Chapter 14.
I sat in the car in my father's driveway, checking my phone to see if anyone had bothered contacting me. No one had. That shouldn't have surprised me, but somehow, I had thought that since everyone would be home for Thanksgiving, I would have friends texting and calling, trying to set up a time to get together. No one had, not even Kelsey. The guys in my life were frustratingly silent too—I hadn't heard from Ben, Dylan, or Luke in weeks.
Sighing heavily, I swung my car door open and stepped into the driveway, closing the door softly behind me. At least I was home for a long weekend, and would get to see my father. Right now, I desperately needed the normalcy, because it felt like everything else in my life was falling apart. Maybe a weekend away from all of the drama would be enough to help me figure out my complicated life.
As I stepped through the front door to the house, a delicious smell wafted toward me from the kitchen, and I wrinkled my nose in confusion. Dad almost never cooked, and Thanksgiving usually consisted of pre-cooked turkey that he heated in the microwave and canned vegetables. It was just the two of us, so we didn't need a lot of food.
"Dad?" I called out tentatively. "Do you need any help?"
My father exited the kitchen wearing a bright red apron covered with flour. "Hey, good to see you, kiddo," he greeted. "I figured I'd get started on the desserts and side dishes tonight, so I have less to cook tomorrow."
I crossed my arms, giving him a quizzical look. "Since when do we cook such a big Thanksgiving meal?" I asked. "Isn't that going to be a lot of food for just the two of us?"
Dad smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you, I've invited a few people to join us tomorrow for a late lunch, early dinner. I thought you might like a chance to catch up with some of your old friends, and I wanted to catch up with some of my old football players."
I stiffened slightly at his words. That was a surprise. Not necessarily a bad one, but I was a little nervous about who he had invited. I was too chicken to ask, though, so instead, I just said, "Oh. That will be fun, I guess."
"If you're serious about your offer to help, you can help me peel the potatoes for the potato salad," Dad suggested.
I winced. I hated peeling vegetables, but it didn't seem right to make my dad do all of the cooking alone. He had never been much of a cook, and I worried that him inviting people over for a big meal was too ambitious.
"Sure," I agreed, following him into the kitchen.
As we worked, we talked, and it was amazing to finally have the time to catch up with my dad. We hadn't had a real conversation in months, and I hadn't realized how much I had missed having him around. I told him about my new role writing for the school newspaper, and filled him in on all of my classes, glossing over the drama with Dylan and Avery, and making light of the fact that I hadn't made any real friends on campus yet. I didn't want to worry him, and there was nothing my dad could do to help with any of that.
By the time we had finished in the kitchen for the night, we had baked four pies, cut cheese slices and fresh vegetables to snack on before the meal tomorrow, and made half a dozen side dishes. All in all, not a bad day's work. Glancing at all of the food my father had prepared, I wondered exactly how many people he planned to feed. It looked like we could feed the entire town, and I hoped he hadn't invited everyone we knew. If he had, things were going to get real awkward, real quick.
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The guests started arriving the next day at noon. I had spent the morning helping my father in the kitchen, and then had hurried upstairs to fix my hair and freshen up a little bit. I had decided on a nice blouse and pair of dark wash skinny jeans, since I wasn't sure who exactly we were expecting yet.
When the doorbell rang, I ran down the stairs to answer it, and when I swung the door open, I stood face to face with a person I had not expected to see: my mother.
"Mom?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Hi, Lilly," she said, stepping forward and pulling me into a tight hug. "It's so good to see you."
I returned the hug, then stepped back, studying her closely. I hadn't seen my mother in almost two years. We talked occasionally on the phone, but her new husband, Tony, was a musician, and she was constantly traveling with him to gigs. I knew she loved me in her own way, but ever since she had met Tony, she'd been determined to recapture the carefree young adult years she'd never had. She'd gotten pregnant with me her senior year of high school, and had missed out on college because she'd been too busy taking care of me. I didn't really begrudge her the freedom of her new life, but it was weird feeling like I was the mature one in our relationship.
"It's good to see you too," I replied. "Is Dad expecting you?"
My mom flashed me a brilliant smile. "Of course, honey," she replied. "He knows that Tony and I are coming."
She said this as though I were silly for asking about it, but the last time she had stopped in for an unannounced visit, she had thrown a surprise birthday party for me at my father's house, and had failed to mention it to him. He had been even more surprised than I was when he'd gotten home from work to find a house full of unchaperoned teenagers. My mother, as immature as she was sometimes, hardly counted as a responsible adult chaperone.
For the first time, I noticed the man standing next to my mother. He was in his late forties, but dressed way too young for his age in a pair of tight skinny jeans and a vintage rock n' roll t-shirt. He wore his dark hair almost to his shoulders, and had tied it back in a loose ponytail. I tried not to make a face. Some men could pull off long hair, but Tony was not one of them. I had never actually met the man, but I was less than impressed by his appearance.
