Holiday Escort Page 7

  The meal went well, and I could finally relax a little. Everything had turned out the way I wanted and Karen's parents didn't seem to hate me. I sat back and watched the family dynamics play out.

  Lisa tried another gambit. She hadn't been paying attention. "Where did you buy the bread? It's quite good."

  "Thank you, Lisa. Homemade bread can be a lot of work, so it's lovely being appreciated."

  I decided that Lisa, Karen's sister, was jealous, and that was why she lorded her family life over her sister. I felt bad for Bob, as he seemed like a nice guy, but his wife struck me as a shrew and their kids were brats. I liked cousin Chris. Rhonda treated me well. Fred ignored me until Chris asked how Karen and I had met, and it came out I used to work for Marsha Henderson.

  "I know Marsha," Fred said. "You're the assistant she always used to brag about?"

  "Well, I was her only assistant for ten years leading up through this past June, so I guess it might depend upon when she was bragging."

  "You've been out of work since June?" I nodded. "Why?" he asked.

  "Frankly, Fred, I don't know."

  "Maybe you've been setting your sights too low. You've been applying for other personal assistant jobs? Maybe you should aim higher. Come see me after the holidays are over. We have some openings."

  I looked at Karen. "I'd want to talk to Karen about whether working for her father is a good idea, but I'd love to talk to you, even if it's simply for advice."

  Rhonda smiled at me and patted my hand.

  The meal moved onto safer topics and eventually wound down. I got up to clear. "No," said Rhonda. "You and I are going to relax. Those who didn't help in the kitchen get to do the cleanup."

  "I want to open presents!" said brat number one.

  "Yeah!" said brat number two.

  "And you will as soon as everything is cleaned up and put away," their grandmother said. "And not a moment before." She paused. "Everyone who helped cook is excused from cleanup duty. The rest of you, do a good job. Or else."

  Then Rhonda took my hand and pulled me to the living room. I went numbly after her.

  "Sit," she ordered, pointing to the sofa. I sat. She sat down next to me. We chatted about nothing important while everyone else worked on the cleanup.

  Fred excused himself first from duties and came to join us, carrying a bottle of wine. Rhonda allowed him to fill our glasses and sit down. The brats tried to join us but Rhonda said, "The sooner the cleanup is done, the sooner you get to open your presents." She pointed back to the kitchen. I watched as Karen put them to work.

  Fred was chuckling. "What is it, Dear?" Rhonda asked him.

  "Lisa's krumkake," he said, still chuckling. He reached over to a plate and took one of the last remaining krumkake from it and seemed to enjoy it. I was pleased. Then he turned to me. "I like you," he said. "I spent years in denial over my daughter's lifestyle. It can still be difficult to accept for an old codger like me. But I like you."

  I smiled. Karen's parents were nice, and they were treating me well. I reached over and clasped Rhonda's hand for a moment. "I was so nervous," I admitted. "But you two are being so kind. Thank you."

  "We love our daughter," Rhonda said. "And she hasn't smiled for a long time."

  "No pressure then."

  Rhonda laughed.

  "I think I'm a fling for her, but right now we're good for each other. I don't know if that will be the case when I have a proper job again."

  The conversation moved to safer topics for a few minutes before the kitchen crew declared things were sufficiently resolved and came to join us. We reseated slightly so I was in the middle of the couch with Karen on one side and Rhonda on another. The other adults took the available chairs. The kids sat on the floor. Chris's teenage daughter was tasked with handing out the presents from under the tree.

  I had done Karen's shopping for her. She had given me a list of people and what she wanted me to get everyone, but she hadn't physically seen any of the presents before I wrapped them. I had supplemented some of the lists. Once the presents were passed out, I had one in front of me from Rhonda and Fred. Karen's present from me was back under the tree as well as all the presents to my family, and I saw there was another one under the tree. I chose to believe it was a gift from Karen to me. Everyone else had a couple of presents to open, with the children having several each.

