The Holidays

Mina had me over for Christmas.  It was definately a strange situation for me.  Mina's parents were - understandably - a bit distracted.  They looked like they had been drunk and sedated since Nina's death.  Hardly said a word during the meal.  Which was probably a blessing.  I've never had to meet the parents of a victim before.  Not a lot of ettiquette guides for that.

Mina made everything bearable.  She often seems much older than her years.  She tells me she was raised mostly by her sister, as her parents were too busy with other things.  Careers, PTA, vacations, liquor.  All of it was more important than their kids.  Too bad for them, but pretty fortunate for me.  Nina was great for me, before I had to kill her.  And Mina, well, I have big plans for Mina.

After the holiday meal, Mina and I sat on the front porch, all bundled up, and watched the snow.  The lights from the Christmas decorations reflected off the frozen glaze of the snow and made patterns subject to interpretation.  I sipped a glass of cognac that her father had silently poured me, and periodically passed it to Mina, who sipped it like some middle aged businesswoman.  I made sure it looked like a casual gesture between two equals.  Teenagers eat that sort of thing with a spoon, and she was no different.

As we say there we talked about things that swirled across our minds, or at least that's how I wanted it to look.  I talked about missing her sister, and how much she looked like her.  Mina talked about never being taken seriously.  I placed a hand tentatively on her thigh, and took it away quickly, as if it were accidental.  She put hers on my lap without looking at me. 

Finally I said I had to go.  Mina's parents had passed out somewhere inside, so I leaned in to give her a fatherly kiss on the cheek.  As I expected, she turned just a bit and turned it into a full lip kiss.  I let myself be overcome momentarily, then broke the kiss with a quick goodbye.

I looked back over my shoulder as I was getting into my car, and saw Mina still looking at me.

And I knew I had her.