It would be rude to say that, though, so instead, I just smiled and extended my hand to him. "It's nice to finally meet you, Tony," I said, shaking his hand. "I'm Lilly. I've heard so much about you."
Honestly, I hadn't heard much about him at all, aside from the fact that he was a musician, but it seemed like the polite thing to say.
"Come on in," I told them, opening the door wider and gesturing for them to step inside. When they followed me in, I directed them in the living room, where Tony quickly commandeered the TV and switched it off of the football game that was currently playing and onto some music special. I tried not to wince. Dad didn't like anyone turning off his football games, but I didn't want to stir the pot by saying anything.
One by one, people started showing up, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of familiar faces: Zach and Cassie, old friends from high school that I had long since fallen out of touch with; Tae, who had been my first friend in high school; Kelsey; Luke; Austin and Evan; and, to my discomfort, Dylan.
When we all settled down to eat, I deliberately sat between Kelsey and Cassie, as far away from Dylan as I could manage. I would need to talk with him sooner or later, but I didn't want to ruin a perfectly good meal with an awkward conversation that would be best saved for a more private situation.
I helped myself to the food, piling a variety of dishes onto my plate. It was kind of nice having so many people to share Thanksgiving with. It beat eating a microwaved meal with my dad while watching a football game, which is what we usually did. In fact, this was exactly the distraction I needed to get my mind off of my ongoing fight with Dylan, and my uncertainty about what was going on with Luke.
Turning to Cassie, I asked, "How have you been? I feel like I haven't talked to you in ages."
Cassie smiled brightly. "I've been great," she gushed. "I'm loving college so far. I'm going to school to be an elementary school teacher, and I've almost finished my classes, so next year, I'm going to get to apply what I've learned student teaching."
"Wow, that's great," I told her. Cassie was such a genuinely sweet person, I could easily see her as an elementary school teacher.
"What about you?" she asked. "How are you liking college so far?"
I shrugged. "It's fine," I said evasively. "I haven't really decided what I want to do yet. I'm toying with the idea of going for journalism. I've joined the school newspaper staff, and I'm liking that so far."
"Good for you," Cassie replied. "Don't worry about rushing to pick a major. I know plenty of people who declared a major their freshman year, and then changed their minds later and had a bunch of credit hours that don't apply to their new major. It's better to take your time and make sure you know what you want, instead of hurrying to pick something."
Before I could respond, my mother cleared her throat loudly. "In honor of Thanksgiving, let's each go around the table and say something that we're grateful for."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I hated cheesy gestures like this, and had no idea what I was going to say when it was my turn.
"I'll go first," my mom said. "I'm grateful to be spending Thanksgiving with my beautiful daughter, Lilly, for the first time in a long time."
Tony went next, saying something completely cheesy about being grateful for my mother. Dad said he was grateful to have a job that he loved so much it never felt like work, and Kelsey was grateful for all the new opportunities that college was bringing her.
When it was Luke's turn, he held my gaze before saying, "I'm grateful for the possibility of second chances."
My face flushed scarlet, and I wondered what he meant by that. Was he interested in getting back together with me? Did I want to date him again?
Dylan scowled at me before muttering something about being grateful for true friends who always had each other's backs, and I wondered why he seemed to think I had abandoned him, when he was the one who had hurt me by choosing to date Avery.
When it was Cassie's turn, she reached over and clasped hands with Zach, and I couldn't help but smile. They had been quite the 'it' couple in high school, and it was nice to see that some high school couples stayed together even after they graduated. "I'm thankful for Zach, and the future we're going to have together," she said, then held up her left hand so that we could all see the small solitaire diamond ring on her finger. "We're excited to announce that we are engaged!"
I stared at her, completely confounded. I was happy for them, but at the same time, the thought of any of my friends getting married was completely surreal. We didn't seem old enough for any of that yet. Granted, Cassie was a couple of years older than me, but still.
"Congratulations," my dad said, beaming at Zach. Zach had been one of his favorite football players back in the day, and I could see that he still had a soft spot for the guy.
"Finally," Luke smirked, lightly punching Zach in the shoulder. "You two have been dating forever. It's about time you make it official that you're in it for the long haul."
I just sat there stupidly, gaping like a fish. "Congratulations," I finally managed to sputter. "Do you know when the big day is yet?"
Cassie smiled, her voice exuberant with happiness. "We're planning to wait at least a year until we graduate," she said. "It will be a long engagement, but I'm so happy to be planning my future with the love of my life."
Zach flashed his fiancee an affectionate smile, and I was genuinely happy for the two of them. It was strange to think that they were old enough to make huge decisions like that, but at the same time, they had been dating for four years. It was hardly unplanned or out of the blue.
Just then, the doorbell rang, and I froze, looking at my father inquisitively. "Are we expecting anyone else?" I asked.
Tony looked up. "Oh, that's probably my daughter. She was running a little late." He leapt to his feet to get the door. He returned a minute later followed by a girl with olive colored skin and pin straight brown locks that flowed over her shoulders, and my blood ran cold. The girl who followed him was none other than Avery Palmer.