Lee and Amanda stood looking at each other for a moment, eyes wide with surprise, until he held up the bowl of chips and Francine's dip and said, "I've got host duties," and disappeared into the family room. Amanda moved toward the door, Dotty following close behind.
Billy Melrose stood on the porch, his coat collar turned up around his ears, hat pulled low on his head. Sometime since Robert's arrival the weather had turned — the sun had disappeared and little flakes had started to swirl in the air. "Billy!" Amanda exclaimed. "Merry Christmas."
"Same to you, Amanda. Dotty." He nodded at them both, stepping over the threshold as they beckoned him inside.
"I thought you were going to Minneapolis," Amanda said, shaking the snow from his coat and hanging it up in the closet with the others. As she finished speaking, the crowd in the den let out a collective cheer. "Football," she said, by way of explanation.
"The flight was canceled," he said. "They're snowed in. Good thing Jeannie went a few days ago. She'd have been devastated to miss her first grandchild's first Christmas."
"You must be upset to miss it, too."
"I'd like to be there, yes," he admitted, "but I've worked enough Christmases to know the magic can still happen on another day of the year. I'll get out there tomorrow or the next day." He held out a bag to Amanda. "Anyway. I know I should have called, but the other week when you invited us you said just to stop by, so…"
"We're glad you did," Amanda said. "You didn't have to bring anything." She peered into the bag to see a bottle of wine and a rainbow of soda bottles, all different flavors.
"Jeannie'd have my head if I came empty-handed," Billy said, chuckling. "The sodas are for the boys. I know my kids used to like them as a treat, especially the root beer."
"They'll love them. But six?" Amanda laughed. "I'll have to peel them off the ceiling."
Billy just grinned as Amanda led him into the family room. "Lee," she said, "look who's here."
"Billy!" Lee, standing beside Francine and absorbed in the football game, lit up with a smile. "I thought you were traveling today."
"Well, Mother Nature had other plans," Billy said.
"I know what that's like," Jack muttered, from his seat beside Robert.
When Lee had Billy settled in the den, perched on a chair from the breakfast nook with a drink in hand, Amanda went back to the kitchen, where her mother was pouring hot coffee.
"What are we gonna do?" she said, hoping her guests couldn't hear.
"We'll think of something," Dotty said. "I'll help you, don't worry."
"I feel so ridiculous." Amanda hadn't wailed since she was a kid, but the urge took her now. "How did this happen?"
"Life's funny that way, dear. But you've just got to go with it, I suppose." Dotty picked up two mugs and went into the family room to give them to Lillian and Jack. Amanda, meanwhile, opened a cupboard and stared at the contents, sending up a prayer that a roast chicken or a ham or a side of beef would materialize and solve all her problems.
"Lasagna!" Dotty said suddenly. Amanda turned in surprise. "We made those lasagnas and stashed them in the freezer downstairs. They'll do the trick. We have rolls and I'm sure we can put together a salad. You put the oven on, Amanda, and I'll go get them."
"Lasagna?" Amanda sighed. "I guess I don't have much choice."
"No one is going to care, my love. They're all having a wonderful time. Look at them." Dotty tipped her head in the direction of the family room, and the crowd that had gathered there. Francine and Lillian were laughing together. Billy and Lee were watching the game. Jack and the Colonel were deep in conversation.
Amanda pressed her lips together and tried to push down the mixture of anxiety and disappointment rising in her chest.
"Four hundred?" she asked Dotty.
"Better make it 425." Dotty tossed over her shoulder as she disappeared down the basement stairs.
Amanda had just turned the dial when she heard the front door open.
"Mom?"
She poked her head around the doorway and saw Phillip and Jamie standing in the entryway, Joe and Carrie close behind them. The snow had started to fly a little faster now, and it had collected on the boys' hair and eyelashes on their way up the walk.
Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Phillip? What are you fellas doing here?"
"Grandma has the 'flu.' So she sent us home." Phillip rolled his eyes a little as he spoke, then caught himself halfway.
"It's not really the flu," Jamie said, in his matter-of-fact way. "She and Dad had a fight."
"Jamie," Joe admonished as he came through the door. Carrie hovered behind him, anxious and obviously uncomfortable. "You know how she gets."
Amanda gave a soft snort of laughter.
"We won't stay," Joe said, apologetic. "Sounds like you have a full house so we'll get out of your hair."
"You aren't in our hair," Amanda told him. "This is all pretty spur of the moment."
"Well, we need to find a hotel," Joe said, shifting on his feet. "Maybe I can use your phone?"
"Joe." Amanda crossed her arms over her chest. "Just how bad was this fight?"
Joe grimaced. "Worse than Easter dinner '73."
"Oh, Joe." Amanda tutted and Phillip smirked.
"It was pretty legendary," Phillip said. "Even Grandpa got in on it."
"Phillip," Joe said, by way of warning.
"Well, come in for a while at the very least," Amanda said. "Phillip, take Carrie's coat for her. Carrie, come in and have a drink. You look half frozen."
Carrie gave a rueful smile. "I feel half frozen. I think I've lost my stamina for colder temperatures."
Amanda wondered if she meant outdoors or the frosty reception she'd likely received at her mother-in-law's, but she decided to take the statement at face value.
