“Oh, Lindy, I’m so sorry.”
Lindy had no intention of discounting the betrayal she’d felt in that moment. It was bad enough that Brian had cheated on her with Celeste, but for her best friend to go behind her back this way was even worse.
Heartache from a broken romance was something she’d experienced before. Johnny Bemis had broken her heart when she was in high school. Her friends had rallied around her, and she’d gotten over him quickly.
This was different. To lose her best friend, her confidant, the one person in Seattle who supported and believed in her, was a double hit. She missed Celeste’s company far more than she did Brian’s. Even now, it was hard to believe Celeste would betray and deceive her this way. So much for the friends’ code of honor.
“It stinks,” Lindy said. “The thing is, Mom, I’m a complete romantic failure.” Saying it aloud made it seem all the more real.
“Don’t say that.”
“How can I not? Mardelle and Nate are engaged and have already adopted a dog they named Oscar. She asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding this summer. And Mardelle isn’t the only one of my college friends who is in a committed relationship.”
“I know what Celeste and Brian did hurts.”
“No kidding.” She hadn’t meant to blurt out all this drama the instant she walked in the front door. Lindy had hoped to put all this behind her and enjoy the holidays with her family. The less she thought about Brian and Celeste, the better all around.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this.” Her mother’s gentle sympathy helped ease the ache in her heart.
“Thank you, Mom. While my head knows that, my heart is having a hard time accepting it.”
“I can understand that.”
Her mother was right. Still, Lindy found it hard to believe. “It’s my own fault. I made the mistake of checking Celeste’s page on Facebook last night, and while I was spending my weekends alone, the two of them were skiing on White Pass and attending a Seahawks football game. What hurts most is those are the very activities Brian and I did last winter. I’m such a loser.”
“You most certainly aren’t a loser, Lindy Rose Carmichael.”
“I lost my boyfriend and my best friend. Losing Brian isn’t so bad, but Celeste? I have lots of friends, but Celeste and I were so close. We shared everything. I just didn’t expect to have to share my boyfriend.”
“The two of them deserve each other,” her mother said.
Lindy expected her mother to champion her.
“As far as I’m concerned, Brian isn’t half the man we thought he was,” her mother continued. “It’s painful for you now…I remember…” She paused.
“You remember what?”
Her mother’s eyes darkened with sadness. “I remember how I felt when your birth father walked out on me…It seemed as if the entire world had collapsed around me. As soon as he learned I was pregnant with you, he took off for the hills. He couldn’t get away fast enough.”
“Oh, Mom,” Lindy whispered. Looking at it from her mother’s point of view, Lindy had gotten off lucky.
Scooting back her chair, Ellen gestured for Lindy to remain where she was. “There’s something I want to show you.”
“Show me?”
“Something that will make you feel better.”
While that sounded promising, Lindy wasn’t sure anything her mother had to show her would lift her spirits from this funk.
Her mother disappeared and returned a few minutes later. With a big smile, she handed Lindy a child-size shoe box.
“What’s that?” she asked, genuinely puzzled, not knowing what to expect.
Her mother’s face glowed with excitement. “I went through some of those boxes I packed away in the garage years ago and found this. I’ve been saving it to show you. These, my precious daughter, are your letters to Santa.”
“While they might amuse me, Mom, I doubt they will do anything to take away this ache in my heart.”
“I think you might be surprised,” her mother insisted. “Now, open it up and read the first letter.”
Lindy couldn’t imagine anything she’d written back when she’d believed in Santa had the power to influence her life now.
“Trust me,” her mother whispered. “Read the one on the top. You wrote it when you were five.”
“This is silly.” Still, she couldn’t help being curious.
“Don’t be so sure,” her mother said, with a twinkle in her eye.