It started as a terrible morning with Lena throwing up in the middle of the hallway. It escalated with Dad putting his foot down to Danny that he was going to be the one driving or they would have to tie him to the roof of the SUV. He did not appreciate Danny grabbing a bungee cord out of the garage and stretching it in his hands.
Garrett arrived at five thirty and Dad told him we were running behind. Garrett only nodded as I opened the door and placed my purse and a bag behind the passenger seat.
“Dad, please explain this route we’re taking,” Danny asked as he pointed at a page in Dad’s massively over-folded atlas. “Why are we going up and into Missouri? It’s faster if we take highway 51 to Memphis.”
“Not going to Memphis,” Dad muttered, and Danny rolled his eyes.
“Aw, c’mon, Dad, that place has been closed for, what, twenty-five years? Give or take a million?”
“It’s the memories, son.”
“Memories of what, dear?” Mom asked as she walked out the front door with two suitcases.
“Memories of Christmas, darling. We’re going to make some new ones.”
“Yeah, let me get my camera,” Danny replied as he walked back to the house.
“What happened in Memphis?” Garrett whispered.
“I’ll tell you once we’re on the road.”
Garrett nodded as Lena stepped out of the house with Danny following behind her holding three suitcases, an overnight bag, and a backpack. I’m sure he was just preparing for a future of carrying a diaper bag, backpack, a highchair, and a crib. All in one trip of course.

Garrett met up with Dad and they went over where our final destination would and the locations we would stop along with the way for lunch.
“I’ll try to keep with you, sir,” Garrett replied.
“Okay, first stop is a quick bite to eat.”
“Please don’t say ‘Cracker Barrel. Please don’t say Cracker Barrel,” I screamed in my head.
“Cracker Barrel would take too long. McDonald’s it is,” he replied as he closed his atlas and bot into the front seat and closed the door.
“Please let us ride with you,” Danny pleaded. I shook my head behind Garrett’s back.
“Uhh, not sure we have room, but if you want to…”
“It’s okay. I could do with a few hours of rest. You planning to go through Memphis?”
“Yeah, it’s faster,” Garett shrugged.
“Exactly! Danny shouted as he walked back to the front door of the house to lock it.

We met at the McDonalds for a quick bite to eat but I admit I refused to eat anything but two bites of a hash brown and some coffee, Garett had less as he only went for the coffee. I knew everyone who worked the early shift at that location, and I didn’t want to go over my life story about why I was still in town. We decided to stop somewhere else along the way. Lena wasn’t able to keep her breakfast down and had to resort to just a cup of water.
“It’s just the grease. Still not used to it,” Lena said as she hobbled back to the car and flung her head back against the headrest. Danny looked at me with a thousand yard stare before Dad closed the door.
“We’re going to stop in Texarkana for lunch. Give me a call if you need to stop beforehand,” Dad said as he closed the door and started the engine.
“He’s still taking the long way?” I asked.

“He was adamant in it, but he did wish me luck driving in ‘that city’. Exactly what is the problem with Memphis?”
“No idea,” I lied as I shook my head. I’d let Adam, Dad or Danny say something first. “I guess he got robbed or something.”
“Swell, I’ll make sure we stop in the suburbs.”

The trip consisted of us going back and forth on inane subjects while going up and down the radio frequencies to find something we could both tolerate. I eventually pulled rank and turned the radio of again so we could try to sing a few Christmas carols. That lasted a good five minutes before we couldn’t remember the tune to a lot of them.

“Nikki, I'm afraid I've been thinking.”
“A dangerous pastime”
“I know.”
“What have been thinking?”
“You know that Texas allows for us be married without all the crazy documentation up front.”
“But we live in Tennessee.”
“For now, let’s say we find a place down here that doesn’t cost over a thousand a month.”
“That would be cool, except for…”
“Except for work?”
“I’d be leaving my family behind.”
“I think they want you to get out into world.”

