Here We Come (Aggie's Inheritance) (60 page)

“
Then
don’t
do
them.”

Aggie’s
head
whipped
up
, glaring
at
him.
“Right.
Just
take
the
worst
year
of
their
lives
and
make
it
even
worse
by
ignoring
beloved
traditions.
Because
that’s
not
qualifying
myself
for
Worst
Sorta-Mother
of
the
Year
Award.”

“Quit
trying
to
replace
your
sister.
Besides
,
you’re
actually
one-upping
her
by making them
.
She
took
the
easy
route.”

“Yeah,
well
it
was
your
idea—sort
of.”

There
it
was.
She
sounded
semi-normal.
“Go
buy
them,
Mibs.
Buy
a
cheap
frame
and
we’ll
put
a
tiny
picture
of
you
with
each
one
of
them
in
it
.
Done.
Meaningful,
simple,
and
no-stress.”

“And
making
me
into
a
liar
since
I
said
I’d
make
them
with
them.
Forget
it.”

A
new
idea
occurred
to
him,
and
desperate,
Luke
switched
tactics.
“All right,
you
want
to
be
miserable.
I
can
deal
with
that.
C’mere.”
With
arms
wrapped
around
her,
he
held
her,
not
saying
a
word.

Aggie
squirmed.
“That’s
not
fair.”

“Not
fair?”
he
murmured.
“How
so?”

“You
know
that
I
can’t
be
miserable
with
you
here.”

Luke
listened
as
the
story
slowly
unfolded.
She
was
tired
and
already
felt
the
loss
of
her
friend’s
help.
His
mind
rewound
to
the
stories
she’d
told
of
the
first
days
as
“mother”
to
the
children
and
to
how
things
were
when
they’d
first
begun
work
on
the
house.
It
was
constant
chaos
back
then,
but
then
Tina
had
come,
his
mother
had
visited
often,
and
that
seem
ed
to
make
a
decided
difference
in
how
the
household
ran.
She
needed
help,
but
how
to
provide
it
?

“Well,”
he
said,
pulling
her
up
and
leading
her
downstairs
hand-in-hand,
“then
I’ll just have
to
be
here
more.”

Luke says:
Mibs? You there?

Aggie says:
Yeah.

Luke says:
Still okay?

Aggie says:
Until morning, sure.

Luke says:
You still sound a little down.

Aggie says:
I think after a good night’s sleep, I’ll be fine.

Luke says:
You’ll call me if you have trouble tomorrow?

Aggie says:
I will.

Luke says:
Then I think I will go to bed so that you’ll sleep.

Aggie says:
I love you, Mr. Sullivan.

Luke says:
And there she says the one thing that will tempt me to

stay. Goodnight, Mibs. Sleep well.

Elf Wanted

Saturday,
December
20

The
crackling
of
the
paper
barely
registered
in
Aggie’s
consciousness.
It
crump
led
as
the
words
slowly
imprinted
themselves
in
her
mind.
By
the
time
she
fully
grasped
the
content
of
the
letter,
it
was
a
ball
in
her
hand.

“Aunt
Aggie?
Is
something
wrong?”
Vannie
seemed
concerned
.

“No…
Actually,
I
think
something
is
right.”
With
that
cryptic
answer,
Aggie
climbed
the
stairs
to
check
on
napping
children
and
call
Luke.
The
news
was
good
but
with
good
came
complications.

Her
fingers
flew
over
her
laptop
keys
as
she
tried
to
contact
her
mother
about
it.