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Chapter Six
Jake
Thanksgiving Day
We never talked about what she said because my schedule got crazy again, and I stopped being an ass. There didn't seem to be a reason to bring it up. Things were good. Why go back to when it wasn't? So we put it behind us and left it alone.
When I wake up, Emily is wrapped around me. By the numbers on the clock, it's a little earlier than when we usually get up. I look down and see that she has the covers bunched tightly in her fist, which is resting on my chest. Gently, I grab her hand and release her hold.
“Hmm,” she mumbles, causing me to smile.
“Wake up, Sweetness.”
She lifts her head, looks at the clock, and groans, resting her head on my shoulder. “It's not time yet.”
“I know, but I'm awake and now you're awake. It's Thanksgiving Day and I'm so thankful for you.” I kiss the top of her head.
At this, she lifts her head to look at me. “Oh really?”
“Yes. Are you sure you're okay with being here again this year?” I ask for the umpteenth time this week.
I know that Mike wanted us to come down, but Emily decided to stay here this year. I don't know why because we haven't been to North Carolina in almost two years. Mike has visited here some, but Emily hasn't been home in a while. Now that I really think about it, it's odd that she hasn't even mentioned wanting to go home.
“Sweetness, why haven't you wanted to go home?”
She frowns. “Home? I am home.”
“You know what I mean.”
Emily lays her head back down, and I hope it's not to avoid looking at me. “This is our home now. We work here. We live here. You're building us a house here. That's not our home anymore.”
“Your dad is there. Why haven't you wanted to go visit him?”
Sweetness sighs. “I just saw him last month. Plus, we're in a wedding planning frenzy, love.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I have this feeling that Cherish would bombard me about it.” She glances up at me to gauge my reaction.
“So you're avoiding your dad to avoid Cherish? You don't want her input at all?”
“Yes and no. She's already getting on my nerves with all her emails and phone calls. I'm tempted to change my number so she can't call anymore. I didn't want to spend today thinking about wedding plans. I wanted to spend the day being thankful for everyone and for the things in my life. I can do that better here. That sounds bad, doesn't it?”
I give her a small smile. “A little, but I get it.”
Emily's quiet for a moment before she adds, “I can't believe we're spending Thanksgiving by ourselves.”
“I can't believe I said he could go.” Drake was invited to spend Thanksgiving with one of his friends, and I figured that maybe he deserved to do whatever he wanted after these past few months. He spent last night with them.
“He's growing up,” Emily sighs. “Before we know it, he'll be leaving us for college. I know that I left home and never moved back, but what if Drake leaves like we did and moves far away?”
I love that she worries about this stuff. It's how I know that she'll make a great mother. “Sweetness, we don't need to worry about that yet. But if he wants to go somewhere else, we can't stop him when the time comes.”
She lays her head on my chest and snuggles closer to me. “Make sure he has a permanent room at the new house. And it needs to be awesome to make sure he never leaves.”
Chuckling, I ask, “You want him to live with us forever? Even when he gets married and has kids?”
Emily groans, “I don't want to think about that, Jake. The option should still be there for him though.”
I laugh at her. Once I told Drake he could go to his friend's, I knew exactly how we should spend this holiday. I need to romance my fiancée, show her how much I love her, and make her truly feel like she's mine once more. I'm going to cook all our meals today, and I'm going to take her out too. I've been calling her more than once when I'm away and there are little things here and there that I've done to try to romance her. So far, it's been working.
“Think about how we have the entire day together instead.”
“Mm. I can't even remember the last time we spent all day by ourselves.”
I move so I can kiss her neck. “A long time ago.” Before I can forget my plans, I roll away from her and get out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
“I'm going to fix breakfast.” I lean down, grab my shirt off the floor and toss it to her. A few minutes later, Sweetness comes into the kitchen wearing only my shirt. She sits down at the table as I start to fix breakfast.
“What are you fixing me?”
“Eggs and grits.”
Emily's laughter fills the air. “That is such a grand Thanksgiving Day breakfast. What are we having for lunch? Ham and cheese sandwiches?”
“Laugh at me again and that is exactly what we will be eating.”
“Fine.” She giggles. “What exactly are we going to do today?”
I shrug my shoulders, as if I don't already know. “We could hang out here, watch the parade on TV, and then head out later?”
“Yeah, okay.”
I finish fixing breakfast and then sit next to her at the table. Her legs are begging to be touched, so while we eat, I run my fingers up and down her thigh. If there is one thing that I'm truly thankful for today, it's that Emily has gotten over her issue with flying. Over the years, we've flown a lot. Not to mention that we went to Hawaii. I've been thinking long and hard about today and ways to win over my Sweetness once again.
After breakfast, we sit on the couch and watch the big annual parade. Maybe it's just me, but I get bored within five minutes. My fingers slowly trail an imaginary pattern up Emily's thigh as I kiss her shoulder. The higher my fingers go, the more Emily relaxes into me.
