Page 23 of Christmas at the Ranch
She couldn’t remember when she’d last enjoyed someone’s company so much. And she thought Drew felt the same. But Beatrix acted as if she practically owned the ranch. The diamond ring sparkling on her left hand made it perfectly clear she still considered them to be engaged.
Samantha’s phone buzzed and she answered.
“Mom!” Samantha said. “Why are you calling? It’s one a.m. in Norway.”
“We have a five a.m. flight to Zurich. I’m waiting for your father to get out of the shower,” her mother replied. “We’re not in Norway, we spent Christmas Eve in Stockholm. We never went to bed, there was so much to see.”
“You never went to bed?” Samantha asked nervously.
When she was growing up, her parents were both asleep by 9:00P.M. Her mother said she couldn’t expect her students to get the ten hours of sleep recommended for teenagers if she stood at the chalkboard yawning and desperate for coffee.
“Stockholm has the most wonderful Christmas traditions.” Her mother kept talking. “On Christmas day, the whole city shuts down at three p.m. to watch old Disney cartoons on television. We learned thatKalle Ankameans ‘Donald Duck’ in Swedish. Then we took a walking tour of Gamla Stan and ended up at Skeppsbron where they have the tallest Christmas tree in the world.” Her mother reeled off the names as if she were a lifelong Swedish speaker. “You’ll never guess who we had dinner with: Joyce and Paul Musselman. We haven’t seen them for thirty years, but Paul started following me on Instagram. It’s because of them that your father and I met. Paul was my first serious boyfriend, and your father and Joyce were dating.”
“You had dinner with an old boyfriend?” Samantha said in alarm. “That must have been interesting.”
“It’s nothing like that,” her mother scoffed. “Besides, Paul lost all his hair and developed a paunch. I suppose I never told you the story. We were all on spring break in Daytona Beach. We double dated at the Tiki Lounge. From the moment we sat down, I couldn’t get over how attractive your father was. His eyes were so green and he had the best smile.
“Paul was sweet but he was an engineer and quite boring. And Joyce was getting a degree in fashion. Your father has no interest in clothes—he still thinks Sears only sells home goods. Well, Paul had indigestion and went to bed early, and Joyce and your father got into a fight. Your father was standing on the balcony of the Tiki Lounge and I joined him. We started talking and had so much in common: we both had a dog named Spot when we were children, and were thinking of joining the Peace Corps after college.”
“You never told me you were in the Peace Corps,” Samantha said, trying to imagine her parents at spring break where they played drinking games and held wet T-shirt contests.
“I never did. Everyone talked about joining the Peace Corps in those days, few people actually did it. It’s like young people saying they want to ‘go off the grid.’ It sounds exciting but no one wants to live without the internet,” her mother clucked. “Anyway, by the end of the night there was something between us. On the flight home, I broke up with Paul. Your father broke up with Joyce, and we have been together ever since.”
“I’m surprised they wanted to have dinner with you tonight,” Samantha said, laughing.
“Their lives turned out fine. Paul has a successful pool construction business and Joyce was a buyer at Bloomingdale’s and they’ve been happily married for thirty years,” her mother said matter-of-factly. “I want to hear about you. I read on a blog that Jackson Hole’s male-to-female ratio is seven to one.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Samantha said with a smile. “I did go snowmobiling. Tonight, the ski patrol is going to ski down the mountain and there’s a parade through town.” She suddenly thought about Beatrix. “I’m not sure I’m going to go.”
“You have to! I bet the ski patrol is full of great-looking men. If you dated one of them, you wouldn’t have to be afraid of falling when you’re skiing.” Her voice became muffled. “I wish you had joined us. Being away from you on Christmas day still feels so strange. Next year, you have to come. We’ll pick anywhere you want to go.”
Samantha swallowed. The only place she wanted to be was in her own living room, with Socks curled up on the sofa beside her.
“You and Dad deserve to travel and I love hearing about your adventures.” Samantha made her voice bright. “I couldn’t have turned down Arthur’s invitation anyway. I’ve never been invited to one of his Christmas parties before, it’s quite an honor.”
There was a honking sound on the other end of the phone. Samantha wondered if her mother had been crying and now, she was blowing her nose.
“Try to enjoy yourself, Samantha. I have to go,” her mother said loudly. “I’ll call you from Zurich. We’ll be there in time to hear the Singing Christmas Tree at Werdmühleplatz.”
Samantha hung up, wondering how many languages her parents would speak by the time they arrived home. Her mind turned to Drew. They both had readLady Chatterley’s Lover,and they never seemed to run out of things to talk about.
But she was being silly. Beatrix was here now, and Beatrix and Drew were together. She had to stop thinking about Drew. He was just a friend.
Samantha walked to the closet to pick out a dress. Beatrix would probably be wearing some drop-dead designer outfit that wasn’t yet in the stores. She silently thanked Emily for lending her so many clothes and she had something to wear other than sweatpants and old college sweatshirts. Samantha might not be any competition forBeatrix, but at least she wasn’t going to appear at Christmas dinner dressed like a professional dog walker.
Beatrix was talking to Arthur when Samantha entered the living room. The room was full of people but Samantha didn’t see Drew.
“Samantha, come and join us,” Arthur said, waving to her. “I sent Drew to the wine cellar for a bottle of champagne. Our first Christmas at the ranch deserves a real celebration. I had been looking for the perfect ranch to buy in Jackson Hole for years. But every ranch that came on the market was either subject to a bidding war between retired CEOs wanting to get back to nature or it was snatched up by some tech start-up entrepreneur who thought nothing of paying double the asking price. When I closed the deal on this place, I sent my Realtor a case of champagne to thank her.”
“It was worth the wait. The ranch is spectacular and everything looks so lovely,” Samantha commented.
A white Christmas tree with silver and blue ornaments stood near the fireplace, and a green fir tree decorated with lights twinkled at the window. Candles flickered on the side tables and there were platters of hors d’oeuvres.
“I was telling Beatrix this used to be a dude ranch.” Arthur nursed his glass. “The barn has been there for fifty years. It was popular with Hollywood celebrities. They signed their names on the wall in the tack room. You can still see Jane Fonda’s autograph, and there’s a saddle used by Robert Redford.”
“I loved horseback riding when I was in high school,” Beatrix remarked. “I won so many trophies at gymkhanas, I ran out of space on my shelf.”
Samantha had to admit that Beatrix looked stunning. She worea red velvet cocktail dress paired with black satin heels. Samantha was tempted to text Emily a photo of the dress. She’d love to find out the name of the designer. Perhaps she could buy a cheap copy for the publisher’s Christmas party next year.
