'Twas The Night Before... Ch. 01

A few minutes later Eddie and John both stood up from their barstools and counted some bills onto the bar. John yelled towards the back, "'Night Megs! Merry Christmas!"

Megan popped back out of the kitchen, carrying a steaming plate with a towel to protect her hand. "Merry Christmas, boys! See you Friday night?"

"You know it, Megs," Eddie said.

"It's gonna get bad out there tonight, careful going home," John said, putting an old trucker's hat on his head.

"You too, guys." She set the plate which was piled high with chips, cheese and chunks of grilled chicken, in front of Kathryn. "Here you go. Oh, wait, let me get you some salsa." She turned and skipped back into the kitchen again.

"Merry Christmas," Kathryn said to Eddie and John as they passed her on the way to the door.

Eddie snorted, and Kathryn heard him say under his breath, "Happy hour nachos, Megs must really like her!"

John laughed, then said to Kathryn, "Merry Christmas, young lady!" They headed out the door, leaving Kathryn the sole remaining customer in the bar.

Kathryn frowned down at the plate of nachos as Megan returned with a bowl of salsa.

"Here you go. Let me close out Eddie and John and I'll be right back." She scooped up the bills left by her two regulars and took them to the computer against the wall. She did some complicated button pressing, then counted the change and dropped it into a big glass jar next to the register with a satisfied smile.

She turned back and said "How's the food?" She frowned, seeing Kathryn hadn't taken a bite yet. "Something wrong?"

"These aren't actually free, are they? I don't want to get you in trouble."

"Pfft, don't worry about it, I get a free meal every shift. If you're worked up about it, I'll just share them with you to make it kosher." She reached out, picked up a chip and popped the gooey mess in her mouth. "Mmm! That hits the spot," she mumbled around her mouthful, munching away and looking at Kathryn expectantly.

Kathryn couldn't hide her own smile as she reached for a chip. "Thank you!" she said gratefully.

They made small talk while they worked together on making a dent in the pile of chips, until a young man stuck his head out of the kitchen and called across the bar. "Hey Megs! Rich just called, he said the roads are getting bad and we can close early."

"Alright, if you don't mind bringing in the sign out front, you can head out. Merry Christmas, Julio."

He went outside, then came back carrying the sandwich sign Kathryn had knocked over and disappeared with it into the kitchen with a cheery, "Feliz Navidad, Megs!" leaving Kathryn and Megan alone in the bar.

"I should settle up with you too, I'm sure you want to get out of here."

"Nah, my Jeep has four-wheel drive, and I'm in no rush to get anywhere anyways. So, where's Caitlyn tonight? Gramma's?"

Kathryn felt the sour expression on her face, despite her effort to be stoic.

"Yes."

"Ouch. Sore subject, huh? Here, let's see if I can help." Megan took Kathryn's rocks glass off the bar and dumped out its contents in the sink. She set it back on the bar, then reached to get a bottle from the very top of the bottle shelf along the mirrored back wall. Kathryn was able to make out the words Special Reserve on the label before Megan poured a couple of inches of the golden-brown liquor into her glass.

Kathryn picked it up and inhaled the aroma. The warm, rich scent hinted at a smoky flavor that promised to be miles better than the rot-gut she'd bought with her three bucks. She looked up and said, "I don't think I can afford this."

"On the house, Merry Christmas." At Kathryn's dubious look, Megan looked around the empty bar as she said, "I don't think I'll get in trouble unless you tell on me. In fact..." She grabbed another rocks glass from the stack by the taps nearest Kathryn, flipped it high in the air before catching it and pouring two fingers for herself then putting the bottle back behind the bar. Then she picked up two cubes of ice from the bin under the bar with a pair of tongs and neatly dropped a single cube in each glass. She lifted her glass, held it out to Kathryn and waited. Her smile was infectious. Kathryn lifted hers and clinked it to Megan's, then they both took a drink.

Kathryn coughed again, while Megan slowly exhaled with pleasure. "A-h-h-h, that's the stuff," the bartender said softly.

"Yeah... much better." Kathryn managed, while trying to stop coughing.

Megan grinned at her. "By the way, I don't mind if you don't want to tell me your name as long as you know I'm going to keep calling you 'mommy' until you do."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I'm Kathryn."

"Kathryn. That's pretty. I bet people call you Kat."

"No. My high school friends used to, but pretty much no one does anymore."

"Well, I like it. You look more like a Kat to me anyway."

