This is the third part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I and Part II before continuing.
Dick slammed the door as he walked into their dad’s house.
“What’s your problem?” said Carmen.
“Gold-digging bitches,” he said as he stomped to the kitchen and flung open the door to the refrigerator.
Carmen looked at her dad, who shrugged. Turning back to her brother, she said, “Are we supposed to know what that means?”
“Not really.”
“Um, OK … Care to enlighten us?”
Dick sighed heavily before saying, “I happened to be looking at Pippa’s phone after she had been texting her mom. I just wanted to see if she had mentioned when she’s coming to visit. Instead I found all these messages about how expensive our house must be to have a spare bedroom, and how we’ll move someplace nicer once Dad dies and we get the inheritance.”
Carmen was confused. She was no fan of Pippa, but this didn’t sound like the girl she knew. “Wait, her mom said this?”
“They both did. Pippa’s only goal in dating me was to get to Dad’s money.”
Carmen didn’t know what to say, so she looked at her dad. He appeared to be equally lost for words. All he could do was shake his head and say, “I’m sorry, Dick. That sucks.”
Dick flopped into a chair at the dining room table and took a swig of his beer while staring out the window. Carmen was suddenly very uncomfortable. If he was this mad, why had he come here? Why couldn’t he fume in private, like she always had to do?
Out loud, she said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“OK, then, what are everyone’s New Year’s resolutions?”
“Not dating a gold-digging bitch.”
“Excellent!” said Carmen. “You’ve already completed your resolution! What about you, Dad?”
Her dad was too busy laughing to answer, and even the corners of Dick’s mouth were creeping up.
Knowing a winning strategy when he saw one, Dad decided to jump on board. “I think not dating any gold-digging bitches sounds like a good one. I’ll use that.”
“No, you can’t piggy back off of mine,” said Dick. “You have to come up with your own.”
“No, I like yours. Why mess with perfection?”
As they continued bickering, Carmen breathed a sigh of relief that she had managed to make Dick laugh and get him to act like his old self again.
A few hours later, when Carmen went to leave for the night, she stopped by her dad’s magnificent Christmas tree. She looked at it for a long moment, remembering the Christmas wish she had made the last time she had gazed on its majesty. Just one week later her Christmas wish had come true. She sent a silent thanks to whoever or whatever had brought her this Christmas miracle before heading out into the December night.
The end.