Chapter 2 - Christmas Without a Family
Avery arrived in Connecticut three days before Christmas.
Snow covered the neighborhood lawns, and white lights glowed around the windows of the Whitaker mansion.
Her mother had called twice that month.
“We miss you,” Elaine said. “Come home. It won’t feel like Christmas without you.”
Avery believed her.
She had spent the previous year working in Chicago, where she was building a career as a financial compliance analyst. The distance gave her relief from the family role she had occupied since childhood.
Richard called her difficult.
Elaine called her independent whenever she was proud and selfish whenever she said no.
Caleb, ten years younger, received the kind of patience Avery had always been expected to provide for herself.
Still, she wanted one peaceful holiday.
She dragged her suitcase through six inches of snow and unlocked the front door.
The house was dark.
No oven timers.
No argument over tree lights.
No Caleb searching for gifts.
Only Theodore sat beside the fireplace in his old wooden rocking chair, wearing a brown cardigan and polished shoes.
A note waited on the coffee table.
Avery,
Mom, Dad, and Caleb went to Europe for Christmas. You stay and care for Grandpa. He has medication, meals, and appointments. Don’t be dramatic. We’ll be back after New Year’s.
Mom
Avery read it three times.
They had invited her home to use her as unpaid care.
Theodore watched silently.
Then he placed both hands on the silver handle of his cane.
“Shall we begin?”
Avery should have called a car and returned to the airport.
May you like
Instead, she nodded.
It was the first decision she had made in years that her parents could not interrupt.
