Chapter 4

I had recruited Cathy's help over dinner the night before, assuming things went Ok with Sandy, and by noon we were back at the Morrison house, knocking on the door.

Erica let us in, and we hauled our goodies in after us. I had the tree folded up and left it on the front doorstep while we made room for it in the living room. After I'd put it in place, I hauled in a large plastic crate of Christmas decorations, and encouraged Cathy and Erica to get to work making the tree look 'festive'. Right on schedule my weekly cleaning crew showed up and I put them to work giving the entire house a thorough cleaning. I had felt guilty chasing them away the last few weeks, and had begged and cajoled them into doing me this one favor, on Christmas Eve of all days. The team of four went to work like whirling dervishes, storming through the rooms in pairs leaving sparking chrome and sweet smells in their wake.

We only had a few hours if Cathy was right, and I had one more big task lined up. The Chem-Dry carpet cleaners were running a little late, but showed up not long after the cleaning crew had finished with the living and dining rooms, and I had moved most of the furniture into the hallways and kitchen. They went right to work, and had the downstairs completed in a little over an hour. While they worked at that, I spent the time decorating the front yard and the house with Christmas lights. I hoped that Sandy liked traditional multi-color displays. I wasn't all that fond of the 'all-white' look, and was using my own lights to decorate her house. By the time I had finished I was sweating up a storm, and was getting nervous about the time.

The carpet guys left first, reminding me to let the carpet dry for another hour before returning the furniture to its place. The cleaning crew followed shortly after, and I'd rewarded them nicely, tipping them an extra hundred bucks for coming out on Christmas Eve. I moved indoors, with the lights complete and lit up, to find a Christmas wonderland awaiting me.

Cathy and Erica had done amazing work, using what I had brought over and getting the Morrison's decorations out of the attic and putting those to use as well. You could hardly tell it was the same house.

"You ladies have done an incredible job!" I announced, standing in the doorway.

Cathy looked a little disheveled but very pleased with herself. "Let's finish up quick. I have to get home; John's going to kill me."

I'd promised her we'd be done by 4:00 and it was already nearly 5:00. She was holding a Christmas Eve open-house and was expecting half of the neighborhood over that evening. She only had a couple of hours left to finish her own preparations. I gave her a hug for all of her effort and shooed her off, while I started hauling the furniture back into place, working at a frenzied pace to get done before the unsuspecting benefactor got home.

Erica followed behind me, arranging all the lamps, baskets and knick-knacks, and adding additional holiday decorations as we went. With the last of the furniture in place, I turned and gave her a high-five.

"This is all our secret, right? If your Mom asks, the Christmas elves stopped by to help clean up. You did a great job, Erica."

She smiled and held her arms out to me. I leaned down and gave her a hug.

"Thank you," she whispered, just before she let go and disappeared up the stairs.

I felt a lump in my throat. Whether it was fear of being caught by her mother, or the joy of hearing her speak her first words to me, I couldn't be sure.

By eight o'clock, Sandy still hadn't shown up on my front-doorstep with a shotgun. I guess she was going to wait until after Christmas to eviscerate me over meddling where I didn't belong.

I didn't care. I felt good, the best I'd felt in two weeks, thinking about that little girl celebrating a real Christmas. Kids should have Christmas.

I had cleaned up and decided to make an appearance next door, as I'd promised, when I got a call from Steve.

"Hey-ho, Stevorino."

"Only my Grandma gets to say that, asshole."

"Merry fuckin' Christmas to you too," I teased.

I heard him chuckle. "Merry Christmas is right. At least for your neighbor."

"How's that?" I asked, suddenly interested.

"The insurance creeps were just stalling. They don't have a leg to stand on. The only change to the policy was upon their advice after an annual policy review by their own agent. A little legal pressure was all it took. It's not a lot, less than three hundred grand, but she'll be getting her check next week."

"Steve, you're the man. I take back all those nasty things I said about you."

"Shit, they're probably true. If anybody would know, it'd be you."

"All kidding aside. You're a life saver."

I knew he hated any hint of seriousness. I could almost hear him blushing over the phone. "Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"

"That's right. And I couldn't ask for a better one."

"Ditto. Asshole."

"Shit. You had to go and spoil it. Listen, I gotta run. Give your family my love and have a great Christmas. I'll give you a call next week."

"You got it. And Darla sends her love. She made me say that. Don't get any ideas."

"Got it. Give her a kiss for me. Scratch that. I'll come out after the holidays and give it to her myself. When are you going to be out of town next?"

"Funny guy. Start anything with her, and I'll make you keep her and the credit card bills."

"Ouch. You win," I had to laugh. "Thanks again."

"Merry Christmas. Hang in there buddy."

"You too."

I made my appearance next door, and stoically accepted the offered condolences which were definitely putting me in the wrong state of mind. After only half-an-hour I knew I had to get out of there, even if it did piss off Cathy.

John seemed to catch my mood, and dragged me outdoors to enjoy a cigar in semi-peace. With a heavily spiked eggnog in hand, and a more than decent Rocky Patel Decade burning nicely, I was willing to stick it out a little longer when he headed back indoors.

"I should skin you alive for that little stunt, you know."

I heard a voice coming from poolside, and headed that way to face the music. Sandy was sitting alone, a large, mostly empty glass of wine at her side.

"I know. I was bad. But I'm done now."

"What were you thinking?" she snapped.

"I just wanted Erica to have a decent Christmas, and wanted to help you out a little in your effort to sell your house."

She cackled, and it wasn't a pretty sound. "You too? You just barely met me and you're so damn eager to get me out of the neighborhood."

Her words surprised me. "Not at all. I'm just trying to fight back a bit against the unfairness of the world. What are you doing out here alone, anyway?"

"I can't stand the way they look at me. Like suicide is contagious or something. They don't know what to say; they all avoid me, or look at me like I was a leper or something."

"People can be assholes."

She smiled. "I'll drink to that."

I sat beside her and drank my 80 proof eggnog in silence. We watched a small group come out and start talking while they lit up their cancer sticks.

"I know you mean well, Alex. But you can stop now, Ok?" she said softly.

"One last thing."

"Please. Enough already."

"Steve called. Everything's cleared up with the insurance. You'll get your check next week."

She looked at me like I'd grown a third eye, completely stunned. "Really?"

"Really."

She finished her wine, gulping it down, then sat back. "Shit. Six fucking months they drag it out and then suddenly, like that," she snapped her fingers, "they're willing to pay up?"

"Steve's good."