Tamsin wasn’t trying to be a downer, she had just been feeling really lonely lately. She could usually deal with her family being the whole way across the country, but it got to her during the holidays. Tears filled her eyes as she ended the Skype call with her parents and sister, who gleefully showed her the Christmas tree and the huge batch of kolache they’d just baked. She hated that she was missing it all. “Sorry,” she apologized to the person next to her, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m probably killing your mood, aren’t I?”