  The rug rats were actually pretty good about it. They took turns opening presents, and they were gracious about what they received. I revised my opinion from it and made a mental note to say something kind to Lisa and Bob later. Rhonda's gifts from Karen were the theater tickets Karen had directed plus a pampering basket I'd added to it. Karen covered well, but she hadn't paid any attention when I'd run through what I had gotten everyone. After she had opened everything and the attention was off of her, Rhonda leaned to me and whispered quietly, "Thank you, Dear."

  "Whatever for?" I asked her.

  Rhonda simply smiled. I smiled back.

  Rhonda and Fred gave me a delicate white gold necklace. It was understated and beautiful. I loved it.

  * * *

  We closed the door once the last guest was gone. I turned to Karen. "Your parents liked me."

  "I know," she said. "You're my first girlfriend they've liked."

  I sighed and looked away, then turned from her completely and wandered into the kitchen to see how bad it was. I was pleasantly surprised to see there wasn't any work for me to do. Karen followed me.

  "You did a nice job cleaning up," I said. "Thank you."

  "I had a lot of help. Is something wrong?"

  "I didn't like deceiving your parents. I tried to control expectations, but they were eying me like their future daughter-in-law."

  "Come on," she said. She took me by the hands and pulled me back into the living room. She sat down on the sofa and invited me to lie down with my head in her lap. As soon as I was lying down, she began caressing my face gently. I closed my eyes. It felt nice.

  I fell asleep like that. Karen woke me after a few minutes and helped me upstairs. I took a hug from her before turning into my room. I pulled my clothes off and collapsed in bed. I was asleep in minutes.

  * * *

  We woke Christmas Day to a light fresh layer of snow. It was pretty. Karen was already downstairs when I came down. She got up and poured me a cup of coffee then pulled me into the living room. She had pulled the two presents out from the tree and set them on a coffee table in easy reach.

  "My family has two traditions," I told her. "First, we pride ourselves on understated gifts that say something special about the relationship between giver and receiver. And we say something to the recipient when we give someone a gift." I set my coffee down and picked up my present to Karen. "Karen, this represents something you don't have, probably won't appreciate, but in my opinion, desperately need."

  She reached for her gift to me but I shook my finger at her. "Please open that first."

  "All right," she said. She opened it. I had gotten her a simple book called "A Cup of Christmas Tea." I'd gotten it for her because it represents finding joy in simple things.

  She opened it. I'd left an inscription inside. "My lovely Karen, may you always find joy. I love you. Madeline."

  She grew very quiet after reading the inscription then reached over and hugged me. "Thank you, Madeline."

  "You may never figure out why I gave it for you," I told her. "But if you do, please tell me."

  She hugged me tighter.

  She picked up her gift to me and held it for a moment. "I think this needs an explanation after you open it," she said. "I'm sorry, I don't have something good to say first." She handed me the present. It was a small box, so I was expecting jewelry.

  "That's okay," I said. I opened it slowly, savoring the process. It was indeed jewelry, a very attractive pendant necklace.

  "It's beautiful," I said. I paused. "It looks familiar, but I'm not sure why."

  She smiled. "It's the necklace I was wearin
g the day we met. I would very much like to see it around your neck."

  "Oh," I said, touched. I had assumed she had gone to a jewelry store and bought something she liked. It meant so much more than she had selected something of her own for me. I asked her to put it on me, so she did.

  I hugged her and thanked her. "I'll cherish it forever. Thank you so much."

  We sat on the sofa drinking our coffee for a few minutes before I said, "Karen, my parents know the truth about our arrangement."

  "I thought they would," she said.

  "I would really like you to come with me today. I understand if you have other plans, but it would mean a lot if you came."

  She smiled. "Are you sure?"

  "Yes."

  "Then I would love to come."

  * * *

  While Karen was in the shower, I called Mom. "Merry Christmas, Mom."

  "Merry Christmas," she said. "Was Santa good to you?"

  "Not so far, but Karen was." Mom laughed. "Mom, I hope this is okay. I just asked Karen to come with me today."

