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“I did no such thing. My twin is a loudmouth,” I responded.
Preston nodded. “He is, and Duncan is a gossip, too. He called me as soon as you got done pitching the gala table sponsorship, telling me I had to make sure I got a seat at that table so I could report back.”
Charlotte laughed. “I’m an only child, so I’m way out of my element with this sibling thing. But, to answer your original question, that’s probably what sealed the deal on this happening.”
Preston nodded. “Helpful when you have biggest brother’s company’s money to bail you out of a prank gone too far.”
I winced.
Charlotte touched my hand. “I may have been a bit high-strung about the whole text debacle. Yes, it was an absolutely terrible decision on Hayden’s part to put my real name and work phone number on the internet, but there were a lot of background factors about work and my family situation Hayden had no way of knowing. And he’s more than made up for it between taking care of me when I had the flu and making sure I could stay home and rest by saving the gala.”
I flipped my hand over to grasp hers.
Preston looked between us in that analytical way of his. He nodded, seeming to approve of something in his own head.
“Well, I’m glad Hayden helped you loosen up,” he lobbied, taking a final sip of his drink, ice clanking, while raising an eyebrow at the two of us.
Charlotte blushed and covered her face.
“Sorry, Charlotte, I’m just trying to prepare you for Thanksgiving. Four brothers, one father, one stepmother, maybe a video call from brother number five. I promise I’m the gentle giant of the group.”
Charlotte looked over at me.
Preston grimaced. “He has invited you to Thanksgiving at my place, right?”
I glared daggers at my brother. “No more drinks for you tonight, Prez. Charlotte, I mentioned it in passing, but most of my family will be at Preston’s for Thanksgiving. Do you want to join us? I know your parents want you to come home…”
“Tell you what,” Preston butted in. “Come to my place Friday for trick-or-treating on Capitol Hill. There will be candy and lots of cute kids in costumes. And this way, we both just invited you to a holiday to make it less awkward my brother just only officially invited you to Thanksgiving in front of me.”
Charlotte laughed. “I’m in for both. I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be,” she finished, looking over at me with a warm smile.
I wrapped my arm around the back of her chair as the conversation between the three of us continued. Perhaps living in the city wasn’t so bad after all, if it led to evenings like this.
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Charlotte
Thanksgivings in years past had been spent in a darkened bookstore, organizing for a big weekend of sales ahead of the official start of the holiday shopping season. Our store, like many others in downtown Holly Ridge, benefited massively from the huge Christmas festival the town threw each year. Over the years, my parents mastered what those traveling from out of town were looking for from sales on those days. Locals dropped in on weekdays throughout December for their gift needs, avoiding the major crowds.
When I was younger, I loved those days spent with my parents in the dark, sorting and organizing. My mom would run home every hour to check on the turkey cooking in the oven, somehow never burning the house down while we left it to brown on its own. We would come back to an aromatic and cozy homestead, rushing around to throw together sides and set the table, starving after a hard day’s work of physical labor. In possibly predictable niche fashion, we would go around saying what books we were thankful had been published that year, feeling the undercurrent of gratefulness for our family and our small-town buzz around the room. Then it would be early to bed after we did the dishes, a seamless team in sync with each other.
I can’t pinpoint exactly when I fell out of sync with the rest of my team, but the first pandemic Thanksgiving really brought it home. We sat around staring at each other throughout the entire day that Thursday, not sure what to expect for a holiday shopping weekend when we could only have five people in the store at a time to maintain safe distancing for ourselves and our shoppers. I had been pushing my parents all year to upgrade our systems and invest in a website, but our numbers were just too tight for them to justify something that scared them. I felt like I was on the outside looking in, screaming through a window, just to find the glass was too thick to be heard.
It was these Thanksgivings past I was thinking of while I stood at the stove in my Washington DC condo, stirring cranberries soaking in mulled wine and watching potato chunks bubbling in boiling water. My boyfriend-type person sat on the couch, calling out anytime there was something in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade he thought I would want to see. The first few weeks of November had passed by in rainy days, couch cuddles, too many Star Wars movies, and okay, an insane amount of sex. The playful, yet passionate nature of our relationship was something I’d never experienced before, but was quickly becoming addicted to. I blushed, thinking back to last night when Hayden asked about the Thanksgiving-themed smut I was reading on my e-reader, a book about a creature with the powers to grant wishes through sexual completion with another person. Hayden offered to see if this was a power he had developed over the past few hours, and well, if my wish was three orgasms in a row, then I think the experiment was a success.
“Hmm, I love these pink cheeks. Thinking of me?” Hayden came up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Nah, just heat from the stove,” I teased, leaning back into him.
“Liar,” he whispered into my ear, planting a quick kiss on my cheek before letting go and leaning his back against the counter next to me.
“What are you thinking about over here? I tried to get your attention so you could see the Snoopy balloon, my personal favorite, but you were in your own little world.”
“Oh shoot. Sorry, just… thinking about how different this Thanksgiving is from Thanksgivings past. You know, this is the first time I’ve spent it away from my parents, away from the store?”
Hayden nodded solemnly. “I assumed it might be, with how important the days following are for retail stores.”
