by L B Pavlov
I awoke to a warm hand on my face. She was smiling at me and looking into my eyes.
“Daniel?” she said so shyly I only knew what she had said because I was watching her lips move.
“Yes?” I responded as my fingers began to tangle in her hair.
“That’s the first time in thirteen years that I didn’t have a nightmare on this night,” she said with relief in her voice, and it made my heart skip a beat.
“I’m so glad to hear that. This is progress,” I said.
My hands had somehow slipped underneath her tank top. Now that I had touched her, I couldn’t be laying next to her and not feel her skin against mine. I was tickling her back with my hands, and she was enjoying it. She was stroking my arm with her delicate hand. We just stayed in bed together until we had to get up for school.
Lenora and I had been baking every night for the past few days. Daniel sat and watched, and he ate anything and everything that we would allow him to. We all laughed a lot and danced around the kitchen. Lenora told us how she would probably move in with Carl once I went to college. I was dismayed by this news, but she said Dad wouldn’t really need full-time help once I was gone. I had never thought about that. I realized that Lenora had really put her own life on hold to raise my brothers and I.
“Lenora?” I said, looking into her warm and genuine, big brown eyes.
“Yes, my angel?” she responded warmly.
“Thank you for sticking around to raise me all these years,” I said, and my voice cracked as I said it.
“You’re my girl. I could never leave you,” she said, and it melted my heart.
“You and me both, Lenora,” Daniel chimed in, laughing.
“You are a sassy little firecracker, Daniel Hollingsworth,” she said, snapping a towel against Daniel’s arm. He yelped, and we all started laughing again.
Thanksgiving arrived, and I was so excited to have everyone home. I loved having my brothers at home, and I was so excited to see my grandparents. They would not be staying at our house though; they always stayed at a hotel a few miles away. We only saw them once a year, so I really looked forward to their visit.
I was also excited to meet Carl’s son Bruce. He would be bringing his fiancée Debbie. Lenora talked about them all the time. Jack would, of course, be bringing Sydney this year. I loved when Sydney was over because I had another girl to chat with. Sydney was super funny, and she loved to tease Jack, so that made it all the more fun. There was also talk that Eric may be bringing a girl to Thanksgiving. But he was very worried that we didn’t understand that she wasn’t his girlfriend, she was his good friend. I could tell immediately that he liked her. Her name was Abi, and he had talked to me about her several times. Abi would be having dinner with her family and come to our house for dessert afterward. I was psyched to meet her. I had never seen Eric excited about bringing a girl home before.
James joked that he would try to get a girlfriend before Thanksgiving. James had had lots of girlfriends, but he had never committed to just one person so far. He had not yet met anyone whom he wanted to have a serious relationship with. James was very social, and he liked to go out. I didn’t think he was at the point where he wanted to settle down just yet.
The Hollingsworth family also had a big group that would be joining us. Grace and Lenora split the menu and both made different dishes. There would be Grace and Tom, of course, and Preston would be bringing his girlfriend Lexi. They were very cute together. They had been dating for a few months. This was the first girl whom Preston had had a serious relationship with. He really seemed to like her, and she seemed to feel the same about him. Devon would also be coming. He was like James; they were younger and not in a hurry to date anyone seriously yet. Daniel’s Aunt Bunny and Uncle Dennis would also be joining us. Aunt Bunny was Tom’s sister. They were the best; I loved spending time with Aunt Bunny. She was the funniest person I had ever met. She told the funniest stories, and she teased the Hollingsworth boys better than anyone else ever could. She was very close to Daniel, and he adored her.
Lenora put me in charge of setting and decorating the table. I decided to use our good china because we had so many special guests attending that year. We had a huge dining room, and Lenora and I put the leaves in the table to adjust it to the largest length possible. We would need to be able to seat twenty people for Thanksgiving, so Lenora pulled our extra chairs from storage and had them all set up. The china I used on the table had been my mom’s. It was her wedding china and was stunning. The plates were white with a gold rim around the edge. The center of the plates had light pink roses with green leaves that were hand-painted onto the plates. Our table was a huge, distressed, dark-wood table, and I decided against a tablecloth because I liked the way it looked naturally. I used white linen napkins and wide, gold napkin rings. The table was long, so I made four large floral arrangements to place across the length of the table. Each bouquet was filled with white roses and white hydrangeas. I placed tall, white, pillar candles in between the vases of flowers. It looked really beautiful. We had a gorgeous crystal chandelier in our dining room, and it sparked beautifully in the candlelight. I wouldn’t light the candles until it was time for dinner. I decided to make name cards for each place setting. I wrote the names on each place card and used coordinating scrapbook paper as the background. They looked really cute on the table, and they coordinated with Mom’s elegant dishes.
