I followed Charlie, Law, and Nic to one of the tables, and soon I had a coffee in front of me. Nobody tried to engage with me,which was kind of nice. I just let their words wash over me as I tried to will my nose to not give me black eyes for tomorrow.
Luckily, all I got was a bit of swelling and shadows around my eyes that didn’t really need makeup. The pain was manageable, too, and was mostly gone by the next evening.
As I’d thought, half of the town came in for dinner service, which made me glad that Nic had insisted on a reservation basis so that Dana wouldn’t get completely swamped in the kitchen. She still didn’t accept help, other than for dishwashing, which I did gladly while Cora took care of the front.
Cora and I worked well together, and while these days it was mostly me who took the hours so that she could have more time with her kids on the weekends, it was nice to have an extra pair of hands around on a night like this.
When the dinner service ended at ten, I was ready to drop. By the time I had all the dishes in the industrial size machine, Cora had helped Nic tidy up the dining room and I could hear our families talking there.
I walked through the doors with Dana at my heels.
“Oak, here’s your dinner,” she said, and I sat down at the closest table to the doors instead of going to the family gathered on the other side of the room.
“A lot, huh?” Dana asked quietly, squeezing my arm.
“Yeah.” I hadn’t even had time to think about eating, which made me extra happy that Dana had been keeping track.
She gave me a gentle smile, went back into the kitchen, and came out with a tray of what I thought looked like fancy glassesfilled with panna cotta topped with fruit that she carried to the others.
I felt like my feet needed to be chopped off and was pretty sure that once I’d eaten, my whole system would go into a shutdown mode.
After eating about half of my meal, I finally had energy to observe the others.
The kids were drooping already, Harper not surprisingly glued to her Uncle Charlie’s side as they talked about something. Tris was asleep in one of the armchairs someone had moved into the room for more comfortable seating for the family. Marlie sat on the floor next to Steve, who was asleep. She had a book on her lap, but she was flipping the pages kind of haphazardly, which meant she was tired as well.
My grandparents had gone to some friends’ house for the night, and Aunt Regan had bowed out as well right after they’d come in for dinner.
Loreena and Felix had dropped in for a meal as well, but neither of them had felt the New Year spirit—something to do with a family thing. I was pretty sure Felix would open up about that at some point, but apparently New Years weren’t a good time for them.
I got my dessert, too, and suddenly, somehow, it was nearly midnight.
We all bundled up and went outside into the parking lot. Nic and Dana left the dogs inside—even Cricket, to her utter shock—and then we stood in the dark night, waiting.
Even though we were in the middle of the woods, we could still see some of the fireworks they set off just outside Fairville in the clear sky. The kids were certainly happy with the town tradition.
When I glanced at the adults, I saw Charlie and Uncle Teague kiss, and Dana and Nic as well. Oh to be a part of a couple during New Years. I looked at Law, who, to my surprise, was lookingat me. He gave me a little smile, then concentrated on his kids again.
The fireworks lessened gradually, and we started the process of saying good night.
“Remember that meeting next week,” Nic told Law and Charlie, then looked at me. “You as well.”
“What?” I blinked owlishly.
“You’re included in the planning,” she said, but before she could elaborate, her wife started to drag her toward the Inn. “See you!”
Charlie and Uncle Teague left after some hugs and promises to see them soon. I felt like all of us were going to take tomorrow off everything. Even the Inn was closed for anything but the motel clients. There was a breakfast service, but even that was more bare bones than the usual fare.
“I don’t wanna walk,” Tristan whined and held his hands up to Law.
“Bud, your sister asked first. I only have one set of arms,” Law told him, Marlie already wrapped around his front like a baby monkey. “I can go get the car, but it’s at the Yellow House.”
“I can carry him?” I peered at them. Tristan wasn’t a little kid anymore, but I could still carry him home.
Law seemed taken aback, and for a moment I thought I’d messed something up.
“You sure? Your feet must be killing you.”
I smiled. “I’m sure.”
