Free Christmas In Silver Bell Falls by Samantha Chase

the house was a disaster and I remember her coming in and just…she looked like she was sucking on a lemon.”  She shook her head.  “She offered to help us out if we came to live with her.”
    Josiah couldn’t really see an issue with that.  It seemed exactly like the kind of thing Carol would do.
    “But I would have to go away to school.  She knew of some sort of private school or boarding school she wanted to send me to.  Then she told Dad how she could get him a decent job and even knew the right girl for him.”
    Yikes. 
    “Dad threw her out.  Every six months or so she would call and make the same offer, and every time he declined.  After several years of this, they finally had a very, shall we say, heated argument about it.  I remember I was washing the dinner dishes and the phone rang.  Dad answered it and then went into his bedroom and shut the door.  I didn’t think the yelling would ever stop.  When he came out, he looked at me and he looked sad, defeated.  I asked him what was wrong and he said it was finally over—she wouldn’t be bothering us anymore.”
    “I’m so sorry.”
    “I honestly didn’t see why he was sad about it.  She wasn’t a very nice woman and all I could see was how we no longer had to deal with her calling and making us feel bad.”  She paused.  “When I was older, in my early twenties, Dad and I talked about it.  I finally asked him what had been said that day.  He said she was making him choose—it was either me or a chance to have the life he deserved.”
    “Oh my God…”
    She nodded.  “She never saw me as a person.  Never took the time to even try to see me as her granddaughter or to love me.  I was something to get rid of.  A reminder of a mistake my dad had made.”
    “I don’t think he sees you that way.”
    “No, he never did and it bothered him when others did.”  She sighed.  “That’s what makes this all even more confusing.  Why would she leave me anything in her will when she clearly hated and resented me?  It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Maybe she came to realize she had made a mistake,” Josiah suggested.
    “I don’t know.  Maybe.  Either way, here I am.  Stuck in Christmastown.  It’s like a double whammy.”
    He chuckled.  “Okay, I get the reason you feel the way you do about your grandmother, and I even understand why you might not love Christmas based on the story about your mom.  But there has to be more to your dislike of Christmas than that.”
    “Dislike is a mild word.”
    He sat up fully and put some distance between them.  “Come on…now I have to know.”
    “Fine, but after this we are done talking about me and my family.  Maybe I’ll put you under the microscope for a bit and see how you like it,” she said with a half-hearted laugh.
    “You could but it would be a very boring conversation.  We were your typical American family with six kids.  Money was always tight, we lived on a lot of hand-me-downs and ate a lot of macaroni and cheese because it was cheap.  My parents are still happily married and all of my siblings, as I told you earlier, are doing well.  I’m the beloved sheriff of this little town and happen to love my job.”  He sighed dramatically.  “See?  Boring.”
    “Does that mean I’m off the hook for the rest of my story?” she asked hopefully.
    He shook his head and laughed.  “Not a chance.  Come on.  Tell me why you hate Christmas.  I’m thinking it’s not all that bad.”
    When a slow, almost evil smile crossed her face, Josiah had a feeling he was about to majorly be proven wrong.
    “We’ll start with the Christmas Mom left.”
    “Naturally.  And while horrible, I wouldn’t think it would make you hold a lifelong grudge against Christmas.”
    “The following year Dad and I got the stomach flu.  Bad.  We spent days doing nothing but vomiting and praying for death.”
    He nodded.  “Okay, that’s pretty…gross, but still not enough not to get