I look at him, waiting for him to explain. He doesn’t say anything. He stares at his fiancée with the same level of confusion that I feel.
“What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” Isabelle asks as we head to the vehicles. I drove to the arena with her and Jayden, but I’ll be returning to Landon’s town house with him. “Are you spending it with family?”
“I don’t exactly have a family anymore. Or at least not a family that I’m part of,” I say. “Which means I don’t get to spend the holiday season with them. It was part of the deal I made to gain my freedom from that life.”
I don’t need to mention what life I’m referring to—they all know.
“What do you usually do for Thanksgiving and Christmas?” Isabelle asks.
This why I don’t usually tell people about my holiday plans. Being on the receiving end of their pity is never fun.
“Watch a lot of bad Christmas shows and drink eggnog.” I laugh. It’s neither forced nor faked. If there’s one thing I don’t feel when it comes to my lot in life, it’s sorry for myself. So many people in the world are doing so much worse than me.
“And I hang out at Golden Sunshine Retirement Village,” I add, “spending time with the seniors who aren’t visiting with family during the holidays. It’s a lot of fun.” And that’s the truth.
“You’re more than welcome to spend Thanksgiving with us,” Isabelle says. “Well, more like with my grandmother. And her friends. Some of whom you’ve already met. She already told me she would love it if both you and Landon joined us.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“You wouldn’t be.” A mischievous smile spreads on her face. “In fact, you don’t have a choice in the matter. We’ve been hired to keep you safe, which means you have to do what we tell you. And that includes joining us for Thanksgiving dinner. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?” The smile this time is directed at Jayden.
Grinning at her, he shakes his head as though trying not to laugh out loud. To me, he says, “That’s right. You don’t want to make our job harder than it already is, do you?”
Landon chuckles. “I don’t think she’s giving you a choice,” he tells me.
“He’s right about that,” she says.
I laugh. “How can I say no then? I’m helping at the senior home with their Thanksgiving lunch, but I’m free after that.”
Landon lightly squeezes my hand. “You really like that place, don’t you?”
“That’s because they’re like family to me.”
The best kind of family. The family who’s always there for you.
16
Landon
Thanksgiving Day,I find myself at the seniors’ residence with Chloe.
“You know what would make me truly thankful?” a man whom she introduced as Samuel says. His sorrowful gaze is directed at the glass of milk she set in front of him.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“A scotch neat.”
Chloe smiles sweetly at him. “Unfortunately, that isn’t on today’s menu.”
“Or any day,” Frank grumbles. “I miss the good old days when we got to drink whatever we wanted. Even when I was a kid, I managed to get some of the good stuff.”
“Kid?” I park the glass of milk in front of him. “How young are we talking?”
“Twenty.”
“That’s hardly a kid.”
Frank guffaws. “It is when you’re my age. Anything under forty makes you a kid,kid.”