I wanted to think how grand that would be to pack things up and move somewhere else but my overwhelming fear of the unknown would kick in whenever I thought about going anywhere else but the house I grew up in. I’d also think about how my older brother’s attitude would ruin things,

“I still think Adam wants me to stay at home, where I’ll be less noticeable.”
“But he was so supportive of you at my grandfather’s party,” Garrett replied as he raised an eyebrow.
“Adam is able to show the face of a lamb and be a helpful person but get him in private or when it really, air quotes, ‘matters’, then he’s stabbing you in the back for the good of the many.”
“Yet he invited us all to come down for Christmas?”
“It will be all fun, right?”
“Loads,” Garrett said as looked at me with a smile.
“Hey, you knew what you were—”
“Getting into, yes. The Armitage family is just full of surprises.”
“We are,” I replied as I looked out the window. “You mean it, Garrett? I mean, moving?”
“Sure. It’ll be a little tough for the first few months until we can find work and still go to school.”
“I’ll just work for now and maybe later on I’ll go back to sitting in a soul-sucking institution of higher learning.”
“You get to pay for it this time.”
“Even better. Okay, to add to my wish list of things, I want us to to go out and look around at apartments.”
“I thought Adam had a ton of things planned out.”
“Oh, I can avoid a lot of those outgoings. I packed a few dresses.”
“I thought you were going to be nice to Adam.”
“It goes both ways and like I said, I don’t trust Adam to hold up to his apologetic self from last year.”
Garrett nodded.

We met up with Danny and my folks in Texarkana, Arkansas. Technically, we beat them there as Dad kept the cruise control set to fifty-five. We had arrived there at 11:30 AM with the rest of the group pulling in an hour later. This gave us enough time to eat and refill our sodas quite a few times as we talked back and forth about our plan for the week. I’d spend some time with the family, perhaps a bit my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew but I really didn’t want to have too many discussions with Adam.

I was sure Adam still held a grudge on how he said he tried to talk some sense into me by throwing me into the snow, barely missing the bumper of the car as Dad pulled into the driveway. He explained to them that I needed therapy. He told them about camps that helped “people like me”. Mon and Dad did not go full throttle into him, at least not that I knew, as I had retreated to my room, locked the door, and took a glimpse at the fist-sized hole in the wall.

I had to wonder if a similar thing would happen during this trip. Oh, maybe I could be the one who places her fist through some plaster instead at something he was doing thar upset me,
“You got that face again,” Garrett noted.
“My doom and gloom face?”
“That’s the one.”
“Maybe we should go back home?”
“No, for three reasons. One, we’re already halfway there.”
“We’re like a quarter of the way there. You’ve never driven through Texas before.”
We would have to drive for six more hours to reach Adam’s town.
“Okay, two, you will regret it because Danny will hold it over you forever.”
“I can live with that.”
“And three. I would like to see what the state has to offer. We’ll do what you said and duck out of most of the facility outings.”
“Most?”
“It’s Christmas.”
“I’ll go with that,” I replied as my parents finally pulled into the parking lot.

Dad immediately got out of the SVU and did several deep knee bends along with stretching out his arms. I cringed at the show because he was also out of the car without a coat and it was very cold outside, hence why we stayed inside to wait. Danny helped Lena out and I could see she was not happy at all. I hoped it would be something that would pass before she walked inside. Unfortunately, it occurred while everyone was eating, as she got sick once again all over everyone’s lunch.

We continued on our trip with about six more hours of traveling which again meant cycling through the radio stations until I found a station playing Christmas music, all day til Christmas Day, per their station advertisement. Garrett threatened to turn the station a few times, but I slapped his hand when one song came on.

“Seth liked this.”
“‘You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch’?”
“Oh yeah, He had this Drill Sargent named Finch and he got everyone to march out the lyrics to this song but, replaced with ‘Finch’.”
“How many push-ups or KP days did Seth have to do?”
“Not many, they won some kind of camp contest because of it and, somehow, a patch was sent out everyone with a face of Finch on a green body.”
“And now, I’m going to be saying ‘you’re a mean one, Sargent Finch’ from now on.” Garrett replied with a sigh.
“Wait till I tell you about the changes he made to ‘Deck the Halls’.”

The drive through northwest Texas went faster than I thought it would as the speed was nearly eighty miles an hour, or at least that’s how fast Garrett drove as we passed farms, ranches, small towns with mega-sized churches and football fields that rivaled Neyland Stadium at The University of Tennessee.

