins. While she’s fairly clear and quite specific, I have a hard time believing it’s going to change my mom’s mind about my sister. She’s really dug in.

  They listen as she and Billy go back and forth about work. When she says she’ll falsely accuse Billy of sexual harassment, my father flinches. When it gets to the part about me and Christmas, I hold my breath as I listen to her words again.

  “Ha! My poor sister? She’s been nothing but a pain in the ass since the second she was born. Did I ever tell you I tried to kill her? More than once.” She laughs.

  I look over to my mom, but her eyes are closed. If she could close off her ears with only a thought, I suspect she would.

  “Things were perfect when it was just me. For three years, I had all their love. Then that ugly, fat thing came along and I had to share. Everything!”

  “That’s enough!” my mom shouts. Glaring at me, she snaps, “You must have antagonized her.”

  “Pamela. That’s enough,” Dad says.

  “No, it’s—”

  “Yes. That’s enough. You’ve been protecting that girl from the second she started behaving badly. Enough or you’re going to lose both of your daughters.” Dad stops talking and swallows. “And me.”

  “What?” She looks up at my Dad. “You don’t mean that.”

  “I do. I mean it. I’ve turned the other cheek for twenty-four years, and I’m not doing it anymore.”

  “But, Gisele—”

  “Needs help.” My dad says it softly, but we all hear it. “She needs help, Pamela. She has for a long time. This video only reinforces what we’ve known for many years.”

  Whoa. I’m speechless. I didn’t see this coming at all. But if what my dad is saying is true, it makes sense they’d automatically believe her. It was easier than facing the fact that my sister has psychological problems. I knew it, but I never labeled it like that.

  I turn to Billy and look at his face. I wonder if he suspected anything. When he shakes his head just enough for me to see, I have my answer.

  “So, what happens now?” my dad asks Rory.

  He looks over at Billy. “Are you pressing charges?”

  My mom whimpers.

  “I think I should say,” Rory continues, “if you don’t, she’ll walk out of here and there won’t be a way to court order her into a facility if you feel she needs psychological help.”

  “My God. This can’t be happening.” Mom sobs loudly.

  “I’ll sign whatever you need. JoJo received the brunt of her anger earlier.” Billy nods to me.

  “She did that to you?” Rory looks shocked.

  My dad answers this time. “In our kitchen.” He steps closer to me. “She had to go to urgent care afterward.”

  Rory’s face is stony. “We’ll need to write up a second complaint.”

  We’re at the police station for another hour or more. When we’re done, my parents leave first, followed by Billy and me. When we reach our car, Dad is helping Mom into the passenger seat. “Will you be over in the morning?”

  I turn to face him. “Do you think that’s wise?”

  “I don’t know anything anymore other than if we don’t make an attempt at normalcy, this will always be t
he Christmas Gisele went away.”

  “I’ll come, but I’m bringing Billy with me.” I look up at him and hope he’s on board.

  He nods and smiles down at me.

  “That’s fine.” Dad sounds so defeated. “See you at ten?”

  “Ten sounds good.” Billy pulls my hand, but I stop. “I love you, Dad.” I can’t bring myself to say it to my mom, even though I do love her. How can I not? She did what she could to protect her daughter. Sure, it was at the expense of her other one, but nobody’s perfect.

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter Nine

  True to his word, Billy didn’t try any funny stuff once we got back to his hotel room. We didn’t have sex, and because I couldn’t sleep after everything that happened, Billy held me while we talked and laughed about stupid stuff. I got to know him some—like the fact he laughs easily, and he’s got a great sense of humor. I found out that he wasn’t kidding at breakfast. He enjoys law and loves working in the intellectual property division of the firm. He learned about me too. I told him about my friends, my stupid degree in linguistics, my old job, and more about my relationship with Gisele. He told me I did nothing wrong, but I know there were certainly times when I antagonized her. I poked the bear, so to speak. She was fun to rile up, but not like last night, not to the point where she drew blood, literally.

  We finally fell asleep late into the night. It helped that we watched a classic holiday movie. I heard him chuckling at something “Elf” did as I dozed off. It would have been all sorts of perfect if Gisele weren’t there in spirit.

  The next morning, Christmas morning, Billy ordered room service. French toast, coffee, and fresh fruit. It was exactly what I would have ordered, except maybe I’d replace fruit with bacon or sausage, but hey, nobody’s perfect. We sat on top of the bed with the yummy, warm food and ate and talked.

  “JoJo,” he said with a smile, “I have an idea.”

  Swallowing my big bite of French toast, I nod., “Oh, yeah?”

  “Hear me out before you say no.”