Page 90 of Call It Serendipity

“Seriously, it’s wonderful,” Jenny echoes as the rest of us chime in with our agreement.

Levi holds up his fork, a hunk of turkey on the end of it. “And the deep-fried turkey?”

“Actually, I think it does taste better,” Lucy admits from her seat beside me. “But next year, you do it in your own yard.”

Next year. I want to be here next year, a part of this new tradition as it continues on and on. I reach under the table and rest my hand on Lucy’s knee, as if the physical contact can anchor me here forever.

She looks over and smiles at me, and it’s soft and intimate in a way that’s just mine.

“We should get one of the heavy-duty deep fryers like the resort has,” Claire chimes in, causing Tad’s head to shoot up.

After he arrived, we stepped aside for a second and confirmed specifically who knows my true identity, and that we need to keep it that way. He had agreed without batting an eye, typical Tad.

“The resort?” he asks around a mouth full of potatoes. “You mean Holiday Valley?”

“Mhm, I work there.”

“Has it opened for the season yet?”

“Next week,” Mack tells him. “Are you staying that long? To be able to write about ski season too?”

“Jake is. Maybe he’ll be able to stay into the season awhile, to really get the full picture.”

“That would be nice,” Jenny says, looking over at me. “When is the story due anyway?”

“Oh, well there’s some flexibility,” I reply, squeezing Lucy’s knee. “But I’d like to stay for far longer still.”

“If you wait too long, you might have to include the horrible hotel that might get built here.”

“Unless this new proposal wins over the hotel,” Mack points out.

“No way, big companies like that will find a way to steamroll the competition.”

I exchange a look with Tad at Jenny’s words. “I hear there’s still a lot of thought going into that decision,” I tell her. “On all sides.”

“Have you run into the Carpenter representative?” she asks with wide eyes. “No one knows who it is.”

“Sure, yeah, I met him once.”

“What’s he like? We need to be on the lookout.”

“Oh.” I glance around the table for anyone to jump in. The members of this group in the know are all looking back at me with cheeky little grins.

Especially Tad.

“Yeah, man, what does he look like?” he asks.

“He’s… old,” I manage lamely. “Like really old.”

Jenny nods thoughtfully. “That makes sense.”

“It sure does,” Taylor agrees as Levi chokes back a laugh. In fact, most of them are trying to reign in their amusement.

I can’t help smiling too. This is the best holiday I’ve ever had.

Empty wine glasses with subtle red residue line the kitchen counter beside the sink. Plates are stacked precariously in the basin. And a single pumpkin pie remains untouched, the other pans empty—besides the buttery crust crumbs left behind.

The dinner’s leftovers were divvied up and sent home in an array of my mom’s old, passed down Tupperware containers. But somehow this pie was missed.