'Oh, I don't know. I live here and it's pretty cold right now." Amanda led Carrie into the kitchen. "Now, I can make you a hot drink if you like. There's coffee or tea or cocoa. Or any of this." She gestured at the island, which was littered with wine and soft drink bottles.
"Oh a coffee is fine if you've made it, thanks," Carrie said, though Amanda got the sense she'd said it to be accommodating, not because it was something she really wanted.
Amanda liked Carrie, but she always got the sense Carrie wasn't sure about her. Lee said it was because "the Joe-Amanda dynamic took some getting used to," and Amanda supposed he would know. He'd gone through bursts of jealousy while they were engaged, then settled into a kind of friendly awkwardness once their marriage was out in the open. Though from the look of their conversation right at that moment, things between Lee and Joe were more friendly than awkward. She felt a tiny flutter of relief.
Amanda decided to take her own advice with Carrie and be patient. So when Carrie said she wanted a cup of coffee, Amanda poured her one. And then she asked how their Christmas Eve had been, since she knew they'd taken the boys skating, and how her own family was, since she also knew Carrie had visited them the week before. And she was about to ask what their plans were for New Year's Eve when her mother came back into the room.
"Here they are," Dotty said, almost dropping two frozen lasagnas on the counter with a thump. Her eyes widened when she saw Carrie. "Hello, dear. When did you get here?"
"Just a minute ago." Carrie peered at the frosty trays sitting on the counter in front of her, her coffee mug cradled in her hands. "Lasagna?"
"We hit a little snag with dinner," Dotty explained.
"Oh no," Carrie said, and Amanda saw guilt all over her face. "I told Joe we should have just gone to a restaurant and dropped the boys off later."
"Don't be silly," Amanda said. "We hit the snag four people ago, and we're happy you're here. I'm just sorry this isn't very festive."
Carrie laughed. "Oh, I don't care about that. I love lasagna and we never have it. Estoccia has a lot of great food but Italian restaurants are few and far between."
"See?" Dotty said, nudging Amanda with one elbow. "Turn on the oven."
Amanda did, feeling slightly better about the whole situation, and then introduced Carrie to everyone and got her a chair. She stood in the den, behind the couch, and watched their guests for a moment — everyone was laughing and talking, nibbling on cookies and snacks and watching the game.
They were all dressed up just a little, she realized. Even Lee had managed to change into a button-down shirt (a nice navy blue, one of her favorites) and shave somewhere between arrivals. Yet here she stood, with a dishcloth draped over one shoulder, wearing a stretched out sweatshirt and worn-in jeans, her hair in a haphazard half-ponytail.
"I'm going to go upstairs and change," she murmured to her mother, who had come to stand beside her. "Will you put the lasagnas in if the oven's ready before I come down?"
"Of course," Dotty said, sipping a cup of coffee. She swallowed a yawn. "Gosh, that early departure and a couple of mimosas have got me asleep on my feet."
The corner of Amanda's mouth lifted in a smile. "I'm so glad you made it, though."
"Even if we don't get to eat the roast?" Dotty teased.
"Even if." Amanda kissed her mother's cheek, catching a faint whiff of new perfume, and headed for the stairs.
Upstairs, in the quiet of her bedroom, she combed through her closet for something festive but comfortable, selecting and rejecting blouses and sweaters. Nothing felt right. She kept picturing everyone's faces when, in roughly two hours, she would ask Lee to come carve the lasagna.
She didn't know why she felt so anxious about dinner. Having surprise guests didn't usually bother her, and half of them were relatives. She supposed it was because she'd gone from expecting a full house and a feast with all the trimmings to looking forward to a nice, quiet evening with Lee, Dotty, and Jack to really enjoying the prospect of leftover cashew chicken on the couch with her husband — and now this wild pendulum swing had her with a house full of guests. She felt almost unbearable pressure to give all these people the Christmas they were missing out on, with gravy and cranberry sauce, and all she could produce was a couple of frozen lasagnas and a bowl of guacamole.
She ran a brush through her hair and peered at herself in the mirror as she pulled it back in a clip and fussed with her bangs. She needed a little makeup, she thought, even though her red blouse gave her face some nice color, and she was just reaching for her blush when there was a soft knock at the door.
"Amanda," Dotty said, "can I come in?"
"Of course."
The door swung open and Dotty hovered in the doorway, chewing her bottom lip anxiously. "We have a problem."
"What?"
"I don't think your oven is working."
Amanda frowned. "What do you mean? I made cookies yesterday and it was fine." She set down her blush. "Maybe I turned the knob the wrong way. I was a little distracted."
They went down the stairs together and found Lee and Jamie standing in front of the oven.
"It smells like a cap gun," Jamie said.
"What happened?"
"I dunno," Lee said, turning one of the knobs on the oven. "We both heard a popping noise a second ago and then we smelled that weird smell."
"Maybe I left something in there yesterday." Amanda opened the oven door. Empty. She waited for a waft of hot air, but felt nothing. She stuck a hand inside. "It's cold."
"That's what I mean," Dotty put in. "I thought for sure it must be ready so I opened the door to check, and…"
Amanda felt her jaw clench.
"I'm sorry," Dotty said, as if she'd done something. In the living room Lillian let out a guffaw at one of Jack's jokes.
Amanda sucked in a deep breath. She closed the oven door and stood looking at it for a moment, then she turned and went back upstairs without another word.