“Is that somehow supposed to make it better?” I pushed his hand from my lap.
“Oh shit, she didn’t know,” Matt said.
“Does everyone know about California but me?” I scanned the faces of the Kringle clan.
“I didn’t know.” Celeste reached for more sausage.
“Huh …” I huffed.
“Belen, just let me explain.”
“There’s no need to explain I got the jest. You’re moving to California. Looking for property. Because you are about to spend a considerable amount of time in another state.”
“Did you know that California is over two thousand miles away from Minneapolis?” Celeste announced.
“How do you know that?” Rayna asked.
With a lazy shrug, Celeste responded, “Doesn’t everybody.”
“I’m sure Kris does since he’s planning to relocate,” I spat out.
“Belen, I’m not relocating or moving.” His tone let me know he was annoyed with me, which made me angrier because I was the one caught off guard.
Turning my chair, I looked him square in the eyes and asked as calmly as I could. “Are you planning on staying in California for an extended period of time?”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Yes.”
I pushed back from the table. “Celeste breakfast is over, we’re leaving, go pack your things.”
“No, I don’t want to leave. I was going to help Mrs. Irene make one of those cakes that looks like a log.”
“That will have to wait until another time.”
“That’s not fair. Belen I want to stay.”
“Are you serious right now?” Kris asked.
“Are you?” I shouted. “How long have you known about California? Were you ever planning on telling me or were you just going to stop taking my calls and ghost me?”
I’d spent most of my life reacting to events, never really having the opportunity to think things through. Life just kept crashing down on me like a series of waves, leaving me caught in the undertow, fighting to make it to the surface before I drowned. Maybe I was overreacting, but I needed some time to process what I was hearing. A minute to catch my breath and cough up the buckets full of water choking my lungs.
“Celeste, go pack now.” My tone was final.
Celeste stomped all the way to the guest room but she complied. She knew me well enough to know I was past the point of rational discourse. I was in the retreat phase of this relationship. It came sooner than I expected. But the news of Kris moving stung deep and now I had to run as fast as my feetwould carry me. I’d allowed myself to open up to him, he spent time with my sister, I made room for him in my life, just to be disappointed. Silly of me to think I’d beaten my Christmas curse. Christmas sucked and it always would. Avoiding Kris’s eyes, I headed to help Celeste pack.
I shoved my sister’s things into her luggage, listening to her complain the entire time because items weren’t in the correct spot. But I didn’t want to be here any longer than I had to. Us getting into a yelling match in front of his family made my stomach churn, but he’d lied to me. I’d been really clear about my deal breakers, but I thought living in different cities was an obvious one. I have responsibilities and a job I just can’t up and move. Was that what he was expecting? Or maybe I was never a consideration to begin with.
I feared I was just a holiday pastime and it appeared I was right. God knows why he’d have me meet his family, but maybe he got off on making women fall for him and meeting the family just helped to seal the deal.
Heading back to the room I was sharing with Kris, I swiped my makeup from the side table into my opened makeup bag. It was all a blur as I threw chunky sweaters and jeans into my suitcase.
“Can we talk?”
“No, I don’t talk to liars.”
“Liar, don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic?”
“Dramatic, you fucking lied to me.” I bit down on my tongue. I didn’t want to disrespect his parents’ home and that was why I needed to leave. “I don’t want to talk about this now.” I leaned all my weight on to my luggage so I could force the zipper around securing it shut.