“The fourth stadium we’ve seen. Football must be king.”
“Football is a religion in Texas.”
“They both have large buildings. How big is your brother’s church?”
“They have a coffee shop and a bowling alley,” I replied.
“Starbucks?”
“Nope.”
“Jesus Java?”
“I’m sure there’s one called that somewhere in this state.”
“So, his church is huge?”
“They have multiple pastors, so he’s not the only one there.”
Garrett nodded and then sighed.
“What?”
“Just remembering my grandad told me he was once a friend to the pastor in town at the old church.”
“Was?”
“Yep, they used to do a lot of things together. I think he said they fought in a war together. Grandpa had been invited to stay with him in the house connected to the church as a guest.”
A police car blazed past us without any lights or siren, so I guess we were okay to continue on at warp factor nine point two.
“The pastor had a a collection of wine. Not expensive vintages like that, but he had a lot.”
“Did he drink it all?”
“No, he filled the baptismal tub with it and was found swimming in it. I’m sure he had drunk a bit of it beforehand.”
“That’s a new one to me.”
“Not one of his shining moments. He said he regretted doing that as he lost a good friend.”
“There’s no chance of that happening down here, as they have this giant pool that opens up behind a curtain.”
“Can you swim laps in it?”
“My cousins have but they’re little, so.”
“A pool?
“As far as I know,” I said with a nod.
“That’s on my to do list. Did you pack a swimsuit?”
“I’ll find something,” I replied as we slowed down to exit off of the interstate and onto a frontage street in the city of Greenville. From there, we had to try and find a decent gas station. Decent in that it appeared to at least have running water and was not a massive truck stop.

“We’re here,” Garrett said as he turned off the engine. I’ll get some gas. Do you want anything?”
“No, thanks,” I said. He closed the door and walked into the connivence store. This may have been the final safe location for me. I still didn’t trust Adam. The ghost of Mr. Thomas could appear before me and tell me everything was going to be okay but I was still going to doubt him. Maybe he would be on his best behavior even with his neighbors and church superiors. I pondered removing the rainbow necklace around me neck or placing it under my shirt. I should have asked Garrett to bet me a bottle of water.

“I am not a fan of the price of gas in this town. You’d think with all the oil in the ground people would be swimming in it.” Garrett exclaimed as he climbed back in.
“Like wine?”
“Yeah, oh and a water slide park’s up the road a bit.”
“A ‘bit’ in Texas can be a mile up the road or closer to Dallas.”
“We should check it out, in the Spring,” he replied as he passed me a bottle of water. “Thought you’d want one.”
“Thank you.”
“Okay, so we got gas, now do we know your brother’s address?”
“No, my parents have that.”
“And we left them in the dust back in Texarkana.”
“Maybe Danny’s driving. We can expect them any minute.”
“Do you have your brother’s phone number?“
“Never wanted or needed to have it,” I replied with a shrug.
“Could have come in handy at this time.”
“Okay, let’s give them a call then and schedule a meet up location.”

We drove down a street that was reminiscent of any small city: A Walmart, a hardware store, Pizza Hut and a Mexican restaurant that looked interesting to go to one day.
I took out my phone and dialed Danny’s number since Mom never had her phone on and Dad refused to answer it while driving.
“Hey, Nikki.”
“Danny, where are you?”
“Looks like we’re thirty-five miles out of Greenville.”
“Going at 55 MPH?”
“Yep”
“Okay, is there a short order place somewhere near you?” Dad’s voice boomed through the phone. His temper would start to rise if he had to drive long distances that you would want to get out and walk the rest of the way, crank up the volume on your portable CD player or, it you were Seth, decide it was the perfect time to sing parody versions of Christmas songs.
“Umm, someplace called Whataburger.”
I motioned for Garrett to turn into the parking lot.
“Okay, stop there, we’ll find you. I’ll let Dad know.”

