Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Five

After being forced to leave his soccer game early, Charlie locked himself in his room for the night. Sitting in their kitchen, drinking coffee, Neil and Laura were whispering about what to do. Jess hated when they did that. She hated when any adult did it. In her experience, adults only whispered when they had something negative to talk about. Her mother and father were in the Kitchen whispering the night they decided to get a divorce. Jess had been visiting the Thanksgiving that Neil and her mother decided to get married, they were whispering then too. Nothing good ever came from two adults whispering. She entered the kitchen and cleared her throat loudly in an attempt to gain their attention. Neil and Laura looked over at her like two kids with their hands stuck in the cookie jar.

"Are you guys talking about Dad?" She asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee. Jess didn't even drink coffee, but she felt that if she was going to join the adult discussion, she might as well have the necessary props. Taking a cautious sip of the bitter liquid, she waited for someone to answer her.

"Yes, we were." Laura admitted cautiously, she knew how sensitive her daughter was when it came to Scott.

"I think he's just having a mid-life crisis." Jess supplied. She assumed saying something like that might put her stepfather in full 'I'm a doctor' mode.

"Mid-life crisis?" Neil repeated. "While that is possible Jessica, I don't think that's what is happening here. I think it's more likely that last Christmas, Charlie and Scott made a connection through this illusion your father created. Since it's the first time they've connected in a long time, both of them have clung to this Santa Claus thing as a way of coping. I think they both fear that by letting go of the Santa Claus story, they'll be letting go of each other."

"Jess, how old were you when your father talked to you about Santa Claus?" Laura asked suddenly.

"He never had to." Her daughter chuckled ironically. "Mom, I was ten when you and Dad got divorced. That Christmas I asked for you two to be married again. You can see how well that worked." She raised her mug in Neil's direction. "Dad probably thinks that if he tells Charlie there's no Santa Claus, then he won't need Dad anymore. This whole Santa thing will pass. Just give it time."

"It's getting late." Neil said, noting the time. "I'll take you home, you must have school in the morning." Jess always did her best to avoid being alone with Neil. She just plain didn't like him. But it was getting late and she knew her dad would be worried so she let her stepfather driver her home.

When Neil return home that night, Laura was waiting for him outside. An ice cold mug of coffee still gripped between her hands.

"You know," The psychiatrist's wife sighed as he stepped out of the car. "I knew it, I knew that something was going on I-I just...What I can't believe is that he would go behind our backs all this time! Confusing Charlie again just...What are we suppose to do?"

"Well," Neil shrugged. "There's the obvious alternative." He and Laura had been discussing the "obvious alternative" before Jessica had barged into the kitchen.

"Are you sure taking away his visitation rights is the right thing to do?" Laura whispered.

"I don't think this is about what's right or wrong here Laura," Neil countered. "It's about doing what's best for Charlie. It doesn't have to be permanent, just something to put this whole Santa situation to rest."

"What about Jess?" His wife frowned.

"She'll be eighteen in two years." Neil said thoughtfully. "She's been living with Scott for six years, and seems to have adjusted just fine. I'll admit there may be some pent up aggression there but it's common among teenagers. I don't see any reason to rearrange her whole life for a couple years."