Being Alive: A The Queen's Gambit Story

Chapter 18

Beth didn't quite know how she got rooked into hosting Christmas dinner. She had never particularly enjoyed hosting and of all the holidays, Christmas was definitely the largest undertaking. With Benny hailing from a religious family, the day was replete with tradition. The Watts family attended midnight mass, followed by an early rise for presents and a heavy breakfast of Eggs Benedict, Canadian bacon, grapefruit and coffee preceded by passing around a wafer to share that was blessed by the local priest. When Beth suggested foregoing the grapefruit – she never understood the appeal of a fruit that took that much effort to enjoy – Benny looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"I guess we're keeping the grapefruit then," she said succinctly.

Originally, it was only Cal coming into town to join them. But then, a few days before Christmas, Cal called and told them that he would be bringing a date.

"You'll love Holly. She's great."

"Who's Holly, again?" Benny asked, scratching at a spot right next to his eyebrow.

"It's the girl I've been seeing. I told you about her."

"Are you sure? Because I've never heard of her."

"I've definitely told you about her," Cal said. "You're just having selective memory."

"I'm not having selective memory," Benny returned testily. "And if I had selective memory, why would I choose to not remember the name of a girl you've barely mentioned?"

"I've mentioned her plenty!"

"Benny," Beth interrupted, catching parts of the conversation from the kitchen while she was drying dishes. "We can handle another person. It's fine."

Benny covered the mouth of the phone and said, "Have you ever heard of a Holly?"

"No. But, let's just pretend I have? I've heard how long this can go on with your brother, and you need to take Alma to her violin lesson in ten minutes."

Benny put the phone back to his ear. "We'd be happy to have Holly join us for Christmas."

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Beth had expected Alma to put up some sort of fuss about midnight mass. Despite Mrs. Watt's religious leanings, she had grudgingly agreed to not force Alma to go with her to her weekly Sunday mass and for all the years prior, had allowed Alma to stay home for midnight mass given her age. However, she was insistent on her attending for Christmas this year. Beth expected some pushback from her daughter but, instead, Alma was positively thrilled at the prospect of being allowed to stay up past her bedtime. She even ended up enjoying mass. She sat riveted and halfway through the sermon, leaned in toward her grandmother and loudly said, "This is a very good show, Grandma."

Mrs. Watts' face turned the same color as her bright-pink blouse.

As for the adults, Mrs. Watts was the only person who seemed to be following along with the service more than in rote. Benny kept looking over at Cal and Holly over at the end of the pew, and after they sat down following a rather rousing hymn, he turned to Beth and said, "I swear I've seen her before."

"Seen who?"

"Holly."

"You said you never heard of her and now you think you've seen her?"

"She looks familiar."

Beth glanced over at the new member of their group. All she saw was a rather conventional blonde that she had never laid eyes on before that evening. She gave Benny a shrug. He looked back over and then straight ahead at the priest. After a few minutes, he suddenly stiffened and then looked back over at the end of the pew.