Kathryn felt herself flush for reasons she couldn't put her finger on.

Megan continued, "You're in school too?"

"Yeah, nursing. Four more semesters to graduate with my BSN."

"So, what's your tale of woe with Gramma's house? Evil mother-in-law?" She had caught Kathryn taking a sip of her beer, and when Megan mentioned 'Gramma', Kathryn swallowed wrong and it started another coughing fit. "You have a drinking problem. You have problems when you drink," said Megan, trying not to laugh.

"She's not my mother-in-law. She's Caitlyn's grandmother," Kathryn said, heat in her voice.

"A-ha. So, let me guess, a young dalliance led to Caitlyn. The guy doesn't care much for responsibility or want to do any parenting, but his mom insists that your daughter has to be a part of their life."

Kathryn stared at her. "How... How did you...?"

"The non-profit I work for as a paralegal provides pro-bono legal services for women. I've seen enough to guess."

"Well, you pretty much nailed it."

"Okay, so I get that, but how does she rate getting your kid for Christmas? That's a big ask."

"Amanda is paying my tuition for nursing school. One of her conditions is they get Caitlyn for all the big holidays. Anytime she doesn't get her way in everything, she threatens to cut me off. I work at a daycare to pay the bills, which gets me free daycare for Caitlyn, but it barely pays enough for a one-bedroom apartment for us. There's no way I could afford college without their money."

"Wow, that's shitty. What did your lawyer say?"

Kathryn laughed ruefully. "A lawyer. That's funny."

"You should get a lawyer. There are people," Megan said, pointing a thumb at her own chest, "who can help you. He owes you child support. They can't just withhold it if they don't get their way."

"Can we talk about something else? It's Christmas Eve and I'd rather not dwell on what might be right now," Kathryn said, looking down into her glass.

"Sure, no problem. I'm sorry Kat, I just get up in arms when I see guys not stepping up and women struggling to shoulder all the responsibilities."

"It's okay," Kathryn said. "Do you want me to settle up with you? You probably want to get home to your family."

"My family's in Chicago. I'm not doing anything tonight. Or tomorrow for that matter. I tried to let Rich let me open the bar on Christmas just to have something to do, but he doesn't think he'd make enough to have the lights on, much less pay me."

"Oh, I'm sorry. That must be tough."

"Well you know how that goes, don't you?" Megan replied. Kat sighed, looked away and took another sip of her bourbon. "Oh shit, I'm sorry Kat. Jesus, I can be an insensitive bitch sometimes."

"It's fine," Kathryn said. Her tone made it clear she wasn't fine.

Just then the song on the bar's sound system changed to Burl Ives, singing A Holly Jolly Christmas. Megan grinned, tossed back the rest of her drink then grabbed the bottle of the good stuff again and set it on the bar next to her empty glass. She walked down to the end of the bar, grabbing a small remote as she passed the register, and turned up the volume until it was almost rattling the glassware behind the bar, then stuck the remote in the back pocket of her jeans. She walked out from behind the bar towards Kathryn.

"Do you really like this song or something?" Kathryn yelled over Burl's exhortations to oh by golly, have a Holly-Jolly Christmas.

"No, I've just heard this playlist so many times I know what song comes on next! C'mon, get up!" she yelled back, pulling Kathryn off her barstool to her feet as The Waitresses' Christmas Wrapping started playing. "We need a Christmas Eve dance party!" Megan yelled while the guitar intro played out, then she started shouting the lyrics at the top of her lungs, bouncing up and down, one fist pumping in the air.

Bah Humbug, now that's too strong! 'Cause it is my favorite holiday,

But all this year's been a busy blur, don't think I have the energy!

Megan started dancing in front of Kat, without inhibition, jumping up and down as if she was in the middle of a dance club surrounded by hundreds of other dancers, not standing in a dimly lit bar in Arlington with the only other person present looking at her like she was a little crazy.

"C'mon Kat! Trust me, it's what you need tonight!" Megan shouted over the music, taking Kathryn's hand and pulling her away from the bar. Despite herself, Kathryn found a smile on her face as she started swaying in place, mirroring Megan's movements. Soon she was as into it as Megan, and they were bumping their hips together, spinning each other around and laughing. Kathryn was a swaying-in-one-place with her hands over her head kind of dancer, while Megan was an energetic jump-and-spinner, as if she were in a mosh pit. By the end of the song, Kat was enjoying herself as much as Megan.

