A Winter Holiday at the Cabin

Christmas Night, Tuesday, December 25th

The blond hair, blue-eyed eighteen-year-old, walked into his basement bedroom, carrying his stack of Christmas presents. It was a nice haul, Sean Tarver decided. He'd gotten the five mystery novels that he wanted, three shirts, two sweatshirts, a new winter coat, the hottest video game that just dropped the other week, and multiple gift cards.

It had been a long couple of days. His mom's older sister, Beverly, had been in a snit all Christmas. The two sisters often bickered when Aunt Bev visited from Blackbridge, but today seemed worse than usual. Sean's dad had spent the day preoccupied with work, as always. The final kicker turned out to be his older cousin, Gino, revealing that he'd proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Jana, the day before they arrived. While happy for his cousin, the talk of true love and weddings only served to remind Sean of his non-existent love life.

Placing the items on his desk, Sean's eye caught a different unwrapped present, and sighed. Picking up the small box, he carried it over with him to the bed. Wrapped in red paper with a gold ribbon and bow, the undelivered present spoke volumes about his current life. Memories and regrets filled his mind. Lost in thought, Sean didn't hear the noises outside his bedroom door.

Suddenly, the door opened, allowing a blur of brown and white to burst into the room. It used the small footrest to springboard onto his bed, jumping onto the lap of its second favorite person in the house.

"Whoa, calm, buddy. You just saw me a little bit ago," Sean told his brown, white with a touch of black, beagle, Watson.

"Sorry, but he wanted in badly. Didn't you hear him?" asked a sweet voice from the doorway. A thin, tiny girl with neck-length brown hair, blue eyes, small-to-medium breasts, and a perky ass, Sean's cousin, Brynn Baccaro, didn't look her twenty-years of age. She looked like the high school senior in the room instead of Sean. Somewhat sheltered by her domineering mother, she acted like one too.

"I guess I was lost in thought. Sorry, Watson," he apologized, patting the dog's head.

"So we're going to show Jana all the Christmas decorations on Reindeer Road. Wanna come?" Brynn inquired, hopefully. "Peyton already left for Lana's house."

"Of course, she did. It's more her home than an over here," Sean chuckled. His sister Peyton Tarver did seem to spend much of her life over at the home of her childhood best friend, Lana Stratton. As Lana treated the Tarver home as her own, both families joked that they should give each girl their own bedroom. It wasn't exactly a joke in Sean's house as Lana had claimed one of the guest bedrooms as her own. "Why didn't you go with them? I bet Lacey would be happy for any ally against those mean, older girls."

"Aunt Brandy went with. She was talking about making it a wine night. That's not for me," she reminded him. Their Aunt Brandy was the accident in the family a decade younger than Sean's mother at thirty. She often acted as if she was still in college, which was technically accurate. Brandy floated from one graduate program to the next and from one city to the next.

"Yeah, they don't have to get up early for this trip tomorrow," Sean responded grumpily. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll pass. I'm not really in the mood for any more festive stuff." As he said that, he glanced down at the unwrapped present.

"Why haven't you opened that up yet?" Brynn asked, noticing his glance.

"It's not for me," Sean replied. He hoped that would end the questioning, but his cousin looked at him curiously. "I've learned not to buy Christmas presents for your girlfriend in October."

"Oh," Brynn sounded, understanding why the present sat unopened. "I only met Beyza once. You two seemed like a nice couple. What happened?"

Sean sighed. Beyza Baris had been his first and only serious girlfriend. She'd come after him hard last summer. A beautiful face, hot body with an intense passion about her, Beyza was an incredible girl and a great girlfriend. Her problem? She wasn't the girl that Sean had been crushing on for the last five years. Beyza slowly realized that there was a third person in their relationship and didn't like it. Sean tried to banish the other girl from his mind. When he couldn't, the young couple broke up right before Thanksgiving last month.

"I'm sorry." That's all the usually quiet Brynn said after Sean finished his explanation. In thought for a moment, she offered a bit of advice. "You should still give Beyza the present. It was intended for her. Think of it now as a goodwill gesture or peace offering."

"Yeah, maybe Bey will stop looking like she wants to me," Sean replied, only half-joking.

"Is he coming, Brynn?" Gino yelled down the basement stairs. "If not, then let's go!"