We parked the truck on the side of the building and gawked at the orange-colored building.
“It’s like a McDonalds from the 80’s was soaked in Orange Crush,” Garrett said. “I like it. They better have a decent burger.”
“We’ll see. We have about an hour to kill before they get here.”
I stepped out of the truck and closed the door to be met with a pair of eyes staring up at me from a little girl.
“Hello, are your parents here?”
The little girl shook her head.
“Are you lost?”
She nodded.
Garrett stepped up next to me and looked around at the cars in the lot. “This is how those kidnapping stories on Reddit start.”
“She’s just a kid.”
“Yes. A kid standing in the—feels like forty-two-degree temperature—without parents.”
“Yeah,” I replied as I looked around the lot as well. “I’m Nicole. Do you want to tell me your name?”
She shook her head.
“Are you hungry?”
“Are you planning on bringing her in with us?”
“Only is she wants to.”
“And this will be the reversal of said kidnapping stories.”
“You can come in with us if you want to.”
She nodded with a smile and followed us in. We took extra care to keep a few feet away from her, but I kept looking back to see if she was with us.
It was then that a woman’s scream startled everyone in a three-mile-radius. “Stop! What are you doing with my daughter!”
The woman was dressed in a heavy coat and boots. She looked more like she was ready to go mountain climbing and I was curious where said mountains were in Texas.
“She said she was lost and didn’t know where you were. We were going to let her sit with us until.”
“Come to me, Kaitlin, these two are trying to traffic you.”
“Wait just a minute,” I shouted. Garrett put his arm on my shoulder to pull me back and I shrugged him off. “Why would you say that? Do you think we have a big white truck with the words ‘free candy’ on the side? We were just going to try to keep her safe.”
“I’m going to call the police,” she said as she scooped the girl up and ran from the parking lot.
“Free candy?” Garrett asked.
“I would have bought her a burger. Do you think she’ll call the police?”
“We might as well order something while we wait for them to arrive.”

Anno Domine

The other part of our convoy arrived thirty minutes later, and I spent most of that time staring out the window and trying to go over what kind of story I would tell the police when they arrived. Garrett was sure they were not coming and that she said that as a scare tactic.

“And it worked,” I replied.
“People can be strange. I mean you serve a few of them each day.”
“Reverend Al is not weird,” I retorted as I waved at Danny as the group approached the door,
“Not even after the fourth bowl of cornbread?”
“He tips well.”
“I’ll accept that.”

Danny and Lena staggered in and sat down across from us as my parents walked toward the restroom.
“Remember when I said I’d strap Dad to the hood?”
“Yes.”
“I should have strapped myself. I have not heard so much NPR since leaving Starbucks.”
Lena laid her head on the table and mumbled something the three of us could not understand but everyone was too afraid to ask as she raised her head with a scowl. “Make this trip end, please.”
“We’re almost there. Maybe ten minutes to go.”
“Ten?” I asked. “You could have told us where to go and we would have met you at Adam’s house.”
“I tried, but Dad wants us all to arrive together. He said he wants to make sure there’s peace.”

I frowned at those words. Not because I thought Dad had something against me but because he knew Adam and wanted to be there in case the “old Adam” reared his ugly head. It was disappointing to think Adam could be like how he was, even through everything seemed rather cool for the past year. Maybe “cold” was the better word to use as Adam never called to talk to me. Mom and Dad would relay things to me about Adam and the family in Texas but they never gave me any details and I never asked for them.
Mom came up to the table and laid her coat down.
“It feels great to stretch my legs. How long have you been here, Nikki?”
“Long enough to have refilled this Dr. Pepper three-”
“-Four,” Garrett pointed out.
“Four times. We also got threatened by this homeless woman.”
Everyone looked at me, except for Garrett who looked to the ceiling and took a sip from his drink.
“There was this little girl standing by herself in the parking lot. I went to try and help her and this lady stats screaming about calling the police.”
“That’s how kidnappings start,” Lena said,
Garrett continued to look at the ceiling and sipping his drink. I was hoping he would jump in and assist me with the tale.
“I was trying to make sure she was okay, but the crazy woman dragged her away.”
“And we’ve been waiting for the police to arrive,” Garrett finally chipped in.
“Police?” Das asked from behind us. “Were you speeding?”
“John Walsh would like to speak to you,” Danny replied with a smirk.
“Who?”
“Did you order yet?” Dad asked Mom.
She shook her head.
“I’m pretty hungry. I want that bacon burger with barbecue thing we’ve seen signs for the past hour or so.”
“Excuse me!” Lena scrambled form the table and ran into the restroom.
After multiple trips to the restroom myself, are caravan was once again on the road with Dad leading the way. We drove a half a mile down the road to see a mess of tents in a small area on the side of the road in front of a drugstore. There was a light dusting of snow along the tops and a few people pacing back and forth. My eyes lit up as I recognized the crazy lady.
“Garrett!” I grabbed his arm and just about drove us off the road. “She’s over there!”
“Camping in December? Couldn’t do that. Grands tried to tempt me by saying he’d get me a new car if I could help him catch a deer.”
“But your truck is new.”
“Yep, didn’t go hunting. Hit the deer instead on the way to the woods.”
“Okay, I’ll ask about that later. Garrett, look at them. They’re in tents on the side of a highway.”
He glanced at them for a moment and then accelerated to keep up with my dad.
“Can we come back and check up on them?”
“What if they’re some kind of cult?”
“A cult, seriously?”
“Seriously. They’re just out in the open about it. Brazen and in your face kind of thing.”
“In the snow?”
“They’re dedicated.”
“We are coming back here, tomorrow,” I said as I continued to look back. I thought I had caught a glimmer of the little girl.