The next track was Mariah Carey, telling them that all she wanted for Christmas was you. Megan yelled, "Oh, hell no!", and pulled the remote from her back pocket and changed the channel to thumping dance music. They danced for the next hour and a half, with a couple of breaks for Megan to pour them more booze from her special reserve bottle.

"I'm a little drunk!" Kathryn said, during a slower song, "I think I might need to go home."

"Fair enough," Megan said. "Hope I did my part to save your Kissmas Eve. Wait... Christmas Eve. Shit, I might be drunk too!" she said with a laugh.

"You said you have a four-wheel drive. You can't drive now!" Kathryn said, concerned about Megan getting behind the wheel after several glasses of the strong stuff they'd shared.

"It's fine. When was pouring that third one for myself, I decided I'll stay here tonight. Rich has a recliner in the office, I've slept on it before. What about you? You're not driving, right?"

"No, I was walking home when I happened to stumble across your place. But... look, I know we just met today--"

"Yesterday," interrupted Megan, then said in her Santa voice, "Ho Ho Ho!"

"Right, yesterday. Look, I only have the one bedroom, but I have a pretty comfortable sofa. I'm about eight blocks from here, if you'd rather sleep on a couch instead of a recliner."

Megan eyed her for a moment. "That's... really generous of you. I shouldn't... I don't want to impose."

"Oh please! You've done everything you can tonight to make me feel better about being alone for the holiday. And you saved my last-minute trip to see Santa with my daughter. And you're alone too. And to be honest..." She trailed off.

Megan arched her eyebrow at Kathryn. "I'm sensing you want to say that you'd like to be friends but you're being shy about it."

Kat gratefully nodded. "I know I'm being silly, but the last few years, taking care of Caitlyn and managing school and our lives, I just... I haven't had much time for friends."

"Okay, I'm in." Megan smiled at her. "I probably can't get away with taking that bottle of bourbon, but I can find something to bring if you want. We can keep getting sauced for Christmas Eve."

"Or I could make hot chocolate?" Kathryn sounded a little leery of the idea of more booze. "Tonight's the most I've had to drink since before Cait was born."

"Fair enough. Hot chocolate it is." She hit the button on the remote to shut down the sound system. "Let me close up. Give me five minutes." She quickly counted out the drawer then disappeared into the back with it, while Kathryn put on her coat.

Megan came back from the back room wearing a black leather motorcycle jacket with a grey hoodie sticking up out of the neck and fished her tips from the jar. "Ready? Okay, stand still while I set the alarm. Don't move until you hear the three beeps, then we have sixty seconds to get outside."

Once outside they both put their hoods up. If anything, the snow was coming down harder than before Kathryn had arrived at the bar. It was a few degrees below freezing, and while the snow was sticking to the grass and most of the sidewalks, three to four inches deep in places, the streets were an icy, slushy mess.

"Lead the way," Megan said. As someone who spent a lot of time walking, Kathryn could tell she was dressed better for the weather than Megan, who was clearly someone who was used to jumping in her car. "Holy shit, it's cold out here," the barkeep complained as they headed off into the storm.

They were hunched over, walking against the flow of road traffic, past a group of row homes when Megan saw the snowplow flying down the street towards them. Her eyes widened as she saw the giant puddle of slush along the curb. "Watch out!" she yelled, pushing Kathryn back towards the wall. She instinctively shielded Kathryn's body with her own as the snowplow flew past, sending a wave of water and ice hurtling towards them. It impacted Megan's back with an audible thump-splash, staggering her against Kathryn.

Megan's protective efforts were mostly successful. Kathryn suffered small splashes on one sleeve of her jacket and her pants below the knees. She looked at Megan with dismay, however. The dark-haired girl looked like she'd been dropped into a river. Every inch of her was soaked, and her hair was dripping icy water.

"Holy fuck, that's freezing cold!" Megan shrieked.

"Oh my god! Come on, my place is on the next block, let's hurry!" They rushed down the street, almost running as Megan started shivering. Things quickly went from bad to worse. As they arrived at Kathryn's building a giant greenish-white flash strobed in the sky over the apartments across the street, then every light within view suddenly went out. They were left standing in pitch darkness.

"Oh Jesus, what now?" Megan whined. Kathryn didn't think Megan was the whining type, and her worry increased. The security card reader wasn't working, so she fished out her keys and hurriedly let them into the entryway. Kathryn's apartment was on the second floor, in the back of the small apartment building. Several neighbors had poked their heads out to see if anyone knew what was happening. Kathryn quickly told them about the flash they'd seen as she struggled to get her apartment door open.