Sean watched as Watson, wagging his tail, followed Brynn out of the room. He tried not to notice or stare at his cousin's perky ass, but he failed. Ever since he lost his virginity with Beyza, Sean found himself noticing women and their assets even more than before. With Brynn, Jana, and Aunt Brandy all in town, he found himself noticing those assets on women that he knew were forbidden to check out. Luckily, he could get away from them starting tomorrow. He just needed to make it past breakfast in the morning as his cousins would be back later. They were staying in the two guest bedrooms as their parents were staying with his grandparents and Brandy.

Depressed over his failed relationship with Beyza, Sean dozed off. It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before a wet face nudged his own.

"C'mon, Watson! Why do you always drink a bowl of water before coming to see me," Sean groused before smiling at the beagle. Watching the anxious beagle, he had an idea over why the dog had returned. "Do you need to go out? Gotta go potty?" Sean asked, talking to the dog as if it was a toddler.

Watson replied with two short barks.

"Okay, let's go," Sean said, causing the dog to run out of the room, then around in circles in the hallway until he caught up.

Halfway up the stairs, Sean realized the real reason why Watson had come back down to his bedroom.

"—wait until now to tell me?" came the upset voice of Sean's mother, Bridget Tarver.

"You know damn well how this works. I have a responsibility to my patients to check on them again tomorrow," Leonard Tarver replied, his voice rising slightly.

"Yes, I do. I also know that Summer could handle that for you. Or what about Doug Nodder? I thought he agreed to cover in case of any emergencies?" Bridget shot back.

"Nodder is a competent surgeon, but I'm not going to have him drive up from Arbor Corners to merely check-in on a patient when I can do it. As for Summer, you know her bedside manner needs improvement."

"Well, she's certainly not learning to improve it from you," grumbled Bridget. "Dammit, Leo, you know how much I was looking forward to time with my friends."

Sean sighed. His parents were both similar yet so different. His dad was a highly respected neurosurgeon who lived for his work and reputation. In contrast, his caring mom was a beloved obstetrician and gynecologist. A person would think that two doctors could understand each other's work schedules, but Sean's parents often clashed. Usually brought on by his dad's selfishness. Knowing that Watson hated whenever Bridget was upset--she was his favorite in the house--Sean kneeled at the top of the stairs.

"You want to go for a walk instead?" he quietly asked.

Two barks came back from the excited dog.

Hoping to avoid his arguing parents, Sean swiftly threw on his winter gear and attached Watson's retractable leash. Taking the longer, safer way, they left through the back door. Making his way to the left, the boy and his dog walked down the back deck. They moved past the covered hot tub and around the garage.

Laughter hit his ears from the Gibble home next door. For a brief moment, Sean considered walking over to the happy home. JoJo Gibble had been his best friend since they could barely walk, so he'd be welcome. Sean knew the Gibbles' Christmas routine. Tonight would be Mrs. Gibble's extended family. Unfortunately, Mr. Gibble's family held their big holiday get-together tomorrow night. That's why JoJo couldn't be Sean's plus one for the cabin stay.

Reaching his driveway and seeing all the cars parked by the Gibbles, Sean motioned for Watson to head toward the other side of their house to the north. The dog quickly took the lead, pushing forward until he reached the limit of the retractable leash. Sean realized almost too late what Watson had in mind as he started up the Kappmeyers' driveway.

"Whoa, hold up, buddy!" Sean commanded, pulling back on the leash. "You can see your little friend tomorrow. You'll be hanging out with Slinky all week," he added, referring to the Kappmeyers' dachshund and Watson's doggy friend.

Roughly a dozen years older than his parents, the Kappmeyers were the unofficial leaders of the neighborhood. Always happy to lend a hand, Mrs. Kappmeyer often ran errands for her younger, busy neighbors. She would watch a child for an hour or two. Or in the case of the Tarvers, she often lets Watson out during the day or had him over at their house. Their daughter, Keira, six years older than Sean, served as his babysitter many times while growing up.

"Come on, Wats," Sean ordered, tugging the dog away from his friend's house.

Rounding the slight curve on the sidewalk, they headed east past the Ruffalos. Stopping for Watson to sniff the bottom of a tree, Sean chucked as he could see inside the front window. The living room looked as if a bomb had gone off. Toys and ripped wrapping paper were scattered everywhere, along with a giant empty box that looked to have been attacked. Finally, a Christmas tree leaned hard to one side, no doubt showing signs of a hard knock over. With four kids under the age of ten, Sean had heard the screams of joy, jealousy, and anger earlier in the day.

