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NATALIE
Itake in a deep breath of the chilly November air and smile at how different this year looks compared to last year. Despite how long he’s been gone, I’m always sad around the holidays, knowing my dad is no longer with us.
We had so many traditions during this time of year, like drinking hot chocolate and window shopping and decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. After he passed, Mom and I were barely able to hold ourselves together during the holidays. Now, we have new traditions, which is great, but still hard.
This year though, I’m not feeling quite so emotional, and I know it’s because of Tucker. Having him in my life these past few weeks has made this season a lot more bearable.
The sound of voices filters out to the driveway, pulling me from my thoughts. We’re at Steve and Cindy Ellis’s?Sara’s parents’?house for Thanksgiving dinner, which is one of those new traditions we started after Dad passed. Steve and Cindy have five grown kids, so it’s loud and chaotic, but we love it.
Stepping through the front door and into the foyer, you can see the living room and dining room immediately. With comfortable couches, pictures hanging on the walls, and a ginormous table, the house is welcoming and homey. Sara and her brothers are scattered around the living room, and they all say hello as we walk in.
Sara comes over to me to give me a hug.
“Look at us matching!” I point to my blue T-shirt dress that’s identical to Sara’s maroon.
“Twins!” She laughs.
Sara follows us to the kitchen while Mom and I put the food on the counter. Cindy is standing at the sink doing dishes, and there are piles of food on the counters. It’s overwhelming.
“What time did you start all of this, Cindy?” my mom asks, echoing my thoughts.
“Hi! Oh, I’m so glad you guys are here! I prepped most of this last night and then started around eight this morning.”
It’s now three in the afternoon, so she’s been cooking almost all day. She’s a machine.
“Are we expecting more people to come over?” I ask her, counting the serving dishes. I’m at ten so far.
“Oh no, you just have to cook way more food than you’d think for four boys and a husband whose appetite rivals his kids.”
“Is there anything you need help with?” Mom asks.
“I’m done now. We’ll be ready to eat whenever Steve comes back. He ran to the store for ice because my machine broke sometime last night. It couldn’t have waited one more day when we didn’t have guests coming.” She rolls her eyes.
“Mr. Freeze, incoming!” Steve says, making us laugh.
“Speak of the devil.” Cindy winks.
Sara grabs my arm and walks me back into the living room. We sit down on the loveseat while the boys play a video game. They don’t even glance our way.
“So, tell me everything. I haven’t seen you since your first date.”
“Oh god. Sara, he’s amazing.”
I didn’t know dating someone could even be this good, and it’s only been a few weeks. We go out sometimes but usually end up staying in with each other. It’s hard to get together regularly since his work schedule is so off and on, but it’s been so good.
“I am so excited for you. Have you talked about why he stopped hanging out with you when you were little?”
“A little bit but not to any great detail. Things have been so good I don’t want to rock the boat. Plus, we’ve been getting to know each other as adults first. I might ask more about it down the road, but honestly, at this point, I don’t even need to know. I mean, he was twelve, it’s silly to still be hung up on it.”
“Fair.”
“What are you two gabbing about over there?” Matthew asks.
“Yeah, anything we need to know about?” Nolan raises an eyebrow to look menacing but fails. He’s the youngest of the five of them and is the quintessential baby of the family.
“Nope?”
“Not a thing,” Sara and I say at the same time. Which makes us giggle.
