“Really?” he said. “How long has it been?”
Donna laughed. “Oh honey, it’s been a long time… ever since your father left.”
Curt winced.
Tyler’s eyes bulged. “It’s been… ten years?” he asked, incredulous.
“More like eleven,” Donna said. “Your father wasn’t exactly affectionate that last year.” She suddenly seemed to realize what she was saying, and leaned forward to pour herself a fresh glass of wine.
“Oh, please don’t listen to me,” she said. “You don’t need to know this kind of stuff about your Mom. Just having you boys here is enough.”
She took another drink and stood up, wavering a little. “Will you two excuse me for a minute? I’ll be right back.”
“Sure, of course,” Curt said. As their mother made her way out of the living room, he was fairly certain he heard a sniffle and a stifled sob.
The two brothers sat on the couch silently, listening as her footsteps trailed away, then the bathroom door shutting.
“Shit,” Tyler said at last.
“Yeah,” Curt answered.
“I knew she wasn’t dating much or anything, but… damn,” Tyler said. “That’s a hell of a dry spell.”
“Yeah,” Curt said again, not sure where his brother was going with this. “I wish we could do something.”
Tyler got that faraway look on his face again, then lit up a cigarette. “There is something we could do,” he said.
“What’s that?”
Tyler grimaced, rubbing the stubble of his beard again. “Never mind,” he said. “You wouldn’t like the idea.”
“Try me,” Curt said.
Tyler looked over at him. “Would you do anything to make Mom happy?”
Curt shrugged. “Of course.”
“Anything?”
“Yeah,” Curt said, wondering where this was going.
“Okay, then.” Tyler took a drag on his cigarette. “Then when she comes back, you either follow my lead or get out of my way. Understand?”
“Tyler, what are you talking about?”
Tyler just shook his head in that infuriating, inscrutable way of his. “Just remember what I said.”
# # #
After about ten minutes, Donna returned and sat down between them again.
“I am so sorry about that,” she said. “I just get so emotional around the holidays. And it’s just so wonderful to have the two of you here. But I really didn’t mean to start blubbering like that.”
“Don’t worry about it, Mom,” Curt said, and touched her arm. She took his hand and squeezed it.
“So, what do you two want to do now that presents are unwrapped?” she asked. “We could watch some Christmas movies, play a board game…”
“We have a different kind of game in mind,” Tyler said from his corner of the couch.
Donna turned toward him enthusiastically. “Oh? Tell me.”
With a small grin, Tyler held a hand up over his head. A tiny sprig of green swung from it.
“Mistletoe,” he said.
Donna looked up at it, then tilted her head at him. “That’s not a game,” she said.
“Yes, it is,” Tyler said. “Don’t you want to find out how we play it?”
“Maybe. What do I do?” Donna asked.
Tyler gave her a skeptical look. “Mom, you know how mistletoe works.”
She lifted her eyebrows. “Yeah, but… I’m your mother.”
“What are you talking about? You kissed us both earlier,” Tyler countered.
“That’s different.”
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