"I was trying to do something nice," I sobbed.
"I didn't ask for you to butt into my life!" he shouted. "It'smylife, I've lived it, I know what kind of people they are, and I know there's no hope of reconciliation. There is no such thing as Christmas magic."
56
Jack
Ididn't know Chloe had been lying to me until I went downstairs and happened to run into Nina in the lobby.
"Where's Chloe?" I asked. Nina looked confused. "I thought she was doing something with the show?"
"She left," Eddie said.
"Left where?"
"She said she was fetching some Christmas decorations of some sort to surprise you."
My stomach sank. I had a hunch that she had gone to my parents’. Unfortunately, I still didn't have her phone number, and I couldn't call her. Even as I drove to Connecticut, I thought to myself that there was no way she would be that stupid, especially after I had told her how terrible my parents were.
When I walked in and saw her there, in the sitting room, talking to them, I lost it.
And now here we were, sitting in my car, in traffic on the way back to Frost Tower. I was too angry at my parents, Hartleigh, Greg, and my life in general to make conversation, polite or otherwise. Chloe was sniffling next to me in the passenger seat, which only made me feel worse.
We pulled into the garage in Frost Tower, and I turned off the car.
"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I was trying to give you a nice Christmas like how you had when you were a kid."
"That will never happen," I said, tilting my head back and looking up at the roof of the car. "Actually, it was never real. It was all a farce, a veneer my parents forced my sister to create."
She looked confused.
I sighed. "I think I explained this to you in bits and pieces, but let me lay it all out."
She blew her nose, and I turned to face her.
"Look, Chloe," I said. "I did like Christmas; I loved it, actually. Christmas was nice because of Belle. She would decorate—she had these antique glass ornaments she loved—she would cook a nice meal, and we would open presents. Did you know my sister lived with my parents until she was in her thirties? I always thought it was odd. My parents didn't pay for our college education. They believe you should work for it. Of course, they made too much money for us to qualify for any scholarships or loans, so Belle lived at home and worked her way through school. She wasn't able to go away for college because my parents wanted her to raise me and my brothers. So she stayed. She could have left, but she didn't want to leave us. She made home safe, warm, and fun."
"Your mom just let that happen?" Chloe asked.
"My mother and my father—he shares some of the blame—they both worked. They put a lot of time and effort into their careers and their own relationship. Belle picked up the slack with us kids."
"It's hard to have a career and a family," Chloe said diplomatically.
"If you aren't willing to make the sacrifice, you shouldn’t have children, or at the very least hire a nanny and don’t make your underage daughter do all the work," I snapped.
"Yeah, that's unjust," Chloe said, gingerly placing her hand on mine. "But it's not your fault."
"Belle is the reason I'm so successful," I said, trying to explain. "You remind me of her because you are both such hard workers. Belle did computer software coding remotely at night, and during the day she was investing in stocks. She also invested some in bitcoin, I think. She still found time to help me apply to Harvard. She even paid my tuition."
"That was very generous," Chloe said.
"My parents didn't even allow her to come help me move in, because they wanted her to stay and take care of my younger brothers. They were just so horrible to her. And I wasn’t helpful either. I share a portion of the guilt and the blame."
"You were just a kid," she said sympathetically.
"Yeah, but later on I wasn't. I had a job, I could have donesomething. I'm paying for the youngest two's education now, of course. I hate myself for not realizing how bad it was for Belle. I was totally oblivious. I would come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and allow Belle to make it nice and homey." I closed my eyes, the shame and anger washing over me. "I should have bought her a house or something, I don't know. I could have taken the kids at that point."
"Your parents would have fought you," Chloe said.