  "Of course it's okay," Mom said. "We always have room for one more. Do you want me to say anything to anyone else?"

  "You can tell Dad," I said.

  "Is she coming as your girlfriend?"

  "Good question," I said, laughing. "Honestly, I don't know." I paused. "What if she were?"

  Mom was quiet for a moment. "Then I am even more happy you're bringing her."

  "Dad would have a cow."

  "No he wouldn't. He would ask whether she were treating you well."

  "Well, not to worry," I said. "She's coming as my friend. There's no sex in this relationship."

  Mom was quiet for a moment. "Honey, long ago your father and I talked about this. We asked ourselves, what would we do if you brought home a girlfriend, or your brother brought home a boyfriend."

  "Mom-"

  "Let me finish. We both decided that what was important was whether you were happy and being treated well."

  "I love you, Mom. But it's not like that. I'm her fake girlfriend." I paused. "I admit I enjoy dancing with her, but you know me and a dance floor. I'll fall for anyone with a good ocho cortado."

  Mom laughed.

  "Do you want us over early to help?"

  "That would be lovely, but don't feel obligated."

  We hung up and I knocked on Karen's door, entering when she told me to. "Bathroom," she called when I poked my nose in.

  She was wearing bra and panties and standing in front of the mirror working on her makeup. "Mom is looking forward to meeting you," I told her. "Would you mind going over early?"

  She looked at me in the mirror. "Not at all. Should we bring anything?"

  "I have their presents ready to go," I said. "Would you donate a bottle of wine? She's making a ham."

  "I'll pick out a couple," she said.

  I leaned against the doorway, watching her. She had her back to me. I could see her face in the mirror as she worked on her makeup. I pointedly checked out her entire body from behind.

  "You just totally checked me out!" she said. She sounded amused.

  "Yes, I did."

  She laughed. "Do you like what you see?" She paused. "You've put four pounds on me in a month."

  "Yes, I like what I see." I paused. "I had the strangest conversation with Mom. She asked if you were coming as my girlfriend."

  Karen turned around. "What did you say?"

  "That I wasn't sure." I relayed the conversation. She looked a little disappointed in the first part but impressed with my parents for the second part.

  "So what was with checking me out?"

  "I was thinking about something," I said. "I smiled at her. I was thinking that if I were going to have a girlfriend, I don't think I could do better." I retreated from her before she could respond, then said over my shoulder, "I'd like to leave by ten, if that's okay."

  I didn't hear her response.

  * * *

  We both ended up wearing a blouse and skirt with black boots. "We match," Karen said when I came downstairs. I had taken my new necklace off to shower. I walked over to her and handed it to her, then turned around and held my hair out of the way. She wrapped it around my neck for me, giving the bare skin of my neck and extra caress. Shivers ran down my back at her touch.

  She was smiling when I turned around. I'm not sure she noticed my reaction, but I thought perhaps she had.

  "I don't know anything about your family," she said. "How many will be there?"

  "My parents. My brother, Jon. Jon may have a girlfriend in tow."

  "Older or younger brother?"

  "Younger. He's twenty-eight, three years younger than I am. My aunt and uncle, Mary and George, will be there. She's my mom's older sister. Their kids are married with three kids between the two of them. The kids are young."

  Karen was counting. "Twelve adults, three kids. Anyone else?"

  "Not that I've heard. Dad was an only. Sometimes Mom invites a few others who would otherwise be alone for Christmas, but she hasn't warned me about any."

  "Do you give presents to everyone?"

  "Yes. We need to add your name to the tags. You can help."

  She smiled. "Tell me more about them. Specifically, are they wine and food snobs?"

  I laughed. "No." I moved Karen to the dinette table, handed her a pen, then started bringing her presents from under the tree. As I handed them to her, I told her who they were for and what they were. For some, I explained the story. All the guys were getting one present. The women were getting a unique present, plus I had made pamper baskets for them. There was one pamper basket left with no name.

  "If Jon brings a girlfriend, this is for her."

  Karen added her name to all the tags. Once we were done, we moved all the presents to several recycle shopping bags and carried them out to her car.

