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Chapter 23
December 24th, 2005

AJ waited for Win’s phone call, but it never came. He allowed Latecia to drag him to every store they could find, looking for a suitable stuffed animal rat. He humored her as much as he could, but it was hard to pay attention as he worried about Winifred.
They worked their way from one store to the next and as the day wore on, the more he worried. They returned to the hotel for lunch, but no one had seen or heard from Win. After lunch they went back out and finally found the perfect stuffed rat. It looked just like Jack, the sales lady even dipped the tail into some white paint to make it really look like Win’s rat. Latecia was delighted and couldn’t wait to give it to Win the next morning.
They had the rat wrapped then they went out to find a Christmas tree and ornaments. AJ invited Brian, Brianna, Nick and Howie to help them put up the tree in his room so that they could gather around the tree the next morning and open gifts. Kevin and Tessa would have joined them, but they were busy visiting Tessa’s parents who lived in Paris.
Once the tree was set up, it was time to decorate. As the group sat around making decorations and talking, AJ looked towards Win’s door and sighed.
“No word yet, huh?” Brian asked.
“Not a peep.” AJ shook his head sadly.
“You think you should call her or something, at least knock on the door?” Nick asked.
“She’s missing Christmas, you’d think she’d want to celebrate, wouldn’t she?” Brianna asked.
“I don’t know. She’s been thrown through a loop. It wasn’t exactly the best timing, but you can’t force her to be happy on Christmas if she doesn’t want to.” Howie replied as he shrugged his shoulders. Brian helped Nick with untangling a string of lights he and Brianna had bought in the hotel gift shop.
“But it’s been an entire day, you might want to check in,” Nick added.
“You might be right, I should try.” AJ got up to find his phone, patting Latecia on the head as he passed her.

Win stuffed her clothes into her bag and stuffed Jack’s cage into his traveling tote to protect him from the cold. She checked and double checked her things. She cursed herself when she realized she had left her book and calendar of appointments in AJ’s room. But she’d have to do without it. Besides, she wouldn’t really need it now.
Everything was packed. Now all there was to do was wait to leave. That was a few hours away, but she had to make sure that if AJ did come to see her that he didn’t see the bags. So she stuffed everything in the closet, leaving out only a sheet of hotel stationary and a pen. She’d have to leave a note.

“She’s not answering her phone, maybe I should knock on the door?” AJ asked as he hung up.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Howie asked.
“I don’t know, I’m gonna try anyway.” AJ went over to the door and knocked three times.
“Yeah?” came through the door.
“It’s me Beautiful, just wanted to check in on you. Are you all right?” AJ called. He heard a shuffling as if she was coming to the door to open it. But it didn’t open.
“I’m fine.”
“The guys are over, so is Brianna, we’re putting up the tree, I thought you might like to come over and help decorate it.” There was a long silence.
“Maybe later. I’ll be over later, okay?”
“All right, just come on over when you’re ready.”
“Okay.” He waited for her to say something else but there was nothing left to say. He walked away from the door shaking his head.
“She’ll come around,” Brian assured him.

Win sat on the floor against the door, her knees hugged to her chest.
“I’m sorry AJ, but I have to know,” she whispered to herself. She checked her watch and wiped away her tears. She hurried up, grabbed her bags and her rat, left the note on the desk and went out the door.