The first few days of their holiday Laura and Caroline spent their time walking through the main part of town, going into the stores that David would have bought things from, past trees that he might have climbed in when he was a boy and visiting the church he would have gone to on Sunday.
"Why don't we go to church mom?" Laura asked her mother as they sat in one of the pews.
"Honestly, I hate the Reverend," she laughed, "I shouldn't laugh though, he tried to take you away from me. Put you into a foster home.
"Why?" Laura said snuggling under her mother's arm.
"I was working all the time, trying to make enough money for us. Doing double the work just to get paid the same amount as a man," she said a little bitterly, "I often had to leave you with a neighbour or a friend for the night."
"I know," Laura said, "I remember."
"Well he thought I wasn't giving you a stable home, threatened to report me as an unfit mother."
"What did you do?" Laura said horror struck.
"I blackmailed him," Caroline smirked, "told him I knew exactly what he was getting up to with the Principal's wife. He never called into question my ability as a mother again."
"Mom!" Laura gaped, she had no idea her mother could be so underhanded.
"He was trying to take you away," Caroline said, kissing Laura on the forehead. "And so I never took you to church, why should you be lectured on morality by that hypocritical slimeball."
"Anything else you've been keeping from me?" Laura asked, her head spinning from all these shock revelations she had encountered over the past few days.
"Oh probably," Caroline joked, "there's so many I'm not sure I can even remember them all."
"Don't tease," Laura said bumping her side.
"Let's get out of here," Caroline said pulling on her coat, "before the lord realises how much of a sinner I am... I'll buy you a milkshake."
"Okay," Laura said.
On Christmas Eve Ace was avoiding his parents who were so drunk he was surprised they could walk, by laying on his bed and doing the same as them. Drinking himself stupid.
He sat up and lit a cigarette, pulling a glass toward him to use as an ashtray. As he picked it up the thing that it had been resting on fell off his chair and to the floor. He picked it up and realised it was the cardigan that he had swapped for his jacket all those weeks ago. How he hated these things, he thought to himself as he ran the fabric through his fingers, his cigarette dangling from his mouth. He had always thought they were for little girls and little old ladies, not someone as gorgeous as her. But he wouldn't mind if she wore cardigans for the rest of her life if she would not look at him like he was going to belt her.
But she hadn't even looked at him in weeks. He thought back to the last time they had sex. He hadn't even been able to see her properly then, they had been in a broom closet after all. He had seen her in her room after that though. She had kissed him, and they would have if they hadn't have been walked in on.
Ace raised the bottle to his lips and took another swig. He wondered if he hadn't of gone to her house that night would they still be together now. She might have been with him at this very moment and he wouldn't be drinking alcohol. He would drink her in, his hands running over her body as hers remained securely around his neck.
He threw the cardigan to the floor and kicked it away. It wasn't doing him any good to dwell on her, she had made it very clear that she didn't want to see him. If it had been any of his other girlfriends he would have moved on long ago, but he couldn't bring himself to replace her. Not yet. Not her.
On Christmas morning Laura woke up in the cabin they were staying in to find her mother bustling about in the small kitchen.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Christmas dinner," Caroline said as if it were obvious.
"I thought we wouldn't be doing that this year," Laura said.
"Why wouldn't we," Caroline smiled, "you can still have Christmas dinner on holidays. I bought everything we'll need, I just need to prepare the chicken for this afternoon. Go and open your gifts, I'll be there in a moment."
"Okay," Laura said and went over to where a small pile of gifts had been set next to a window. That was one thing they had missed out on this year. No tree.
She separated her gifts from what she had bought for her mother and waited. It didn't feel right to open them without her mother. Soon afterward Caroline left the kitchen and after adding some more logs to the fire sat down to open her own gifts.
"What are you waiting for," she said as she seized one of her own gifts. "Did you make this?" Caroline asked as she unwrapped a knitted dress, "it must have taken an eternity."
Laura shrugged happily, she had a lot of free time lately being stuck in her bedroom and had used the time as productively as she could.
"This is beautiful work," Caroline said inspecting the rows of knitting, the twists and loops in certain places to make the garment more interesting and beautiful. "I'm so jealous, I was never very good at knitting as you well know," she said still amazed.
"I'm glad you like it," Laura said, starting to not regret her confinement one little bit. "Connie helped me out with it at lunchtime sometimes at school but I did most of it at home."
Caroline squeezed her hand before encouraging her to open one of her own gifts. All together Laura received some nail polish, some new clothes, ribbons for her hair and a bracelet.
"It's beautiful mom," she said when she opened it.
"Well I'm glad you like it. Now let's get this stuff cleared away and have breakfast."
The two women spent the remainder of the day painting their nails, rolling their hair and listening to the radio.
"All dressed up and nowhere to go," Caroline joked as they looked at the end result. "Oh well, let's get dinner started."
Ace however had spent Christmas very hungover. Nobody in his house had woken until noon and Ace had refused to get out of bed to open any presents. He knew it'd be the same shit as usual and all he was interested in was getting back to sleep.