AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Stop making up shit.” He snickers, shaking his head. “What would be the chances of a random fire?”
I have to turn away from him because if I don’t, I might knock him flat. I can’t stand it when he’s in this mood any more than he can when the roles are reversed. Instead of bickering, I admire my work. Considering I only had a few hours to put everything together, I don’t think it turned out half bad. Especially since this is the first tree I’ve decorated in years. We didn’t even have ornaments or lights, and it’s not easy to find them on Christmas Eve.
I managed. There isn’t an overworked clerk who won’t check the stockroom if you flash the right amount of cash.
I even went so far as to bring home some prepared foods for dinner, all of which are warming in the oven. I don’t know if Frankie likes turkey and all that shit, but hopefully, she’ll appreciate the effort. It’s enough to make me grit my teeth, bending over backward like this, but Mom is worth it. Nothing’s more important than keeping her happy.
“Okay. I’ll go up and get her.” I can’t believe how much this matters. Of all the times of the year to have a situation like this. There are only a few days we absolutely can’t go without visiting Mom, and tomorrow’s one of them. Either we threaten Frankie into behaving—which could make her worse and cause her to run for help the second we get to the house—or we ease her into it with a little goodwill and some glittery ornaments. I’ll never get the fucking glitter off my skin now. She’d better appreciate this.
I find her lying on her side, hands clasped in front of her face, wrists still bound. I left the light on the last time I checked on her so she wouldn’t be stuck in the dark, but it occurs to me now that there’s more I could do to make her comfortable than turning on a light and giving her clean sweats to wear. “Hey. We’ll have dinner soon. And there’s something else for you down there.”
She brings to mind a wary animal when she lifts her head, eyes narrowed. “What is it?”
“You’ll have to come down and see.” For fuck’s sake, this is stupid.Think of Mom. This is for her. I force as pleasant an expression as possible before going to the bed and untying the knots so she’s free to get up. “You look cute in my clothes, by the way.” Better than cute. Frankie’s one of those women who looks even hotter wearing oversized clothes, a little rumpled and sloppy.
She ignores the comment, following me into the hall and down the stairs. Her footsteps slow once she catches sight of the lights gleaming off the living room floor. “Oh…” She stops, peering into the room, holding the banister like she might fall over if she lets go.
The tree did turn out well. I’ve always been a more-the-merrier sort of person, so I put on as many lights as the thing could hold. She likes lights. That much, I already knew. “We thought you might like a little bit of holiday stuff tonight.”
She turns to me, beaming, eyes shining. Holy shit. It’s like she punched me in the gut. All it took was a little shopping and decorating to make her glow the way she is. “It’s beautiful! This is what you were so busy with today?”
“And other things.” Some of which she doesn’t need to know about. “Come on. Dinner should be warmed up by now. I’m starving.”
“I guess so, after doing all that.” Her gaze falls on the wrapped gifts under the tree, brows lifting when she looks my way again.
“No. I didn’t do the wrapping. I have my limits.” I can’t believe how much lighter I feel as I lead her to the kitchen, where Evan is fumbling his way through taking things out of the oven. If our mother could see us now, practically doing headstands to appease this girl, she’d laugh herself into a fit, then scream in joy and hug us until we couldn’t breathe.
“It smells incredible.” She’s so shy, so tentative, but so happy.
“I hope you’re hungry. I bought a lot of food.” There are eight containers lined up on the counter. “Do you like traditional holiday stuff?”
“I love it. I can’t remember the last time I had…” She shakes her head a little. “I love it.”
So far, so good. I try to catch Evan’s eye, but he’s deliberately avoiding me in favor of plating turkey, stuffing, and potatoes. I hand Frankie a plate, so she can fix her own food, trying not to grin at the way her eyes widen when she takes in everything I brought home.
Nobody ever told me what making somebody happy feels like. It seems unfair that she’s this excited over so little. She couldn’t have had much else going on in her life before we stepped into it. I know what it’s like to have nothing and for the littlest things to mean more than they should.
“This is so great.” She beams at me before plopping potatoes on her plate.
“There’s more coming after this.”
“Check out Santa,” Evan mumbles. I don’t think she heard him. I decide to pretend I didn’t—otherwise, we’ll end up fighting and blowing the whole scheme to hell.
We sit down and basically gorge ourselves. The girl’s got an appetite, but then again, she hasn’t eaten much today and probably didn’t before then. She’s so thin. I can’t believe how much I want to take care of her. No wonder I faltered when it came time to kill her.
Once we’re finished eating, I lead her to the living room. “There are a few things for you under the tree.” If she’s suspicious, she doesn’t show it.
Though she does raise an eyebrow. “Why did you buy me gifts?”
“It felt right.” She’ll understand. She’ll have to. I stand back, Evan behind me, and watch as she tears into the first package with her name written on the label.
She gasps, lifting the jacket from the box. “I hope it fits okay.” How fucking lame do I sound?
“I’m sure it will.” Her eyes bulge. “This had to be expensive.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Yes, it was, but that’s kind of the point. “Keep going.”
She opens a pair of jeans, a sweater, and leather boots. “I bought a couple of different sizes,” I admit when she holds them up. “I can always return the ones that don’t fit.”
