Slouching at the table and jabbing her mocha-flavored ice cream with the tip of her spoon, Marissa Evans sighed. It was going to be her first Christmas with the family since her fight with her big sister several years back, and she wasn’t sure how happy Lisa would be to see her again.
“You’re thinking way too much about this,” Mother had told her when she first arrived. “I’m sure you two will have a delightful time.”
“Yeah, right,” Mari thought. “You weren’t there, Mom. You didn’t see what happened.”
Lisa was the type to hold a grudge. Once, in the third grade, she’d lost in an art competition to a boy in her class. For the rest of the year after that, she’d practiced almost obsessively until she beat him in every competition up until eighth grade, when his family moved. Lisa simply did not lose. And that day during Mari’s last year of high school, Lisa had definitely lost.
“And who won?” she thought. “You?”
She shook her head. At the time, she’d felt like her world was ripping apart even though she got what she wanted. Her marriage with Brett had been great…until about a month ago.
It was stupid. The whole argument was completely stupid. Brett had wanted her to try a rap song to get her career started. Mari didn’t like rap, and besides, she’d already sold a few singles. Sure, she wasn’t a very big name yet, but she knew she’d get there someday. She tried to tell him why she didn’t want to do a rap song—so much pounding that it hurt her head to listen to—without offending him. But for some reason, he got angry. He argued with her on every little detail in her songs, right down to how she pronounced the words or how many pitches she wanted her voice recorded in. It wasn’t even constructive criticism—he was just arguing for the sake of arguing.
“Like the high school class president…” she thought out loud. “Just like the high school class president.” She didn’t care to remember that brat.
Mari shoved the spoon into her mouth. Mm, mocha. Sure, she and Mom were about the only members of the family who could stand it, but it had an interesting bite to it that Mari just couldn’t refuse. She always liked mocha ice cream, especially when she was upset.
She sighed as her mom walked by with some nutcracker dolls. “Mom doesn’t know how my marriage is going,” she thought. “She doesn’t know why he’s not here right now…”
She’d told her that Brett had a family emergency, but insisted that she spend Christmas with her mother. The truth was they were on a trial separation. It’d gotten so bad that they were thinking about divorce.
Her ice cream didn’t taste good anymore. Why eat ice cream if it doesn’t make you feel any better? She stood up and put her bowl in the sink. Mari was never the type to actually rinse it herself, but she turned the tap on hot and watched as the rest of her snack melted down the drain.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. “Marissa!” Mom called. “Can you get that?”
Mari turned off the water and ran to the door, not even bothering to check the peephole before she twisted the brass knob and flung it open. Then she froze.
Standing in the doorway and holding a green package, nose red from the cold, looking every bit as shocked as she was, was Lisa.
“L-li…” she stuttered. “Um, come in.”
“Thanks,” Lisa replied as she stepped inside. “Here, hold this.” She said, holding the package out. Mari took it carefully, as if she thought Lisa might change her mind.
But Lisa was already worming out of her black overcoat and looking for a space to hang it. “So, are you doing well lately?”
“Pretty well, I guess.” Mari stared at the box, a dazed look on her face.
Lisa turned around. “Oh, yeah. That’s for you,” she said. “I’m going to go put it under the tree.” She took it back and went out to the living room. Mari followed, her head still spinning.
“I hadn’t expected you to be home already,” Lisa told her. “Mom said you’d be here tomorrow.”
“Well,” Mari gave a dry laugh, “I hadn’t expected to be here this early either.”
“Something happened?” Lisa raised one eyebrow, a gesture that she alone could do in this family. Well, except for Aunty N…
“I guess you could say that.” Marissa sighed and slouched against the sofa.
Lisa gave her a look that meant, “Tell me.” She sighed again and told her about her problems with Brett.
When she’d finished, Lisa sat there for a minute, taking it all in. “Huh,” she finally said. “Well, I heard that most marriages are hard, not that I have any experience, but it’ll probably work out in the end.”
“I guess…” Mari shrugged her shoulders. Why wasn’t she crying? She’d cried for almost a week when she ran away from Lisa. Why couldn’t she cry now? “I just…don’t know what to feel. I love Brett, but he’s so…I mean, I thought I loved Brett, but maybe I don’t.”
“Oh.” Lisa understood. She hadn’t had that feeling very often, but she knew what it was like. Falling out of love.
Lisa got back up and took the green package from under the tree. “Well, do you want to open this now?”
“But it’s not even Christmas Eve yet…”
Lisa shrugged. “I know.”
“Well, okay…” Marissa tore through the packaging. She smiled at the wooden Nativity. So simple, yet so meaningful. Just the sort of gift Lisa would give. “Thank you.”
“You forgot…” Lisa held up the tag.
“To my baby sister, Mari. I never stopped loving you…” She started to tear up. “Oh, Lisa! I never stopped loving you, either!” She hugged her big sister.
Lisa hugged back. “Merry Christmas, from big sister Lisa…”