December Wishes by Hildred Billings

Author:Hildred Billings [Billings, Hildred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Lesbian Romance
Publisher: Barachou Press
Published: 2019-12-14T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

SKYLAR

The only thing more out of place than the Christmas music last Thanksgiving was the gospel music now dispensing into Paradise Pizza.

At first, Skylar thought it must have been a variation of Christmas music. Gospel? Holidays? Obviously, they go together. Upon closer listening, however, she quickly realized that it was good ol’ fashioned church music.

Well… perhaps it still fit the theme of Christmas in a small town. Yet the mystery over who controlled the satellite radio station continued to plague the part-timers who came in, took a hard listen, and rolled their eyes before putting on their aprons.

Skylar had never heard such a joyful rendition of “Wade in the Water” as when she sat at one of the tables by the window for her lunch break. Employees were allowed to eat at one of the limited tables outside of the lunch rush, since nobody, and that meant nobody, ate there after the sun went down. It was takeout only from that point.

I used to sing this song for choir class… She had completely forgotten about it until that moment, when she found herself humming along to words that had lurked in her long-time memory. Back when I was a soprano. She was a respectable alto now. Then again, Skylar never pursued a choir life after a falling out with the school instructor, who always had it out for Skylar’s mom.

Those kinds of events made her relate to the small town life. A world where parents fought with teachers and the student felt the repercussions for years. Her friends in SoCal and Portland never knew what that was like. “Oh, sure, my mom fought with my teacher but it was over once I graduated that year!” That didn’t happen in smaller schools, like the one Skylar went to as a young tween. When you saw the same teacher every day for going on five, eight, or twelve years, those old grudges followed you beyond graduation day.

So. “Wade in the Water.” Skylar somehow still knew it.

Maybe she needed some divine intervention as she opened the note app on her phone and spelled out everything bothering her – and what she might do to improve her situation. Because Skylar was a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. Or something. It always sounded good. Those self-help books she flipped through in Powell’s always said something like that.

“Things Driving Me Nuts,” she typed at the top of her app. “1. Working this dead-end job five days a week. I am so bored. The money isn’t enough to get ahead. I’m in purgatory.”

She sipped soda through a straw and read that back to herself.

“2. No friends beyond Mik. This town is really cliquey. I thought Portland was bad, but at least you get a constant influx of new people there. Every time I meet someone new here, it turns out they’re somebody’s online girlfriend who is dropping by for a visit. Or they have questionable bumper stickers on their rig… I thought Oregon

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