“It was hard for me to take money from him, Bea,” Clara said. “But he insisted, and I couldn’t argue. Well, I couldn’t keep arguing.”
Beatrice leaned into Clara and rested her head on her sister’s shoulder. “Will you have to pay him back?”
Clara sighed softly. “No, Bea. He won’t let me pay him back. He was pretty adamant about it.”
“What does ‘adamant’ mean?” Beatrice asked.
Clara grinned. “You just can’t stand not knowing a word, can you?” she teased.
“Just tell me, Clara,” Beatrice replied, hungry for the word’s meaning so that she could store it away to use at the first opportunity.
“It means firm. Unrelenting,” Clara explained.
“I’m adamant about getting to school on time,” Beatrice said, trying out the word.
“You got it,” Clara said wrapping her arm around Beatrice’s waist.
“Clara?”
“Hmm?”
“You have a very nice boyfriend.”
They baked chicken in the oven and had a salad, and Clara put the leftovers in the refrigerator. She kept checking the refrigerator’s temperature by making excuses that she needed to get something out of it.
“Stop it, Clara!” Beatrice demanded. “The refrigerator works. And anyway, you’re wasting electricity when you keep doing that.”
Clara grinned and closed the door. “You’re absolutely right.” She walked over to sit with her sister at the kitchen table.
“Guess what?” she asked.
“What?”
“I got another job,” Clara said.
“Oh Clara!” Beatrice squealed. “I’m so very happy for you!” She thought for a moment. “Not happy that you have to work more, but that you got a job because you wanted another one.” She paused. “Not that you necessarily wanted another job, but I know you need it.”
Clara laughed. “It’s okay, Bea. And yes, I’m excited about it.”
“Where will you be working? Beatrice asked.
“Down the street, actually,” Clara said. “At the grocery store.”
“Oh my!” Beatrice’s face lit up. “Do you get a discount?!”
“No, Bea,” Clara said. “But that would be amazing.”
Beatrice’s face fell ever so slightly. “Well, you can’t have it all,” she said, and Clara laughed.
“Bea?”
“Yes, Clara?”
“What would you like for Christmas this year?” Clara asked.
“Nothing, Clara,” Beatrice lied.
“It’s okay,” Clara said. “We can have Christmas, Bea. A small one, but still Christmas.”
“Are you sure?” Beatrice asked. She felt the mixture of hopefulness and uncertainty.
“I’m positive,” Clara replied. “So start thinking about what you want. Make a list and give it to me. And soon. Did you know that Christmas is right around the corner?”
“I did!” Beatrice exclaimed, because she had been counting the days.
***
Clara’s new job afforded the girls a nice, simple holiday. Once school let out for winter break, Clara doubled her workload, taking as many shifts at the clothing store and the grocery store as she could. She told fellow employees to let her know if they needed time to shop or to spend with relatives and she would pick up their hours. She saw her bank account climb, careful to allot a certain amount for Christmas dinner and gifts and the rest for bills. Every now and then the property tax loomed before her, but she tried hard to ignore it. She even managed to put the first delinquency notice out of her mind. She fretted about it for several days after receiving it, but no one came knocking. They were still safe.
She did feel guilty for leaving Beatrice alone a lot, but Beatrice kept herself busy visiting Angela and reading books. Clara told Beatrice she couldn’t spend so much time with Angela or her mother would get suspicious. It was always Clara who picked her up and dropped her off. Sometimes Evan came over to hang out with Beatrice when he wasn’t working. He worked more often during the winter break as well though, Clara learned, so they saw little of each other once school let out.
Clara came home one evening to find the attic ladder pulled down.
“You just couldn’t wait, could you?” she called up to Beatrice.
“Clara, it’s Christmas! What do you expect?” Beatrice yelled down. She walked to the ladder carrying a large cardboard box.
“I don’t think so,” Clara said. “You’re not coming down that ladder carrying that box.”
“Then help me!” Beatrice replied. She huffed and started sliding boxes labeled “Christmas decorations” and “Christmas ornaments” to the edge of the attic opening beside the stairs. She plopped down and waited for Clara to climb up and retrieve them, painstakingly slow and one at a time.
Once all of the boxes were down, Beatrice handed Clara the artificial tree stand and pole and then dropped down all of the branches for the tree.
“Wasn’t this organized last year?” Clara asked looking at the scattered branches.
“Nope,” Beatrice replied, and climbed down the ladder.
Clara took a deep breath. “This’ll be fun,” she mumbled.
“It will, Clara!” Beatrice said ignoring her sister’s sarcasm and clapping her hands. “Let’s play the Christmas CDs and make hot chocolate while we decorate!”
Clara grinned at her sister’s enthusiasm.
“We don’t have any hot chocolate, Bea,” Clara said and knew instantly what Beatrice’s response would be.
She didn’t wait for it but grabbed her car keys and headed for the door. Beatrice was already there, and together the girls went to the store for a sweet treat.
Clara and Beatrice stood in the tea, coffee, and hot chocolate aisle staring at their options. Beatrice licked her lips.
“I thought hot chocolate was just hot chocolate,” Clara said scanning the shelf. There was hot chocolate with marshmallows, peppermint flavored hot chocolate, sugar-free hot chocolate which Beatrice vetoed instantly, raspberry hot chocolate, dark chocolate hot chocolate, hot chocolate with chocolate chips in it.
“Oh for Pete’s sake!” Clara said.
“Don’t get mad at me about it,” Beatrice replied.