One Bright Star by Kate Sherwood Read Free Book Online

might make things more obvious than we should. It might not be great for the baby.”
    “Jeff’s hardly ever wrong,” Dan agreed. He was pretty sure he had more to say on the topic, but Evan’s phone rang.
    “Merry Christmas, Brat,” Evan said. Then he listened, and frowned. “Tat, settle down, I can’t understand what you’re saying. Tat, are you okay?”
    ***
    “I was stupid ,” Tat wailed.
    Evan wasn’t really alarmed, not yet. “Well, yeah, I expect you were. You want to give me some details, though?”
    “Being alone on Christmas sucks !” She wasn’t actually crying, Evan was pretty sure; she was just playing up the drama in true Tatiana fashion. “Everybody else is tucked away in their cosy little families and I’m stuck out here all by myself! I should have set something up… I could have volunteered at a soup kitchen or something, but I didn’t, and I’m all alone, and it sucks !”
    “Tat, I sincerely hope that every problem in your life is as easily solvable as this one.”
    “What?” She was already calming down, but there was still a bit of a quaver in her voice.
    “Is your car broken? Is the highway shut down? You’re forty-five minutes away from home, you lunatic—you’ll be here before Chris and Ryan finish breakfast.”
    “Chris and Ryan? I thought they were in Kentucky?”
    “Apparently not. They got snowed in, or something. They’re here; I don’t know if they’re awake yet or not, but they’re here.”
    “No!” Tat sounded outraged. “We all agreed!” She paused. “Damn, maybe they weren’t in on it. Because we thought they were going to be out of town anyway…”
    “Agreed on what, Tat?” Evan tried to stay patient.
    “To give you guys a Christmas with just you. Just the three of you and the baby. We all invite ourselves into your lives all the time, and you never get to have your own time with just each other. We agreed that we should give you a chance to start your own traditions, as a family.”
    “Hang on a second, Tat. I’m putting you on speaker phone.”
    “You’re what?” she said, and her voice was broadcast through the room.
    “Merry Christmas, Tat,” Dan said.
    “Merry Christmas, Dan. Is Robbie there? Merry Christmas, Robbie.”
    “He’s looking around for you,” Evan reported. Then he turned to Dan. “My sister just told me that there was a plan for everyone to find their own things to do this Christmas and leave us on our own. Deliberately. Because they thought we would like it. Were you aware of this?”
    Dan raised an eyebrow. “No.”
    “Do you approve of it?”
    “No.”
    “Do you think Tat should get herself put together and get her ass out here?”
    “Yes.” Dan frowned. “And who else was in on your plan, Tat?”
    “Anna and Robyn,” Tat said reluctantly. “It should have been Chris and Ryan too, obviously, but we didn’t think of them.”
    “They are pretty stupid,” Dan said. “They might have gone along with it.”
    “I don’t think you’re supposed to insult people on Christmas Day, Danny.” Tat sounded like she was getting back to her usual form.
    “Get your butt out here and give me some etiquette lessons, then.”
    “I’m on my way,” she said gleefully, and then hung up.
    “Your sister’s mental,” Dan said calmly.
    Evan couldn’t really argue, but he could deflect. “So’s Robyn, and so’s Jeff’s mom.”
    And now it was Dan’s turn to not argue. “You can watch RJ, right? Why don’t you go get Jeff to call Anna, and I’ll get Chris and Ryan to come down to the barn with me. We can help Robyn with the chores and bring her back up with us.”
    “At some point you’re going to have to spend some time in the kitchen, figuring out how to make Christmas dinner feed twice as many people as we planned on.”
    “Evan, it’s a Tia-planned meal. Twice as many people as planned is still going to be a drop in the bucket. Lots of food.”
    “Good point. Okay. Go!” Evan hadn’t been sad before