The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 117

He never took that collar off me again, except on a few occasions. It is my pride, just as Luke said.

Returning to routine didn’t seem easy; there were many things out of place in my life, and the absence of others made everything more unreal. Like the fact that no one was calling me. My cellphone was turned off, the battery had run out, and I wasn’t even capable of plugging it in to recharge it. Nothing else could get into my head until that same day, during dinner, Luke brought me news that finally made me react:

“By the way, Johanna; a woman called the station today. She said she was your mother. She asked me to go to your house to see if you were okay, because you weren’t answering your cellphone and the landline number is out of service,” he commented casually while the three of us were eating. “I called her back in the afternoon and assured her everything was in order, but I also told her there were many problems with the phone lines because of the storms… I think you should get in touch with her, at least so she doesn’t worry. Use our phone if you want.”

My mother. The shock was enormous. Of course, we always talked on Sundays! And I had spent that damned day “absent” in every sense, without even thinking about my parents or about anything other than the fact that Larry, my psychologist, would still be out of town for another week. How had I not realized? That was one more sign of how disconnected I was.

I hadn’t even begun the preparations to rebuild my house. In large part because I still hadn’t decided whether I wanted to raise a house again in that place, or whether I would return to Minnesota with my parents. At that moment, going to live with them again seemed like the best option, but…

“Thank you, Lucas. I’ll call her right away; my mother must be climbing the walls,” I told him, half smiling.

“…Are

you going to tell your family what happened?” Kaylee asked me cautiously.

I looked down at my plate, somewhat uncomfortable, and shook my head.

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“… Not yet. I need to find a good explanation for what happened to my house, and for my injuries. Maybe I’ll go spend Christmas and New Year’s with them. I was thinking it would be good to spend some time in the house where they mourned me to…

I didn’t continue, because I truly didn’t have “a reason” to return to my home state. Luke looked at me with those patient brown eyes and nodded, mouth full.

“I understand. It’s a good idea,” he agreed after swallowing. “A change of air will do you good.

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Chapter 117-1

I could only agree.

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Later that night, when I finally managed to speak with my mother, I tried to calm her by telling her I had been very busy with the matter of my new book, and that was why I hadn’t called her. To distract her before she started asking other questions, I also told her about my plans to go spend a few weeks with the family, something that caught her off guard. I was thinking three weeks, one before Christmas until a few days after New Year’s. My mother became very happy with that decision and forgot about everything else; to her, any opportunity to have me back home seemed wonderful.

I thought about telling her about the explosion, at least, but… I didn’t want to worry her. I would tell her once I was there.

The matter of my house exploding also caused a small stir in town, in fact. Luke made sure to certify that the cause had been a gas leak in the basement boiler, and that I was unharmed because at that moment I had gone out for a walk around the area. Or at least, that was the excuse I gave the local newspaper when a young man came to do a short interview. Although I had no idea, it turned out that quite a few people in town knew that Johanna Grant, the

writer of novels for young people, lived in their county.

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I was determined to stay, because there was much in those mountains that I wanted to

remember.

And I had barely spoken with two or three local architects when I realized that something else was happening behind my back:

“It looks like you resolved the issue of your house. The construction crew works very fast,” Luke told me Wednesday morning, a few days after “the events” (I was fully aware of what day of the week it was, luckily). With a cup of coffee in his hand, he listened to me and added: “When did you hire so many people?”

I had no idea what he was talking about, to begin with.

“… What are you saying? I haven’t even started with my house yet,” I replied cautiously.

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