Shaking his head, Sean recalled his attempt last summer to babysit two of the Ruffalo kids. A joint effort with JoJo, it hadn't gone well. The experience left them exhausted and checking to make sure that the other one hadn't pulled any hair out in frustration. The two friends earned a greater appreciation for how Keira used to babysit four or five kids simultaneously.

After Watson finished marking his territory, they walked past the next house, which sat dark. With the Wegberg children all grown up and starting their own families, their parents often traveled for the holidays to see their grandchildren.

"You know, Wats, I think we need a good mystery to solve together. It can help me deal with the Bey breakup." Sean told the beagle, turning to look down at him. Sighing at the sight of Watson attempting to sniff his own butt, Sean added. "That's not the kind of mystery smell I meant."

The last house on the northeast corner of the T-intersection with Vine Street, Sean knew well. It was the home of Newt Denton, his other closest friend. Stopping for Watson to sniff the stop sign pole, Sean noted the lone flickering light in the living room. Feeling a little sorry for his friend, Sean knew that the geeky Newt would rather be off playing video games than watching the same batch of Christmas movies his mother, Samantha, made him watch every year. They were the same films that the family watched when Newt was five, a few months before his firefighting father, Vince, died saving two people from a burning house. Nearly thirteen years later, Samantha struggled to move on from her husband's .

Aware that Newt didn't want to go on the trip to the cabin, his mother had him, Sean decided to send a text reminder. Despite the argument between his parents, Sean told the introverted teen to be ready at 10 a.m. as it took a good two hours to travel to Wasp Lake.

Noticing that Watson was ready to move, the duo crossed the street to the cul-de-sac's southern side. Racing forward, the sniffing beagle went to investigate the For Sale sign in the yard of the recently emptied home. Most good neighbors wouldn't share a small smile when a longtime neighbor, Gerald Simovic, died, but the Simovics had been that one family that everyone detested. An original inhabitant of the cul-de-sac, they had raised a fuss when the Dentons moved in several years later. They and the family next door made it known that a young black family moving across the street was not acceptable. Snide comments, digs, insults, and even straight-up racist slurs followed. They culminated in a call to the police about a suspicious man breaking into homes. The man turned out to be Vince's visiting cousin, who had gone straight inside to see little Newt.

Nearly at their breaking point, the Dentons considered moving until the older parents in the cul-de-sac, the Kappmeyers and Wegbergs, marched over to let the Simovics know how they felt. The shouting match spread as other neighbors joined them. A month later, Vince died a hero, causing the other family to move away in shame. The Simovics stayed, continuing to be the neighborhood assholes, but left the remaining Dentons alone.

Sean and his friends knew nothing of this growing up. They only knew the Simovics to be jerks, who yelled if they stepped on the grass or their ball ended up in their yard. The kids avoided the sidewalks in front of their house, which proved annoying as the park was only two blocks south. Going down to the park entailed crossing the street to avoid the mean house. With Gerald dead, his wife decided to sell the home and move in with her son's family. The rest of the cul-de-sac celebrated quietly with glasses of wine or beer.

"You want to go to the park, buddy?" Sean asked.

Watson appeared to consider the idea, looking down Vine Street and back into Boxwood Court. Finally, a lone bark came, indicating a no. That surprised Sean as Watson loved the park. Yet, Sean thought he understood the reasoning.

"Long day, huh? I don't blame you. I'm ready to hit my bed soon too."

Heading back, they came to the Emersons' house. The fifth family to own the house in just over two decades, the Simovics weren't easy to live next door to; they had moved in earlier this year. A pair of newlyweds in their late twenties, they were friendly and outgoing. The men of the cul-de-sac definitely noticed how Mandy Emerson worked to keep her athletic figure toned. Sports bras and spandex shorts, along with yoga outfits, seemed to be her weekend attire. Many wives in the area found their husbands dragging them unexpectedly to the bedroom on the weekends. This almost universally happened after Mandy jogged by or placed her yoga mat on their front porch.

With visions of Mrs. Emerson stretching her body in painful-looking positions, Sean didn't notice that Watson hadn't followed until he felt the leash stop retracting. Glancing back, he saw the beagle doing his pre-poop dance. Retracing his steps, Sean waited as Watson decided on the perfect place to poop, at the trunk of a large tree in the small grass apron between the sidewalk and street. Not wishing to watch, Sean turned his head to find a different sight to watch.

"Holy shit!"