Free This Christmas by Katlyn Duncan

ear-shattering as I slide into the passenger seat. She snaps her gum, still holding onto her smile. “Probably.” Her hand leans on the horn.
    I slap her hand away from the steering wheel.
    “What?”
    “You know Mrs. Jones hates that.” My neighbor across the street spends most of her day peering between her curtains, taking her self-appointed neighborhood watch duties very seriously.
    Lily blows a raspberry and I shake my head.
    “You know you love me,” she says.
    Ethan, my eager seventeen year old brother, bounds out of the house.
    “It’s not every day that Hadley Beauman breaks it off with the most drool-worthy guy in school,” Lily continues.
    “That’s the thing,” I say, adjusting the hem of my shorts over my tanned legs. “We aren’t in school anymore. So technically it’s not a big deal.”
    Lily hoots. “I see my methods are finally rubbing off on you. It’s about damn time.” She flips her chestnut waves over her shoulder. “It feels good, doesn’t it?” she says in a low, seductive voice.
    I roll my eyes. Lily has no experience with a boyfriend but she has plenty with guys. Men, mostly. She finds high school boys too immature.
    “Not really,” I say honestly. Carter and I were together for barely a year.
    Ethan opens the back door and jumps in.
    I sneak a glance at him and I’m blasted with his scent: some cologne that Mom gave him for Christmas. It’s a fight to get him up and showered in the morning, never mind put on scent, but I knew he didn’t do it for me.
    Lily turns around in her seat and unleashes a smile at him. He gives her a lopsided grin. I don’t know how she does it, but with just a look she manages to turn even the most confident guys into blithering idiots. My brother never stood a chance. “Looking good, Ethan. A two-week cruise really does the Beauman clan well.” She flicks her finger at a lock of my sun-kissed blonde hair that had lightened even more over the graduation vacation from my parents. Dad was busy with work so it was my mom and her best friend along with Ethan and me.
    Lily puts the car in reverse, then brakes so quickly I’m thrown back in my seat. I grab the seatbelt. “Why are you stopping?”
    Lily’s head is turned toward the house next door. The two story cape that I’ve avoided looking at over the past two years. “What’s with the sign?”
    “Dad told me they are selling the house,” Ethan chimes in.
    My breathing constricts as I break the promise to myself and look up at the sharp lines of the house. I can just see the corner of Will Carson’s window from this angle, but I tear my focus away and look over the overgrown lawn to the ‘For Sale’ sign near the curb. A blue car idles in the driveway and I squint to make out who is in the driver’s seat.
    As if the person heard the hammering of my heart, the driver’s side opens. A woman in her mid-fifties with a short black bob and black pantsuit exits the car. Her stick-thin legs look as if they are about to crack under the pressure of standing on five-inch heels. I’ve seen this woman’s face all over town on benches and other ‘For Sale’ signs.
    My damp hands pull into fists in my lap. My head snaps towards Lily and she nods. There wasn’t an exact moment or time we spent on our mental connection, but it’s strong enough that we can convey entire stories across a crowded room with one look. And sitting in the same car I sent the strongest message I could.
    I made a point to be over my neighbor and best friend since childhood leaving my life without a word since. I take a slow breath and exhale, turning my gaze to the glove box, focusing my thoughts away from him.
    Lily peels out of the driveway, away from our house.
    The further down the street we get, the easier my breathing comes and I unfurl my hands and wipe them on the plush seat.
    The car is silent except for the roar of my heartbeat in my ears. Lily reaches for the volume and turns the music up again. I swallow,