  I gave her directions as we drove.

  "Madeline, about what you said earlier," she said, once we were under way.

  "Yes?"

  "I couldn't do better than you, either."

  I smiled. "That's only because you like having a stay at home wife. Once I'm back to working, you'll feel differently. Besides, so far I'm a lousy lay."

  She laughed so hard she was wiping tears from her eyes. Once she had herself back under control, she said, "You're wrong about the first part. I admit the sex has been lacking though."

  We spent the rest of the ride with me telling her more about my family. My parents lived in Golden Valley, only one suburb from Karen's home in Plymouth, so it wasn't a long ride. We pulled up in front of the home I grew up in. Karen let me out before pulling to the curb so I wouldn't have to walk in the snow. Then we collected the presents, treats and two bottles of wine from the trunk, taking two trips to carry everything.

  "Hey, Mom! Dad!" I said after letting us in through the front.

  "Kitchen, Madeline," I heard Mom say. I helped Karen with her coat. We left the presents in the living room and I pulled Karen to the kitchen, bringing the wine and cookies.

  Mom and Dad were both there. They had been twenty-seven when I was born, so they were fifty-eight now. Mom didn't die her hair, so it was long and black with streaks of grey. I thought she looked amazing. She was small, like me, and was my source of grace. Dad was of moderate height and still had most of his hair, but he'd put on a paunch from years of Mom's cooking.

  "Mom, Dad," I said. "This is Karen Greene. You've heard about her. Karen, my parents, Sarah and Mike Burnet."

  Dad and Karen shook hands. Mom hugged her. Karen was surprised, but returned the hug. The four of us made small talk for several minutes before I asked, "How can we help."

  "What's in the bag, Dear?" Mom asked.

  "Oh." I emptied three plates of krumkake onto the table.

  Dad's eyes lit up. "Krumkake? I haven't had that since I was a kid. Your great grandmother used to make it." He immediately stole one. "Where did you get these?" he said after the first bite. "They're great."

&nbs
p; "Thanks," I said. "I made them."

  Mom and Karen both took one, Karen giving me a dirty look as she ate the fattening goodness. She finished it and said, "You have new duties after the new year arrives."

  "Oh? I was under the impression my duties would be relaxing after the first."

  She smiled. "Workout partner."

  I laughed then reached over and pinched her waist. "If you gained any from my cooking, I couldn't tell where."

  "Calories don't count on Christmas," Dad declared.

  "Well," Mom said. "These calories aren't going to cook themselves." She handed knives and cutting boards to Karen and me, and we began cutting up potatoes and carrots. Karen, Dad and I did whatever Mom told us for a while. Karen and I teased each other a few times.

  Finally Mom said, "You two need to decide something before anyone else arrives." She looked at us to make sure she had our attention. "Friends or girlfriends? You're acting like girlfriends. How do you want to be introduced?"

  Karen didn't say anything but looked at me.

  Mom continued. "If you continue to act like this but are introduced as friends, then people are going to think you're hiding the true nature of your relationship, but hiding it poorly. Karen, Mike and I know you hired our daughter, but no one else knows you even exist."

  I looked between Karen and my parents, suddenly confused by everything. I liked flirting with Karen. But I was straight. She wasn't my real girlfriend. And it wasn't like we were latched onto each other like a couple of lovesick songbirds.

  Torn, I kept looking between the three of them. "Maybe this was a bad idea," Karen suggested. "I could go home."

  "No!" I said, surprised at the intensity of my reaction. "I mean. I don't want you to leave."

  "I would love to stay," Karen said. "But your mother is right. Maybe we should stop flirting."

  "I like flirting with you. You make me feel good."

  She smiled broadly at that.

  "Oh hell," I said. "Does it matter?"

  "Yes," Karen said.

  "Fine," I said. "House mates. Friends. Dance partners. And I will flirt with you if I want to. It's your choice if you choose to flirt back." I looked back at Mom. "And people can think what they want."

  And with that, I went out to set the dining room table.