The Boss & The Assistant - Rewritten Edition of "The Boss"

Chapter 30 - Lafayette

My family arrived to the townhouse around five-thirty in the evening. Mom and Dad came in first, hands full of presents. They went into the den, which was decked out in Christmas decorations. Michael, Emilio, and I spent the whole week decorating most of the townhouse. I felt ridiculous spending so much money on Christmas decorations, but Michael insisted. I even got Christmas themed bedding for the guest bedrooms.

"It looks so lovely," Mom said, taking a seat on the couch.

"Thank you," I said. "You look more lovely. This dress is beautiful."

"Well, it is one of yours, dear."

Dad sat down next to Mom on the couch, playing a game on his phone. "The food smells good," he said. "What's cooking?"

"All kinds of stuff. I have steak, mashed potatoes, green beans. It should be done soon. I hired a small team to prepare the food. I don't think I could've cooked it all by myself," I said.

"Hopefully the rest get here soon then."

Right on cue, the doorbell rang. It was Axelle. She muttered a greeting as we avoided eye contact and went into the den with the rest. Before I shut the door, Clovis walked up the steps. We nodded at each other and he went inside as well. Ten minutes went by until Claude showed up. The food was ready a moment later, so we filled our plates as the team of cooks headed out. We ate our food, Mom being the only one talking. She was telling us about the country club she attended, where Dad liked to play pickleball.

I didn't know what to expect having my family over. My siblings and I didn't like to pay too much attention to each other. We had terrible memories together. It's all I could think about when I looked at them. I never blamed them and I didn't blame our parents. Mom and Dad tried their best. Dad never wanted to be an alcoholic. He was supposed to be a man of the military like his father, but due to his Crohn's disease, he was rejected from joining. His father passed, he dropped out of college. He got laid off. He was a star in high school, but it went downhill for him after that. His father had been an alcoholic as well.

Claude, Axelle, Clovis, Delphine, and I were often left with just each other. Mom had to work two jobs, day and night. Dad was passed out on the couch or out at the bars. Claude was the oldest but got annoyed at having to watch us. So usually Axelle had to step in and take care of us. It's no wonder she never wanted to be a mother. She had to spend her childhood mothering her siblings in Mom's absence. Clovis, he was just always quiet. He'd lock himself in the closet to hide away from everything bad in our lives.

Sometimes, if I looked closely, I could still see the faint scars on my knuckles from when I would get smacked as punishment at the Catholic school. Axelle once got in trouble for yelling at a nun, so they tied her down to a chair for hours, where she wet herself. Clovis was small for his size as a child, so he was an easy target. Kids picked on him and the school let the bullies get away with it. Claude was big for his age so no one messed with him, but he had a hard time as a student. He never got the best grades, but it wasn't his fault. He was dyslexic and had ADHD. The teachers, the nuns, the priests loved making him feel stupid. For Delphine, she was the exception. She was to be left alone by fellow students, the staff, and the faculty.

"Fifi would have loved the tree," Mom said when we returned to the den after eating. "The yellow lights are so beautiful and warm."

"Thank you, Mom," I said.

"I still like to put her stocking up. I put all of your stockings up."

"Do you always have to talk about her?" Axelle asked, her arms crossed.

"Ax," I said quietly. "There's no harm in talking about Delphine."

Axelle shook her head. "Every time Mom talks about her it just fills us all with grief and guilt," she said. "It brings back all the memories of the shit we went through at that school and what they did to Delphine."