He chuckled. “I believe I have a mug that says so. Don’t you worry about that bill. Once Becky takes today’s check to the bank, we can pay it and the feed store. And the good news is we have several more parties scheduled between now and Christmas. We’ll be fine.”
But what about after Christmas? There was a huge gap between Christmas parties and the summer tourist season. They were going to require a regular income above their modest retirement checks just to get by, and the transplant wouldn’t be cheap. As soon as she could make it happen, Marissa needed to find a job.
Twenty days till Christmas
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER PARTY. This one was a private birthday party. Not as profitable as the big events, but every little bit helped. Marissa grimaced as she bounced the wheel of the trailer over the curb on the turn into the parking lot, no doubt jostling the reindeer inside. Sorry, girls. She wasn’t used to driving with a trailer, but Oliver’s aid was running late and Becky had to stay until she arrived. Marissa gingerly pulled the truck and trailer along the edge of the almost-empty parking lot where they would be setting up the reindeer rides.
Across the lot, the door of an old blue truck opened. Chris. What was he doing here so early? Becky had him scheduled to arrive just in time to get dressed before the party started. After her meltdown the other day, Marissa had hoped to have Becky as a buffer the next time she faced him, but apparently not.
He walked across the parking lot. “Hi. Where’s Becky?”
“She’ll be along in a little while. Oliver’s health aid got delayed.”
“Oh.” He shifted his weight. “I, uh, I’m sorry for the other day. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Good. Because I—”
“So let’s just forget it, okay?”
“Okay.”
“What are you doing here so early?”
He shrugged. “Nowhere else I need to be. Besides, Sam is leaving for his rotation to the North Slope today, so I wanted to be out of the house.”
“You still live with Sam?” She’d have thought Chris would have gotten his own place by now.
Chris shrugged. “Why not? He’s been promoted to head supervising engineer at Prudhoe Bay, so he’s gone to the slope two weeks out of four, and I’m out fishing most of the summer. Why leave two places sitting empty? I might be moving soon, though.”
She smirked. “Trouble in paradise after all these years?”
“Very funny. No, it’s just getting a little crowded, now that he’s married. And since it’s his last day home for two weeks, I thought I’d give the newlyweds some privacy.” He opened the tailgate. “You need all this stuff carried in?”
“Sam is married?” She wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. Sam was a great guy, but he’d been solely focused on his career. More than one woman had tried to tie him down, with little success. Marissa wondered who had finally won him over. “What’s his wife’s name? Do I know her?”
“Dana. And no. She’s from Kansas.” He lifted the parts of the Santa throne from the truck. “She’s my sister.”
“You have a sister?” Marissa stared at him. How could she not know that? She’d almost married the man, for heaven’s sake.
“Half sister, technically.”
“She wasn’t on the guest list for the wedding.” Marissa blurted it out before she thought, instantly wishing she could recall the words. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about the wedding that never happened.
But the reference didn’t seem to faze Chris. He just kept on unloading. “Long story short, I hadn’t been in touch with my family since I left home when I was twenty-one. Dana literally showed up on my doorstep this past summer, after my father died.”
“I can’t believe you have a sister.” Marissa wasn’t sure why she found that so surprising. Chris never talked about family, seldom mentioning his life before he came to Alaska, and she’d inferred he must be estranged from his parents. But for some reason, she’d never pictured siblings. Maybe because she didn’t have any. “Any other family?”
“Only my mom. That is, my stepmother. She still lives in Kansas.”
“Is your sister older or younger?”
“Dana’s my little sister. She was sixteen when I left home.”
“And you’ve never seen her since?”
“Not until this summer. Now that we’re living in the same house, we’re seeing a lot of each other.”
Marissa tried to imagine it. “What’s she like?”
“Dana? She’s a sweetheart. You’d like her. She’s in college right now, updating her credentials. She wants to teach math.” Chris spoke about this sister he’d never mentioned with a casual fondness, like any brother talking about a younger sibling. Marissa was beginning to wonder if she’d ever known Chris at all.
“So whatever it was that made you leave your family, it’s resolved?”
“Yep.” He closed the tailgate. Marissa ached to know the rest of that story, but Chris obviously wasn’t inclined to share.
Not that it was any of her business. Not anymore. “And your sister is married to Sam, the confirmed bachelor?”
“That’s right.” He grinned. “You should see them together. It’s a little sickening.”
“Oh?”
He chuckled. “Way too much giggling and whispering. Sam goes around with this goofy grin on his face.”
Marissa thought back to the ambitious young engineer she’d known. She’d always liked Sam. She felt a certain kinship with him, since he’d lost his parents and been raised by someone else, as well. Marissa had met his auntie Ursula, and it was clear he adored her as much as Marissa adored Oliver and Becky.
She’d like to talk to him herself, to meet his wife and offer her best wishes. But she’d seen Sam only once after she broke the engagement to his best friend, and he’d been far from friendly. He wouldn’t want to talk with her now. Still... “I’m glad he’s happy.”
“Yeah. Me, too. I’ll carry this stuff in and come back for the next load, okay?”
“Sure. And when you see Sam, tell him I said congratulations.”
“Will do.”
* * *
THE NEXT DAY, Chris slept in. No use jumping out of bed. No snow meant no work and no skiing, just time to kill. If he were willing to drive up to the mountains, he might be able to find enough snow to run his snow machine, but when he’d been hauling snow the other day, conditions looked poor. He finally dragged himself into the shower and pulled on some clothes. He was almost glad when he noticed his overflowing hamper. At last, something to do.
He went upstairs and poured a cup of coffee from the pot. Another perk of having Dana around. A bouquet of red carnations on the kitchen table emitted a spicy odor that blended nicely with the scent of coffee. No sign of his sister, but if the coffeemaker was on, she must be around.
A few minutes later, a door opened and Dana came down the hall, her arms full of books and Kimmik at her heels. “Good morning.”
“Morning.”