Page 3 of Winter Break

“That’s my little brother’s room. We’re over here.” Brett’s bedroom door slammed, and I jumped.

“Huh?” I belatedly responded to my mother.

Mom looked at me funny. “Your interview? At the toy store? With Miss Anita?”

I’d been so excited to come home and tell my parents about my interview. Of course, my dad wasn’t home to hear about it.

“Oh, yeah! It went great, Mom!” That answer wasn’t going to be enough, which Mom conveyed with one squint of her eyes. I had genuinely wanted to tell her how it had gone, but I’d been distracted, first by my burgeoning leg hair and then by the soft-voiced stranger who would be staying in the room across the hall from me. I looked once more at the closed door on the landing before finally focusing fully on my mom.

“Miss Anita said I can start on Wednesday and work through winter break! She’s going to teach me how to use the cash register and stuff, but mostly I’ll be helping with deliveries and stocking shelves. When school starts back up after Christmas, I’m gonna do one day a week after school, on Wednesdays, and a shift on Sundays, so it doesn’t interfere with swim team. If that’s okay with you and Dad. She asked me to make sure. She said we’d talk about summer hours when we get closer to the end of the school year, and she said not to worry about Thanksgiving week next year since she knows we always travel.

“She asked me to come in early on Wednesday, so I can start training! If that’s okay with you, I guess.”

Mom had a huge smile on her face. “That all sounds perfect, Dalton. I’m so proud of you. Your dad will be too.”

Mom’s sad eyes gave away the lie. My dad wanted nothing more than for Brett and me to work for him. My brother had obediently done so, but I just couldn’t picture spending my summers as a janitor or whatever at the hotel. I hoped Dad would be proud, at least, that I’d gotten a job on my own even if it was with Miss Anita and not him.

Mom and I ignored her obvious lie about my dad.

“Is he …”

“He ran to his office for a little bit. Some crisis at one of the hotels.”

I kept my there always is to myself.

Dad was the regional director of a well-known hotel chain, and he managed hotels up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from New York to Maryland. Our house was, give or take, in the center of his territory. It kept him pretty busy, but at least it meant we got to travel to some interesting places. Dad always worked the week of Thanksgiving. We got to pick a location and spend that week at one of the hotels. Dad helped to support operations while we were there so that the other employees could have some time with their families. We got to spend time with ours as well even if it wasn’t at home.

As soon as I turned fifteen, Dad began hammering at me about coming to work at the local hotel where his office was. Having watched my brother work there part-time all through high school, I knew that was the last thing I wanted to do.

As a swimmer, I figured the perfect summer job for me would be lifeguarding, but I had some time before I would be allowed to take that training and sit on the vaulted chair, so when I thought about something else I might actually be interested in, Breakwater Toys and Gifts, or BT&G as we called it, came to mind. Miss Anita was kind and fun and, according to my mother, had owned Breakwater Toys “since the beginning of time.”

I’d been visiting the store for as long as I could remember, attending story time when I was little and game nights and brick-building parties as I got older. Even as a teen, I loved stopping by the store to check out the games, books, and puzzles she stocked for older kids. She’d begun stocking comic books a year or so ago, and Austin and I would pop in at least once a month to pick up the latest title. I knew BT&G and Miss Anita and felt like it would be the perfect first job for me. You know, now that I’m a man.

Miss Anita was also a family friend, or, well, a friend of my mom’s. For some reason, she and Dad never seemed to get along. Her friendship with Mom hadn’t stopped me from being nervous about going in and asking her for a job. Thinking about the alternative was all the incentive I had needed when I had dressed in my winter shorts and ridden my bike to the beach that unseasonably mild winter day.

“Well done, Dalt. Now come have lunch with me, kiddo, before you disappear to your room to play video games online with Austin for the rest of the day.”

I glanced up the stairs, wondering if Mom planned to call Brett and his friend down, then followed her to the small dining area off our long, narrow kitchen. She may have noticed me staring up the stairs as I trailed past her.

“Sure thing, Mom,” I said, looking in the opposite direction from where I was walking, hoping my brother and his friend would come bounding back down the stairs and join us. For some reason, I was really curious about the soft-spoken guy Brett had failed to mention before.

Mom followed my gaze and nodded her head toward the second-floor landing. “Looks like Brett’s friend Turner will be here for the week. You remember Turner, right? They roomed together freshman year.”

“Actually, I don’t think I’ve met Turner.” Mom gave me that head tilt that meant she didn’t believe me, but if he’d been Brett’s first roommate, I was pretty sure I’d never met him. I’d been fairly bummed that I wasn’t able to go with my parents to drop Brett off, and more importantly, scope out college life that first year. But swim team came first!

“Mom, I stayed here with Austin and his dad when you first took Brett to college, remember? Aus and I had a swim meet, and Mr. Martin took us while you were dropping Brett off. I don’t think I’ve ever met Turner. They were roommates? Is he in the fraternity with Brett?”

“Oh, actually, I don’t know. Come to think of it, we haven’t heard much about Turner since your brother joined the fraternity, so maybe not? And you’re right, I had quite forgotten that you didn’t come on that trip with us. Well, you’ll meet him soon enough. I thought we’d do dinner at the Three B’s tonight.”

“Cool. I’ll see if Austin’s gonna be there!” I said as I texted my best friend and let him know I got the job. He texted back immediately, asking if I’d get an employee discount.

Fuck yeah, I do!

Cool

We’re having dinner at 3B’s 2nite. You gonna be there?

I can be