A Dropped Stitches Christmas by Janet Tronstad Read Free Book Online Page A

small balcony at the end of the hallway on the second floor of my uncle’s house and sometimes, if I can’t sleep, I will go sit on a chair on that balcony and look up at the sky. Tonight I brought the journal with me. It’s too dark to read anything, but I left the hall light on and I wrote anyway.
    I just had to get down what happened. I only spent a few minutes waiting tables in The Pews before Becca and Marilee came out of the Sisterhood room and were ready to go to lunch. I wouldn’t think much could happen in a few minutes, but it did. I’d felt a little shy when I went into the kitchen because Randy was there and we’d kissed last night when he drove me home. Some people think I’ve kissed lots of guys, but I haven’t. Besides, Randy feels special to me and I was wondering if he’d give some sign that I was special to him.
    I was thinking maybe he’d wink at me or give me a long, smoldering look. Or even come right out and just say that last night was very nice. But he didn’t do any of those things.
    I sure wasn’t expecting what he did instead.
    Randy asked me if I wanted to live in an apartment he has on top of his diner in West Hollywood.
    “But I have a place,” I said without even thinking about it.
    “I thought you might like to have your own place,” Randy said. He had a white chef’s cap on and he was grilling some of Uncle Lou’s famous hamburgers. He flipped a couple of buns and then looked at me. “You wouldn’t need to worry about rent. I wouldn’t charge anything. The place has been empty for a while. Of course, you’d have to like to watch sporting events on television.”
    “Really, my uncle’s house isn’t bad.”
    Randy flipped a hamburger. “Well, think about it. It’s there if you change your mind.”
    I couldn’t wait to get my dish towel unwrapped from my waist so I could go out the door with Becca and Marilee. The day was gray and we started walking up Colorado Boulevard toward the Paseo mall. We like the Thai place that’s a couple of blocks away and that’s where we’d talked about going for Pad Thai noodles and lemongrass soup.
    “Feeling better?” I ask Becca. She’s looking better, but I don’t want to just jump into my problems. We’re big on little courtesies like that in the Sisterhood.
    Becca nods. “I just hope Joy goes by The Pews.”
    We’re walking single file down the sidewalk so I can’t see Becca’s face.
    “I bet she will,” I say.
    We walk past a candle store and the air smells of a dozen kinds of musky scents.
    “Guess what?” I say after a minute.
    Both Marilee and Becca turn to look at me.
    I am trying my best to let the Sisterhood see deeper into my life. “Randy offered me an apartment to stay in. Over his diner in West Hollywood.”
    “With him?” Becca says and I have her full attention now. She’s stopped walking and is frowning. “I don’t know that—”
    “I don’t think it’s with him,” I say. “He said it was empty and that, if I liked to watch sports on television, it could be mine.”
    Marilee is standing still, too. “Well, if he cares about what you watch on television, he must live there, too. Why else would he ask about that? Maybe he means he has an empty room you could have.”
    Marilee is shaking her head, but she doesn’t look jealous.
    “Of course, it would be your decision,” Becca says a little stiffly.
    “I told him no, anyway. He was only offering it so I could have a place of my own.”
    “Why would you move?” Marilee says. “You’ve got that big house with your parents in San Marino. Who would leave that? You’ve got trees and everything.”
    Here is the moment I’ve been waiting for. The moment when I tell the Sisterhood that I’m not the rich person they think I am. Which shouldn’t be so hard because I know they don’t care if I have a dollar to my name. It’s just that I haven’t told them for so long that I wonder what they will think of me for not telling them