As we arrived back at the house, mum unlocked the door as I followed her in and we ate at the kitchen bench.
We chatted about the usual things before a swift knock on the front door pulled us from our conversation, "I will get it", mum said. I watched as she disappeared before a little squeal left her mouth and she chatted happily to someone.
I decided to see who it was, but before I could get up from my seat, a pair of hands clamped around my eyes so I couldn't see. I quickly pushed the hands away, jumping around to see who it was. And sure enough, it was Lou.
I squealed, jumping into her arms and hugging her tightly, "You're back! I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow!", I say as she kissed my cheek and hugged me.
"We got here a little early", she laughed, "I missed you"
"I missed you too! How has work been?", I asked.
"Good, Lux is growing quickly and-"
But before she could finish, I cut her off
"Lux!", I say, running over to the little girl who stood next to her grandmother, beaming happily up at me.
I scooped the tiny child up, hugging her and putting on my baby voice, "How's my favourite niece been?", poking her tummy. She burst into a round of giggles.
She couldn't talk yet, only make baby noises so I wasn't concerned about getting an answer to my question.
I laughed at the little girl, setting her on the ground and standing up straight. As I stood up, a flicker of movement came from across the room. I looked over to meet a pair of vibrant green eyes.
I groan, “What are you doing here?”
“That’s no way to treat a guest. I’ll be staying here with Lou while we are doing our shows in town”, he smirked.
“And how many shows is that?”, I spat angrily.
“Seven”, he smirked, “So I will be here for an entire week”
“Fuck you”, I say before turning away and walking out, hand in hand with Lux. I walk into the kitchen where Lou and mum are chatting away nicely.
I sat down with them, with Lux in my lap as I noticed Tom standing in the kitchen, rummaging through the fridge. “Oh yeah make yourself at home”, I joke sarcastically. He laughed, shaking his head.
“I will”, he laughed. Once he couldn’t find food, he decided to pig out on my dinner.
“Oh not a chance, that’s mine. Get your own”, I say, snatching the food away. He groans.
“Harry! Let’s go get some food!”, he shouts. Harry returns with a smile on his face, he nods and both the boys walk out.
“We’re taking your car”, Tom said to me.
And before I could say no, they had grabbed my keys and ran out the door.
“Well I guess you are now”, I mutter and then turn my attention back to Lux.
“Uuummm, Can we talk to you?”, Lou asked. I look up at her curiously before slowly nodding. “Okay well… Tom and I won a holiday to the Bahamas for over the Christmas period. The competition was for three people to win and we were going to take Lux until we found out that it’s an adults trip only. So…we invited mum”, she says.
I frown. If mum was going, that means I would be alone on Christmas. “Uumm… what do you suppose you are going to do with your daughter, hide her in your suitcase?”
Lou laughs, shaking her head, “No, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We wouldn’t want anybody else to be with Lux at Christmas. So we were wondering if you would look after her for the entire time we are gone. You are her godmother”
I am quite shocked, “Okay, so you want me to spend Christmas alone with a baby and have no real celebration or even conversation?”
Mum frowns and nods. I knew she didn’t really care what I did on Christmas. She was too caught up in the fact that she was going on holidays to a warm sunny place.
“Please?”, Lou asked.
I look down at Lux and see her drifting to sleep in my arms. It was late after all…
“Well, I guess I’m going to have to”, I say. “Whatever, I’ll do it. But my Christmas presents better be good. And Santa better be feeling generous”
Lou and mum start squealing and jumping around. I sit and watch them.
“Oh but don’t worry! You won’t be doing It alone”, Lou smiled.
“Oh? Who will I be with? Sam?”, I asked, referring to my other older sister.
“No, she’s meeting us there. But Harry wanted to spend Christmas with Lux after I told him about the plan. So he will be staying”, she smiled.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO.