Maybe someday.
Aimee had turned herself into our fairy godmother though she would deny it most of the time. All sorts of things just seemed to fall into place for us, including anonymous scholarships popping up for Mayra and a major refund for me on my housing costs.
Travis and Bethany were suddenly accepted by an adoption clinic around the same time and had a baby that was due to come home with them in the middle of January. I wasn’t sure how Aimee could have arranged for something like that, but it was definitely suspicious. Bethany also had a major windfall drop into her lap, which she used to get a baby’s room together. They’ve already decided to name the baby Kyle when he’s born.
I gave up trying to tell Aimee to stop. For one, it didn’t work. For another, she always had the perfect justification for how little Maggie would benefit from whatever she’d done with her lotto winnings. Besides, Scott had managed to start his own business—a used sports equipment shop in Hamilton, and it was doing really well for them all.
They were happy.
I didn’t know what to think of it all, but I was content with not knowing what to think.
I picked up our suitcases a
nd checked everything in the apartment fifteen times before leaving it. Even though there was a security system in the building, leaving the place for two weeks made me nervous. I kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong while we were gone.
Mayra opened the trunk of my car, and I laid the suitcases side by side.
“Did I turn off the light in the bedroom?”
“You turned off all the lights,” Mayra assured me. “Actually, you unplugged the one in the bedroom.”
“Well, it turns on when anything touches it,” I said. “If something fell on it and it turned on, it might start a fire.”
“It’s all going to be fine, Matthew,” Mayra said with a sigh. She took my hands in hers and tilted her head to look into my eyes. I held the gaze for a moment before looking away. “Stop thinking about it, and think about getting back home.”
“Henry said he’s expecting you to cook Christmas dinner,” I told her. “I don’t think there’s any food at my house.”
“Shopping will be done tomorrow,” Mayra said.
“What about Megan?”
“It will be a great opportunity for you and Megan to spend time with Travis and Bethany. They’re already planning on coming over after lunch. I’ll do the shopping.”
I sat in the driver’s seat and checked all the gauges and dials before backing out of the parking garage and heading along the route that would take us to the institute. Mayra was still excited about her grade on her final. She picked up the phone to call Aimee as I drove. I didn’t really pay much heed to their conversation until Mayra said something that caught my attention.
“Oh, Aimee…he’s going to freak…I know, but…all right…no, I’m going to tell him before we get there…yeah, but you don’t have to deal with it!”
She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye as she said her goodbyes and hung up.
“Do not freak out,” she commanded immediately.
“What did she do?”
“Well, we only have two days until Christmas,” Mayra said. “She just wanted to help, you know?”
“What did she do?” I asked again, my tone a little louder.
“She…um…got us a tree.”
“A Christmas tree?” My brow furrowed.
“It’s all decorated and everything,” Mayra added. “She called Travis, and he let her in to put it up.”
My fingers gripped the steering wheel. The whole idea of a tree being put up in my house when I wasn’t there was a little disconcerting, but I knew there had to be more to it than that.
“And?” I pressed Mayra for more information.
“Well, she kind of went with a certain…‘theme’ in the decorations.”