"P-p-p-please t-t-tell me you have g-g-g-gas heat?" Megan asked through chattering lips.

"No, it's electric," Kathryn said, moving around and lighting the few candles she had. "Come with me," Kathryn said, shifting into full mommy-mode. She shrugged off her own coat and let it drop to the floor, the sleeve hitting with a splat. She grabbed a candle and pulled Megan into the bathroom. "Clothes off, now," she said in a tone that brooked no arguments, as she started untying her own boots.

Megan started to strip, but her movements were slow and painful as she shivered. Kathryn had her wet pants off before Megan had done more than remove her jacket and pulled her dripping wet t-shirt over her head. Kathryn reached past her and turned the shower on as hot as it would go, held her hand under the water until she felt it heat up, then adjusted it to a tolerable temperature. By then Megan had her boots off, but she was violently shivering now.

"No more waiting," Kathryn said and gently pushed Megan under the water. She gratefully held her her head under the steaming flow of water, hugging herself. Kathryn stripped down to her underwear then reached in and started tugging at Megan's jeans. "C'mon Megs, everything off."

Megan inched her now completely waterlogged jeans down her legs, then stripped off her underwear. Before she closed the shower curtain, Kathryn saw Megan had an intricate tattoo of barbed wire wrapped around her right arm and a small block of elegant cursive script on her left shoulder blade that said I am my sister's keeper. Kathryn gathered up all the wet clothes, wrung them out in the sink then hung them up on a clothesline she kept in the kitchen. Air-drying clothes was cheaper than the seventy-five cents to dry them in the basement, even when they had power. She changed into a pair of flannel pajamas, then grabbed an extra pair for Megan. Megan was near enough to her size that they should fit her.

"I left you something to change into and a couple of fresh towels on the sink. The water probably won't stay hot long. It doesn't even when we do have power."

"It's already starting to cool off," Megan said through the curtain. She sounded like she had stopped shivering at least.

"I'll be in the living room whenever you get out."

Megan came out a few minutes later, looking somewhat recovered in the thick flannel PJs and a towel wound around her head. Kathryn was sitting on one end of her couch under a blanket, looking at her cell phone with a frown.

"What's the story?" Megan asked.

"Dominion Energy's website says a transformer blew up. The ETA on power restoration is sometime after five A.M."

"Oh man. Don't take this the wrong way but I might see if I can get a cab back to the bar." After calling a couple of cab companies, though, Megan said, "Well, with the storm it looks like I'm not going anywhere unless I walk. I hope you have a lot of blankets." It was already starting to get noticeably colder in the tiny apartment.

Kathryn looked miserable. "I'm so sorry Megan, I didn't mean to get you into something like this."

Megan laughed. "Kat, this isn't your fault. Besides, it'll make a great story later. 'Oh, you think you had a weird Christmas Eve? Let me tell you about this one time!'"

Kathryn had to laugh at that as well. "Well, I've really enjoyed spending the evening with you, even if it ended in disaster and us having to hibernate in an ice cave."

"Are we serving vodka in shot glasses carved out of ice too?"

"No way. In fact, now that the adrenaline from our walk home has passed, I'm still pretty buzzed. I know it's only nine o'clock, but I think I need to go to sleep. Let me get you some blankets." Kathryn went into her small bedroom where she and Caitlyn shared a bunk bed, the kind with a full-size mattress on the bottom and a twin on top. She took Caitlyn's blanket and pillows off the top bunk and brought them out to Megan.

"I hope this will be enough."

"I'll be fine," Megan said, stretching out on the couch. "This is much better than the recliner in the office. Thank you for inviting me over."

"Anytime." Kathryn smiled shyly. "Blow out this candle when you're ready to go to sleep, okay?"

"You got it, mommy," Megan said, eliciting a laugh from Kathryn.

"Merry Christmas, Megan."

"You too, Kat."

Kathryn was tossing and turning in bed, contemplating getting up to get a second pair of socks because of the cold, when she heard Megan moving around in the living room. She got up and poked her head out of the bedroom.

"Are you okay?"

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Megan was standing up, using her phone as a light.

"No, I was still awake. Do you need something?"

"I was looking for a coat or another blanket to throw over me. This one isn't quite warm enough."