Regardless of everything that had happened since she'd gotten home from Boston, Ashleigh was completely doused in Christmas spirit. This was the best time of the year and there was no way she was going to let her mother ruin it.
As usual, she and her father had opened Christmas presents insanely early that morning and had parked themselves in front of the TV to watch A Christmas Story. Of course, after the second airing, he'd excused himself to the kitchen, muttering something about how dinner wasn't going to cook itself.
Ashleigh had made it halfway through a third viewing before she'd gone looking for something else. After flipping through the channels a hundred times, she settled on some Lifetime special called A Dad for Christmas.
When Marlene arrived, she still hadn't changed the channel. Man... that women's broadcasting was addictive.
Upon hearing the knock at the door, she bounded off the sofa and practically skipped toward the door.
"Hey!" she greeted, her entire face lighting up when she saw who had knocked on the door. "How are you? Merry Christmas! Are you caroling our house?" The girl was instantly ushered in and given a hug. They hadn't gotten to spend nearly enough time together over Thanksgiving break and she was definitely looking forward to hanging out... just the two of them.