“I don’t think so.”
Kacey set the serving dish on the kitchen counter and then took Drew’s arm and towed him over to where Travis’s parents stood by Travis and her nieces. “Peggy and Tom, this is my friend Drew Murphy.”
Tom shook Drew’s hand. “Great to meet you.”
“We’ve heard so much about you.” Peggy shook his hand next. “Riley was telling us about the Christmas Tree Lighting Festival.”
“It’s only two weeks away,” Drew said.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to help serve the meal.” Kacey slipped into the kitchen and helped her sister and mother carry the food out to the dining room.
Soon they were all gathered around the table with their bountiful Thanksgiving dinner in the center—a golden turkey, green bean casserole, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, cranberry sauce, biscuits, and gravy.
“Before we eat,” Mom began, “how about we each say what we’re most thankful for? I’ll start. I’m grateful for my family.”
Dani glanced around the table, smiling at her daughters and her husband. “I’m most grateful for this family too.”
Travis and his parents all echoed Dani’s and Mom’s declarations.
“I love my doll,” Kelly said, and everyone chuckled.
Riley sat up straight. “I’m thankful for my family—even my baby sister.”
Kacey turned to Drew, and her pulse picked up speed. “I’m thankful for special friends.” She looked around the table. “And I guess my family too,” she teased, and everyone chuckled.
Drew studied Kacey for a moment and then he said, “I’m thankful you’re back in my life.”
Kacey’s heart hammered as she stared at him.
“Nana,” Riley whined. “Can we eat now?”
“Yeah, eat!” Kelly echoed.
Everyone laughed again.
“Yes, sweeties,” Mom said. “Let’s enjoy this wonderful meal.”
“I don’t think I can eat another bite,” Kacey told Drew as they climbed up the front steps of his parents’ house. She shivered in the late November air.
Drew rubbed his hand on her shoulder to warm her. “But now we’re having dessert. That’s the best part of the meal.”
He opened the door, and they entered a large foyer with an open staircase that led up to five bedrooms. Conversations carried over from the spacious dining room nearby.
After Drew hung their coats in the closet by the door, he took her hand and steered her into the formal dining room, where his parents, grandparents, and a few aunts, uncles, and cousins she recognized sat.
“Here they are!” Marilyn announced. “You’re just in time for dessert.”
Drew and Kacey greeted his family members and then took a seat beside each other while his mother and two aunts delivered a pumpkin pie, a chocolate cream pie, and a platter of assorted cookies to the table, along with coffee.
Kacey talked about work with a few of Drew’s cousins while she enjoyed a piece of pumpkin pie and a cup of coffee.
“So, I hear you’re directing the children’s choir for the Christmas Tree Lighting Festival,” Drew’s grandfather said.
Drew picked up his coffee mug. “That’s right. The festival is two weeks from tomorrow.”
“I think that’s wonderful,” his grandmother said. “I can’t wait to hear the children sing. It truly feels like Christmas has come to Splendid Lake when the tree is lit and the choir sings.”
Marilyn nodded. “I agree, Mom. And Drew has more exciting news. He applied for a music department head job in Newton. That means he’d be in charge of the entire Catawba County Schools music program!”