We continued down the road and took a slight fork to the right that led to a large house in the middle of a lawn that would take an eternity to mow by hand.
“This is your brother’s place?”
“I guess so. They never said it was huge. Karen Anne always said ‘our little home’ whenever she talked about their house.”
“It’s like the house on ‘Dallas’,” Garrett exclaimed with a whistle. “Does he have a butler?”
“I’ll be surprised if one doesn’t meet us at the door,” I said as Garret parked behind my parents and killed the engine.
“Okay, you can do this, Nikki.”
“I know,” I replied with a nervous nod.
“Remember what he said at the party. Right?”
“Yeah, I want to think he meant it.”
“I’m sure he’s going to open the door and greet everyone with a smile on his face.”
“More like Karen Anne will be the one answering the door.”
“There’s always the chance of a butler.”
“Kind of hoping for me,” I replied as Garrett climbed out, closed the driver’s side door, rushed around the front to my side and opened the door.
“We have arrive, m’lady.”
“Thank you, m’lord.”
He grabbed me by the waist and lifted me out of the truck and onto the ground. It was a wonderful tension breaker. “No towers. Perhaps he has a dungeon.”

We walked up to front door and Dad rapped his hand against the humongous door.
The door clicked a few times to reveal Karen Anne standing in the doorway. She looked pregnant.
“Oh, it’s so great to see all ya’ll,” she exclaimed as she gave my parents a hug. Karen Anne then turned to Danny and gave him a hug as well before she turned to Lena.
“We have something more in common.” Lena said as they did a side-hug.
“We do. You look like you’re ready to pop.”
“Just about,” Lena replied with a sigh.
Karen Anne turned her attention to us. She reached out and took my hands and noticed the ring on my finger. “It’s great to see you again, Nikki. And who is your friend?”
“This is Garrett Thomas. Garrett, this is Karen Anne.”
“Ma’am,” Garrett replied.
“Well, come on in, I’m sure you’re tired from the trip. Unpack later, okay?”
“Thank you, Dad replied as we filed into the house.

The foyer was able to accommodate our group without anyone having to touch a wall. In front of us was a grand staircase with passageways to the left and right. I hoped there were going be a few of those maps that read ‘You are Here’.

The halls were decked indeed with enough holly, garlands. and lights bordering the large bookcases on the side of the room.

“Adam’s in the living room with the kids. Adam!”

She swung out a set of double doors to reveal the living room that appeared to be the size off our house back in Tennessee, minus the garage.

Adam stood up and as my niece Amelia and nephew, James, turned to see us.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” They shouted in unison.

I looked at Adam’s face, he had a Cheshire Cat grin as the kids slammed into my parents like they were running backs like Travis Henry and Eddie George. My Dad absorbed the full-on blow by James and Amelia stopped short in front of mom in order to jump up and down like had eaten a bowl of caffeinated Frosted Flakes. As crazy as it looked, it made me feel happy. Maybe the holiday could work. Perhaps the dark feelings I had of over a year ago were just that, bad memories, made better by my brother relaxing his intolerance and embracing me for who I was. It could be a merry Christmas indeed.

“Hey, Unca Nik,” my nephew James, shouted at me.

And, it was gone.

I was internally boiling, but I couldn’t take it out on a six-year-old. I wanted to take it out on Adam. Oh, how I wanted to because he made me into a liar in front of Garrett. He said he had changed, he had said all those things and promised to accept me for my choices. Alas, here was James saying that word in a voice that echoed like a scream in a deep cave. A lot of eyes fell on me and as much as I wanted to dart out of the house, I chose not to—that, and Garrett had a tight grip on my arm.