I wanted to dress nicely for Thanksgiving dinner. I wore my tan pencil skirt that came just above my knee with my knee-length, high-heeled, camel-colored, leather boots and my cream-colored, cashmere sweater with my brown, wide, leather belt. That was as dressy as I ever got, but it was a special occasion. I was going to straighten my hair, but I spent so much time decorating the table that I just pulled my hair back into a knotted bun.
I hustled down stairs when I heard the doorbell. I opened the door, and there they were. My grandparents. “Grandma! Grandpa!” I shouted.
I rushed to hug them both. They always hugged me first, and then they would stare at me for an awkward length of time to see how I had grown and changed since our last visit. This time was different. While they were looking me over, Grandma’s eyes filled with tears. I looked down at myself, wondering if I had a big ketchup stain on my sweater. The cashmere sweater was from Grandma for Christmas last year, so I thought maybe I had ruined it.
“Charlotte Rose, you are the spitting image of your mother,” she said quietly.
I looked up at Grandpa and now his eyes were filled with tears as well. My grandparents were not usually this weepy, so this brought out quite a reaction from me as well. I leapt into my grandpa’s arms, and I hugged him so tightly. Then I did the same for Grandma. My eyes were all watery now too, so we were quite a mess. We all started laughing and walked into the kitchen.
“Where are the boys?” Grandpa shouted. Grandpa was hard of hearing, so he talked very loudly most of the time.
“They are on their way here now from school. Dad didn’t want them to drive home last night in the dark, and Eric had a night class, so they had to wait,” I said in explanation.
Lenora gave them both big hugs. We were all chatting when my dad walked into the kitchen. He immediately looked anxious when he saw my grandpa.
“Jack,” my grandfather said, shaking Dad’s hand and offering him a half-hug.
“Hello, dear!” my grandmother said and gave Dad a big hug.
“We can’t get over how much Charlotte looks like Katherine,” Grandma said, smiling and stroking my face.
“Yes, she is the spitting image of Kate, there’s no doubt about it,” Dad said as he grabbed a handful of nuts off the island.
“Charlotte, we have a little present for you, sweetie,” Grandma said, handing me a cute gift bag.
I opened the bag, and it was a new copy of Charlotte’s Web. My grandparents bought me a new copy every time that they came to visit, but I always read from the original one that my mom had given me on my first birthday. I s
aved all of the copies from Grandma and Grandpa and kept them all in our library. Grandma always wrote beautiful inscriptions on the inside cover. “Thank you so much,” I said softly and gave them both another hug.
“So, Coach Little flew out, and you signed your letter?” Grandpa inquired.
“Oh yes, he is so nice. He has been really supportive about helping me figure out where to live next year and all of that fun stuff,” I said. I knew that this kind of conversation was what my grandfather loved to talk about most.
“Good girl! You make sure you are in the best housing and that you are eating well,” he said in a very serious voice.
“OK, dear,” Grandma said, giving him a pat on the shoulder and a look that told him that he had asked enough about my running. “Tell us what else is going on. How is school? How is your friend Daniel?” she asked. Grandma was not as interested in the running. She was all about school, friends, and shopping. Grandma was a girl’s girl.
“Well, school is going well,” I said, but before I could continue, my dad interrupted.
“Charlotte will be the valedictorian of her graduating class as long as things continue the way they are,” Dad said as he winked at me.
I hated when my dad did this. No one was talking about my GPA. We were just having a nice conversation. I felt very self-conscious when Dad would say things like that, and I knew my grandpa would be all over the valedictorian topic.
“Oh, well-done, Charlotte! Stanford will be keen on those grades. They are lucky to get you,” he said with a proud smile.
I smiled back, and then I gave Dad a look to let him know that he had done enough bragging for one day. “Grandma, I wanted to tell you something. Daniel and I have started dating,” I said timidly.
Grandma squealed. “Well, I knew it would happen, honey. This was just meant to be. The way that young man looked at you, I just knew he fancied you!” she said, and she hugged me tightly. Grandma was such a sweet and kind person. I imagined my mom had gotten a lot of her qualities from my grandma.
“Nonsense. Boys are a waste of time,” Grandpa snarled. “We all know what can happen when you get distracted by a boy,” he snapped.
I saw Dad’s shoulders tense up in reaction to his comment. His face flushed with anger, but Dad knew better than to start an argument with Grandpa.
“Oh, Grandfather, you’re a boy! And I like you!” I said as I hugged him, trying to lighten the mood.
Grandma gave Grandpa another look just to let him know that she wouldn’t tolerate his shenanigans.
“Hello! Hello!” I heard my brothers yelling as they came through the door.
I heard a scuffle as they came through the front entry, and one of them had shoved the other into the closet door to get in to the kitchen first. My brothers always liked to roughhouse, and they always made an entrance. Everyone was hugging and excited, greeting one another.
