The sad look on Rusty’s face made her feel almost guilty. But Annabelle knew that he would be going to Ben’s for a Christmas sleep over. He was just trying to find out where she was going. He’d find out pretty soon. Her dad called from the front door. “Come on, you two. I’ve got the car out. Have you both got your overnight back packs? Annabelle, Abby’s grandma is expecting you girls for supper.” Rusty’s face went from sad to confused!
“Coming dad!” She grinned at Rusty. “Abby and I are going to her grandma’s. So. There.” Rusty bent over laughing. “I knew that. Dad told me. He’s picking up Ben when he picks up Abby. Fooled you!!” Now it was Annabelle’s turn to have a sad look on her face. “Well, we’ll have more fun. And tomorrow morning Abby’s Auntie Cook will let us decorate her Christmas cookies.”
Abby was younger than Annabelle, but they had become good friends at school. Abby talked about bees and Annabelle talked about baking. Baking and bees led them to Auntie Cook on a cookie baking day. Elizabeth set the girls to work rolling out the dough and making bee shaped cookies. After that they were BFFs.
Ben and Rusty were not in the same class at school, Ben a couple years older than Rusty. Rusty thought Ben was stuck up. Ben thought Rusty was, well, just weird. One day, Ben saw Rusty being bullied by two of the bigger guys in their class and backed him up. Ben had had his own problem with bullies and hated to see it happen to anyone else. By himself, Rusty was an easy target. With Ben having his back, the two bullies decided that they’d just wind up with bloody noses and took off. The two boys were friends after that. Not BFFs right away, but over a school year, they found they liked the same classes, Rusty played guitar, so did Ben and they both liked hamburgers. To an adult that wouldn't seem like a good basis for a friendship, but for young boys, it was enough.
~~~~~
Two nights. “When was the last time you and I had the house to ourselves for two nights in a row Madge?” The couple had slept all one night, slept in the next morning, spent the afternoon lazing in their pyjamas, went out dining and dancing the next night. “I thought that we wouldn’t know how to romance anymore, Grant. It was beautiful. Thank you.” Grant had surprised Madge with the dining and dancing in a restaurant usually out of their reach. Her only clue was that he insisted that they dress up. Their weekend over, Grant had picked up the kids and brought them home.
“Don’t talk over each other. Annabelle, you go first. What was the most fun with Abby?……..and make it short.” Grant always had to slow his daughter down. She tried to get every detail in all in one breath. “When I got there, her grandma had supper all ready, but needed the Christmas decorations on the table, so Abby and I got out the Christmas candles and the Christmas napkins, after supper, we got our pyjamas on, we watched Elf.” She took a deep breath. “We opened the presents that her Grandpa James had bought, we each got an Elf on the Shelf. Abby’s is dressed in green and mine is dressed in red, the next day we went over to the big kitchen at the Estate, it’s gorgeous and huge, Abby’s Auntie Cook had the cookies and icing and sparkles out…….”
Grant held up his hand. His daughter could tell them more later. He had doubted that she could put the brakes on. “So you had a good time! Wonderful, honey. Let’s let Rusty talk now.” He hoped he sounded more patient than he felt. “Go ahead, Rusty.” Silence. “Not much to tell, Dad. We had a good time. Ben has all kinds of video games. His mom had hamburgers for us to eat. We didn’t have to go to bed until midnight both nights. We talked about the football game our school team is playing next week. Mainly, just guy talk.”
~~~~~
“What a great way to start the Christmas season, Grant.” Their twins had been sleeping for a couple of hours. Grant and Madge were settling into bed. “Yes, my darling, it was, and we need to find a way to have our own weekends more often.”
“For in every adult there dwells the child that was, and
in every child there lies the adult that will be.”
~ John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things
*Authors Note: Chapter One and Chapter Two of Situationally Theirs have 165 episodes each. Tonight’s post is the final episode of Chapter Two. I am suspending this story for the month of December while I determine whether to proceed with future Chapters. Thank you to everyone who has been following the characters of the Beaufort Estate.
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