Page 37 of Shelter
Our space in the guesthouse was just as full of our own brand of Christmas cheer. The living room wasn’t big, but we could fit a small tree in the corner. We had ornaments we’d collected over the years, but for the last three, I’d made a series of beaded ornaments that Mama loved. I loved them too, especially the ones fashioned like gyroscopes that I could flatten or open with a little swivel at the center. The red beads caught the Christmas tree lights like stained glass. Over the years, these ornaments had become some of my best sellers at the farmer's market during the fall months.
Another thing I loved about Christmas was my snowflakes. When I’d been five or six, I’d made paper snowflakes that Mama taped to the window. She had saved them and hung them up in the guesthouse windows every year. There was just something about a paper snowflake that felt a lot more Christmassy than a spotlight on a red bow the size of a golf cart.
They never said anything about it, but I think Ava and Cole felt the same. They gravitated to the kitchen during the holidays. Lured in by Mama’s wassail, her cocoa, and peppermint cookies, they’d sit at the table all afternoon during Christmas break — if they weren’t staying at one friend’s house or skiing in Colorado with another. And, if I wasn’t at Alberta’s, I’d be there too.
And a week before Christmas when I was sixteen, while Lafayette, Louisiana, and, indeed, all of the deep south, endured a particularly bitter cold front, Ava introduced me toTwilight.Without warning, I fell heart and soul in love with Edward Cullen. Who cared if I was two years late to the party? I’d seen the tempting apple-covered hardback all over Comeaux High’s campus, but it was still a book. And a damn big one. I had enough reading to do for school, anyway. But Ava had sprung it on me during the break, and I was a goner.
The first time Cole caught us reading it at the kitchen table, he was merciless.
He stopped on his way to the stove for a mug of hot cocoa. “No,” he said, shaking his head at his sister. “Just no. You are not filling her head with that trash.”
Ava had just read the part about Bella nearly fainting in Biology. Edward had just lifted her in his arms. (What was it about the name Edward? Edward Rochester… Edward Cullen…) As he carried her to the nurse’s office, I felt a fluttering in my tummy as though I’d been lifted off my feet into a pair of strong arms.
“It isnottrash,” I defended. Before Cole walked in and spoiled everything, I’d been enjoying the shocking realization that there was a world of books that weren’t meant for school.To Kill a MockingbirdandJane Eyrewere one thing, but books likeTwilight…well, those were glorious. School books were like the four basic food groups. But this was like… like…dessert.
Cole raised a brow that arched so high, a world of doubt could have sailed down it on a sled. “Vampires in love? In the Pacific Northwest?” he scoffed. “Please.”
My gaze shot to Ava. “Edward’s a vampire?” I asked in stunned horror.
Her eyes registered shock before she gave me an anguished, half-pitying look. “You didn’t know?”
I winced. Clearly, this was something I should have figured out already. I combed over the details from the story. Fair skin… super-human strength… warnings of danger… Now that I thought about it, the facts seemed to be staring me in the face. And I’d just blinked back. Like an idiot.
As always.
Outwardly, I shook off my shame. “I-I wasn’t paying attention. I would have known it soon,” I said, hoping I sounded convincing and composed. I couldn’t meet either of their eyes, so I poked at a near-melted marshmallow in my cocoa instead.
“Yes, you would have.”
These words coming from Cole made my head snap up. I expected him to be fighting back hysterics at my expense. But he wasn’t. His face held no trace of humor. Instead, he looked so convinced, even I believed him, and my shoulders relaxed on my next exhale.
Sometimes, when he wasn’t being an annoying ass, Cole wasn’t so bad.
“You would have because it’s stupid,” he added.
And then he goes right back to being an ass.
I picked up my mug and brought it to the sink, the sweet drink suddenly nauseating. I felt Cole turn toward me as I poured my cocoa down the drain.
“And you’re smart,” he said.
My body went rigid, waiting for the next insult that would surely come. Cole was an expert at catching me with my guard down. No, that wasn’t exactly right. Really, he was an expert at getting me to let my guard slip before he leveled me with an insult or slight. He’d had years of practice.
This time, I wasn’t going to give him the chance. And I certainly wasn’t going to stick around for more ofTwilightnow. Not because Cole’s opinion tainted mine. But because I didn’t want him to ruin the book any more than he already had.
Mama was rolling out pie crusts on the counter. She was pretending not to listen, but I knew she’d tuned into every word. Her eyes flicked up to mine when I put my mug into the dishwasher. They held a warning. I was not to say something to Cole I might regret. But there was something else in her look, too. A hint of sympathy and maybe even a little defiance.
“Don’t listen to him,”it seemed to say.“You’re smart enough to figure out what you want.”
The look touched something in my middle and set it free. I smiled at her. “I’ll be at Alberta’s,” I told her softly, and then I turned and moved to the door.
“Wait, where are you going?” Cole asked, sounding surprised.
I put my hand on the knob, but I faced him before turning it. “I’m leaving.” I didn’t owe him an answer. He could say anything he wanted to me, but I didn’t have to tell him where I was going. I didn’t have to tell him a thing.
A frown creased his brow. “But why? Y’all were in the middle of the story?”
Over his shoulder, I watched Ava smirk and roll her eyes at her brother.
