When 17-year-old Lily’s stepmom, Karen, ruins her Christmas by secretly canceling her flight, Lily is heart.bro.ken. But fate has other ideas. A string of ironic events leaves Karen stranded, em.bar.ras.sed, and exposed for her sche.ming… ensuring her Christmas is anything but merry.
Last Christmas was meant to be magical. But life’s not always a fairy tale, is it? Especially when you’re stuck with a stepmom who barely tolerates you.
I’m Lily, seventeen, and let me share the chaos that was my Christmas. Two years ago, after a smooth divorce, my dad married Karen. Let’s just say we didn’t bond as well as he’d hoped.
From the day she walked into my life, Karen made it clear I didn’t fit into her dream of a perfect blended family.
“Lily’s too much like her mother, Tom,” she’d say. “What did you think? That we’d instantly click and be the ultimate mother-daughter pair? That girl’s stubborn to her core.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
Since then, I’d moved to a small apartment twelve hours from my dad. At first, he didn’t want me to go, but Karen got her way. She wanted me out.
I wasn’t upset. I was closer to my mom anyway, my new school was way better than the old one, and the building was owned by my dad’s aunt. So, Clara was always stopping by with homemade casseroles and fresh-baked cookies.
Rent was covered, and with my monthly allowances from my parents plus my part-time gig at a local salon, I was doing fine. I was living my best life.
Then, Dad invited me to spend Christmas with them, and I felt a spark of hope. Mom was off at a meditation retreat in Nepal, and I didn’t want to face the holidays alone.
I booked my flight early—driving twelve hours sounded miserable. My presents were wrapped and packed. I even tucked in an extra bottle of my dad’s favorite bourbon.
“Lily, why am I buying you a bottle of bourbon?” Aunt Clara asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s for Dad! A Christmas gift, I swear! I’m underage, so I can’t get it myself.”
She agreed, bought it, and wrapped it in thick kraft paper.
“Here,” she said, stepping into my apartment. “Make sure that bottle’s unopened when you get to your dad’s.”
She laughed, left a tray of cookies, and headed out.
The wait for Christmas dragged on, until Karen showed up at my place, saying she was on a work trip and needed somewhere to stay.
“Lily,” she said, hauling her bags inside. “I need a spot for a few days. It’s business, not a vacation. Keep doing your schoolwork or whatever. Just keep the coffee maker full, and I’ll handle the rest.”
My place is a tiny one-bedroom, so her crashing there was awkward. But what could I do? Say no and have Dad get mad?
Pass.
Reluctantly, I let her stay.
At first, Karen was oddly nice. She praised my holiday decor, which was surprising since she usually scoffed at my efforts.
But on the second night, I was stunned when Karen offered to make dinner.
“I’ll be back from my meeting soon,” she said. “I’ll handle dinner. Grilled salmon and garlic rolls, sound good?”
“That sounds amazing. Thanks, Karen!”
I wondered if maybe, just maybe, she was trying to mend things between us.
Spoiler: she wasn’t.
On Christmas Eve, I woke up buzzing with excitement. My flight was set for the afternoon, so I checked my bags, pulled on my coziest sweater, and waited for Clara to drive me to the airport.
“See you at home?” I asked Karen as I laced up my boots.
“Yeah,” she replied, eyes glued to her laptop. “My flight’s tonight. I’ll lock up and bring the keys.”
I got to the airport. And then everything crashed.
The airline clerk frowned at her computer as I handed over my ticket.
“I’m sorry, Miss Carter,” she said. “Your flight was canceled.”
I blinked, puzzled.
“What? Canceled? By the airline?”
She tilted her head, studying the screen.
“No, ma’am, all flights are on schedule,” she said. “But yours was canceled online two days ago.”
My heart sank.
What on earth?
I hadn’t touched my ticket. No online check-in. Nothing. I called the airline’s support line, and they confirmed the cancellation came from my account. It didn’t take a detective to guess who had access to my laptop two days ago.
I was crushed.
Sitting in the airport, reeling from the betrayal, my phone buzzed.
Have a great Christmas! Ours will be perfect without you! Clara has your keys.
The text hit like a slap. She’d sabotaged me. Karen had sabotaged me.
Her “kind” act was a ruse to keep me from Dad for Christmas. Furious, I tried calling my dad, but it went to voicemail.
I spent hours in a fog of anger and hurt. I could’ve gone home, but I was numb. I didn’t know what to do.
My Christmas was wrecked. But then, around 9 p.m., my phone buzzed again. An unknown number.
Your little scheme worked. I’m stuck at the bakery. It’s freezing, and you need to get me now, LILY!
I stared at the text, hearing Karen’s voice screaming in my head.
What scheme? I hadn’t done a thing! But I was curious.
I’m tied up. Good luck, Karen. Walk it off.
Then I headed home.
The next morning, as I pieced together Karen’s disastrous night, the irony was pure gold.
Here’s what went down:
After I left for the airport, Karen went to a local bakery to grab desserts for Christmas dinner. But, being Karen, she parked her rental car illegally in a tow-away zone.
Why me?
Because my dad got us similar phone numbers, differing by one digit, for easy memorization. Mine was the only one Karen could recall, and fate clearly had a sense of humor.
To top it off, Karen thought I had sabotaged her by calling the tow company after finding out about the canceled flight.
Meanwhile, my dad, who’d been trying to reach Karen all night, finally called me back. His voice was thick with worry.
“Shouldn’t you be here, Lily?” he asked. “And where’s Karen?”
“Oh, you haven’t heard?” I said, barely hiding my amusement. “She’s probably still at the bakery or hanging out at the tow yard.”
“What are you talking about, Lily?”
I spilled everything.
The canceled flight, Karen’s text, and her current predicament.
“You’re joking,” Dad said. “She canceled your flight?”
“Yep,” I replied. “No one else could’ve done it. And now she’s paying for it.”
He went quiet, then sighed.
“Lily, there’s something you need to know,” he said. “Weeks ago, Karen said you shouldn’t come for Christmas.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She thought it’d be better if it was just ‘us.’ I figured she’d get over it when she visited you for her work trip. But I never imagined she’d do this.”
“Dad, you knew she didn’t want me there?” I asked.
“I thought I could fix it, sweetheart,” he said softly. “I wanted this Christmas to be special for both of you. With Mom away, it was my job to make it good for you. I didn’t think Karen would go this far. I brushed it off after we talked.”
“You thought brushing it off would help?”
His silence said enough.
“I’m booking the next flight,” he said firmly.
When Karen finally got home, hours later, after bumming a ride from a tow-truck driver, she looked like life had chewed her up.
Karen dragged herself to my bathroom, cleaned up, and collapsed on the couch, sleeping like a rock. When she woke, my dad was there, straight off his flight.
“You canceled her flight?” he demanded, skipping any greeting.
Karen froze, her face draining of color.
“I… Tom, I just wanted us to have family time without…”
“Without my daughter?” he snapped. “You didn’t just ruin her Christmas; you tried to wreck our bond. What kind of person does that to a teenager? Lily’s just a kid forced to grow up fast because of you!”
Karen stammered, grasping for excuses, but the damage was done.
“Pack your bags,” Dad said coldly. “Spend Christmas wherever you want. But not here. I’ll be with my daughter.”
For once, Karen had no words. She grabbed her things and left, head bowed in shame.
As for me?
Dad got us flights home, promising Karen wouldn’t be there when we arrived. We spent the holiday sipping hot chocolate, eating dessert, and laughing at the absurdity of it all.
And Karen?
She spent Christmas alone in a hotel, licking her wounds and facing a hefty tow fine.
Tough luck. Sometimes fate works fast.
