“Good.” Dad pointed out the windshield. “Take a left into that parking lot. The store is around the side.”
“How can I help you win Aunt Zoe back?” I asked, eager to play cupid.
“By keeping your nose out of your aunt’s business,” Dad said, beating Reid to the punch. His grin took the sting out of his reply.
Mom patted my knee. “I’ve found that things work themselves out if you give them enough time and space.”
“Oh, really?” I guffawed as we pulled into the minimart’s parking lot. “And how’s that working for you when it comes to Susan and me thirty-two years later?”
Her gaze hardened. “Violet Lynn, you are impossible some days. You have so many new wonderful things happening in your life right now, but you just can’t see the sunshine through the gnarled old trees.”
Reid and Dad opened their doors, stepping out.
“That’s because I’ve been stabbed in the back too many times to count.”
“You need to let all of that negative energy from your past go,” she advised as the back doors opened. “Focus on where you have it good in life, like with Doc and your family, before you go and screw it up again.”
“Again?” I growled at the roof. “Susan is the one who screwed up my chance at a family in the past, not me.”
“Would you please stop playing the victim for a minute and try to look at it from an outsider’s perspective?”
“Okay. How’s this? Violet Parker’s slutty sister seduced the father of Violet’s unborn children and decided the most appropriate place to fornicate with him was in Violet’s bed. What do you think? Newspaper worthy?”
“Not even close. Nobody uses the word ‘fornicate’ any more. It’s old fashioned. You need to get with the times.”
I cursed under my breath while I followed her down from the snowcat.
“Let it go, Goldilocks,” Dad said to me as he steadied me on the packed snow. “Today is not the day to fight this battle with her.”
“I’ve let this go too long. You stay out here with Reid.” I stormed after my mom, yelling over my shoulder, “And be nice to him!”
The aroma of freshly made coffee greeted me inside the store. My need for caffeine had me gnashing my teeth as I looked for Mom. Overhead, a tinny version of “Jingle Bells” played through the speakers, strumming my nerves.
The minimart was mostly empty except for a few stragglers, including a grizzled-looking, older guy wearing camouflage from neck to toe except for his Santa Claus hat. He was standing several cooler doors down from my mom, scanning the single soldiers of beer through the glass. In one hand he held a jar of salsa, in the other a jumbo bag of tortilla chips.
“Mom.” I joined her in front of the cooler doors. “Please explain to me how an outsider’s perspective makes a difference on Susan boinking Rex behind my back.”
Camo-Claus glanced our way, his focus lingering on my mother’s butt. Her yoga was paying off yet again.
“It’s simple, really. Because of your sister’s interference, you have learned how to discern a good man from a loser.”
Talk about making a leap! “So, in your eyes, Susan did a good thing?”
She made a face. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘good’ in this case. ‘Beneficial’ seems more fitting.”
What was with her and this new fun-with-words game? More to the point, “Why do you always take Susan’s side?”
Mom sighed. “There are no sides, dear.”
“Bull hockey.” I crossed my arms. “Every time Susan does something to screw me over, you turn it around and make it part my fault.”
“Language, Violet.” She smiled apologetically at Camo-Claus.
“I didn’t use any bad words!”
“And lower your voice.” She grabbed two cartons of eggs from the cooler. “We’re in a store, you know.” She handed me the eggs and then reached in the cooler again.
“Fine,” I said several decibels lower, clutching the egg cartons. “But I want an answer. Why do you always place half the blame on me when Susan is clearly the one who is at fault?”
She placed two more cartons of eggs on top of the others, forcing me to stack them up to my chin so I didn’t drop any. “I believe there are two sides to every story, and it’s best to hear both before passing judgment, especially when it comes to my children.”
“And what was Susan’s side of the story for sleeping with Rex? That she was protecting me?”
Susan had given me that bullshit excuse before, explaining that she’d been showing me via a visual demonstration of how inadequate Rex was as a father figure.
I glanced over my mom’s shoulder. The old guy with the chips and salsa stared at us openly now. He should pull up a chair and bust open that bag.
“She said that she fell in love with him,” Mom explained.
I gaped. “And that was enough for you to forgive her?”
“It’s not my place to forgive her. It’s yours, if you want to move on with your life.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”
“Violet, forgiveness will set you free of this negativity that keeps your aura blotchy with shadows.”
“Chinese checkers! Have you been hanging out with Cornelius and bumming his aura pills?”
“There are no such things.” She turned back to the cooler, holding her chin. “Do you think I should get more eggnog?”
“It’s on sale,” Camo-Claus told her.
She graced him with another smile, making him blush. “And what a bargain, too.”
I grunted at their little flirting display. “So, Susan believes she fell in love with Rex all of those years ago. How did she explain sleeping with my other boyfriend, then? The one after Rex? Wait, let me guess, she twisted her ankle in those thigh-high hooker boots she liked to wear and accidentally fell onto his Yule log?”
Mom gasped. “Really, dear. Do you think this gentleman wants to hear such things on Christmas morning?”
“I don’t mind,” he said with a grin.
My mother