“Hello, James. How are you?”
“I’m getting a PlayStation this year.”
“Nice,” I replied as he jumped up and down and then ran back to a small pile of toys in the far corner.
“He’s been asking about that for months,” Adam said as he looked back at James.
“We’ve had six Santas look at us for approval whenever he asked for one,” Karen Anne whispered.
Amelia was busy asking Lena every single question a five-year-old could about pregnancy.
“Dinner will be ready in about an hour,” Karen Anne announced.
“Let me help you with that,” Mom said with a hint of glee in her voice as she followed Karen Anne.

“I’ll show you to your rooms,” Adam announced to the rest of us and lead us out of the room and back to the staircase.
“How many acres do you have?” Dad asked.
“About 10,000. A lot of it are trees but we hope to one day put a pool and a guest house on some of the land.”
“Very good.”
“Sounds expensive,” Danny commented as he looked at the artwork on the walls.
“It is, but we’re praying for the opportunity and if God says yes, it will be done.”
I wanted to scoff but I didn’t want everyone to see the bitch I felt like at the time.

Adam opened the first door and turned on the lights to a fully furnished room with a large sleigh bed and a huge wardrobe.
“This will be your room, Dad.”
“I am impressed,” Danny said as he pointed at the bed frame. “Hickory?”
“Mahogany,” Adam replied as he led Dad and Danny out of the room and to the room across the hallway. “This will be the room for you and Lena, Dan.” Adam flipped the switch just a bit past the doorframe, and the room was slowly illuminated in a soft to reveal a similar bed. There was a large desk, probably made from an endangered breed of tree, on the side of the room next to a closet door. “The bed can be adjusted if you need it to be firmer or softer.”
“Lena’s going to love that.” Dan replied with a pat to Adam’s arm.

“Nick’s room is at the back, and Garrett is offered to sleep in the room with James or on the couch in the den.” Adam pretty much dead-named me as we walked down the hall.
“Thank you,” Garrett replied as Adam turned the light on to reveal another set of stairs, smaller and cramped, that led upstairs.
I climbed—quite literally—up the steps with Garrett behind me. Danny followed us up while Dad stayed with Adam.
“Karen Anne calls it ‘the tower’, Adam said. I looked back at Garrett, and he nodded.
The stairs stopped in a landing with three doors.
“It’s the one in the right. The bathroom is behind the center door!” Adam called from downstairs.
I opened the door and turned on the light.
“I’m impressed. I’d trade you, but Lena will cuss me out having to climb up here,” Danny commented and walked to the window. “We could act out ‘Rapunzel’ from here. You’ll need to grow your hair out, Nikki.”
The room was like the ones on the second floor, but a little smaller. It too had a wardrobe on the far side and a small desk next to the window.
“There’s an intercom on the wall,” Adam called from the downstairs and the three of us turned to see the controls near the door on the opposite side of the light switch.
“In order to contact the warden,” Danny whispered.
“I could trade with you,” I motioned to Garrett.
“That bed looks way more comfortable than the couch. I’m not going to let you.”
“As much as I wouldn’t care if the two of you stayed up here, but, you know what would happen.”
“Yeah, I replied with a sigh. “Got to keep the peace.”
Garrett nodded. “I’ll go get your suitcase and bag.”
“Thanks,” I replied as he left with Danny, leaving me alone in my Christmas-themed tower prison, to be away from everyone so I didn’t spoil the holiday by being there.
“There you go, Nikki,” I thought to myself, “maybe he just made a mistake with James and Adam.”
And as much as I wanted to believe, it was hard to accept that James called me uncle. There was no reason for James to have ever known me as a male and I didn’t know whether to swear my head off or to cry my eyes out because I knew they would not correct him for the misgender.

There was a loud thud, and I turned to the door to see Garrett carrying two suitcases, my bag and his backpack. He stumbled across the floor with everything, placing the suitcases on the floor and the bag and backpack on the bed.
“I thought it would be best to keep everything in one place.”
“Adam’s not going to go for it.”
“What Adam doesn’t know,” Garrett whispered as he walked over and kissed me on the cheek. “I’m sorry.”
“Kind of used to it with my family,” I replied as I tried to hold back my tears.
“I was thinking, in the morning, we could go look around town, just us.”
“What? And miss out on sight-seeing with the family?”
“Okay, I’ll ask them when they’re leaving in the morning,” Garrett said as he tried to take a step back, but I grabbed his hand.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“About what?”
“Good, keep doing that,” I replied with a slight smile.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Oh joy. Dinner with the sinners.”
“I’m all up for a little more sinning if you are.”