“Hey, Charlie Brown,” Eric teased.
I gave them all a hug, and we all got our drinks and went to sit in the family room to visit some more. The fireplace was on, and it was very cozy. All of the guests arrived within the next thirty minutes, and we sat around snacking and talking all afternoon.
I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Daniel. He was talking with Grandma, and she was telling him how much I looked like my mother. He looked over and winked at me, and my heart began to race. He was so charming as I watched him talk with her. I could have looked at him all day—his light-brown, wavy hair; his incredibly sexy, green eyes; his rosy cheeks; and those lips. I couldn’t dare have those thoughts while he was talking to my grandmother. I needed to pull myself together.
I walked into the kitchen to see if Lenora and Grace needed help. They both made a big fuss over how beautiful the dining room table looked. Daniel came up behind me and hugged me. I felt my whole body tingle.
“Did Charlotte set the table?” he asked, pressing his mouth against my ear.
“Oh, Daniel, you must go look at it. She did a fabulous job!” Grace exclaimed.
I was so pleased that everyone was so happy with the table.
“Well, lead the way, Miss Ford, let’s see this masterpiece,” he said in a luscious voice that made my head dizzy.
We stood in the dining room staring at the table. “Wow. I’m really not a table setting type of guy, but that is really beautiful.” He looked surprised. “Everything about you is beautiful,” he said in that raspy, sexy voice he uses to completely dismantle my composure.
I gazed up at him and smiled. “Thank you,” I said breathlessly.
“You shouldn’t have worn that outfit, Charlotte, not with your grandparents here,” he whispered. Our noses were almost touching we were so close.
“You don’t like it?” I asked, a little hurt.
He burst out laughing. “I like it too much!”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.
He pulled away quickly and intertwined his fingers with mine. “Don’t get me started. Let’s go talk to your grandparents,” he said, smiling at me.
Dinner was wonderful. Everyone laughed and talked throughout the meal. When we were cleaning up the dishes, the doorbell rang. It was Abi. Eric ran to the door to greet her and brought her in to introduce her to everyone. She was adorable. She had beautiful long, black hair, dark eyes, and a charming smile. Eric clearly liked her, and I could tell right away that the feeling was mutual.
Abi, Sydney, Lexi, and I sat around talking with Grace, Aunt Bunny, and Grandma for a long time. We were hearing all sorts of funny stories about the boys and what was going on at Notre Dame. The boys started nagging us about having dessert, and we all went back to the dining room to eat pie.
This was turning out to be the best Thanksgiving ever. Aunt Bunny was telling us funny stories about Tom when he was a little boy. We all just sat around eating, talking, and laughing. I went over to sit with Lenora, Carl, Bruce, and Debbie for a little while. They were talking about all of the exciting wedding plans for Bruce and Debbie’s upcoming wedding.
“I hope you will be able to come home from school for the wedding, Charlotte. We would sure love to have you,” Debbie said, beaming.
They were an adorable couple, and they seemed very much in love. I told them I would definitely try. It would all depend on my racing schedule because the wedding was in October, which was right in the middle of my season.
My grandparents were the first to leave, but they would be back in the morning to take us out for breakfast. Then Grace, Tom, Aunt Bunny, and Uncle Dennis said their good-byes and walked back over to the Hollingsworth’s house. Bruce and Debbie said their good-byes as well. I had really enjoyed getting to know them. Lenora and Carl sat by the fireplace talking and drinking wine. Dad went to his office to work. Dad was a lawyer, but he worked more than anyone I had ever known. How much legal work could there be for him to do on Thanksgiving? Preston, Lexi, Devon, Jack, Sydney, Eric, Abi, and James all went to the game room.
I was just putting a few pies into the refrigerator, and Daniel was sitting in the kitchen talking to me.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Charlotte,” he said, smiling.
“Thanks, you too,” I said but my mind was a little distracted.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked sweetly.
“Just thinking about next Thanksgiving. You will all be here, and I will be so far away,” I said quietly.
“Charlotte, you will fly home for Thanksgiving, and any time you can’t fly home, I will fly to see you. Don’t worry about this, OK?” he said softly.
“OK,” I said and grasped his hand. “You know what else I’m thinking about?” I asked.
“What else are you thinking about?” he replied in his sexy, beautiful voice.
“That I wish you could climb through my window every night,” I said, staring into his soulful, green eyes.
“Me too,” he whispered before he leaned in and kissed me.
Thanksgiving weekend went by quickly. We spent a lot of time with my gr
andparents, I spent some time with Daniel’s Aunt Bunny and Uncle Dennis, and it was a wonderful weekend.
On Sunday, after Grandma and Grandpa flew home, I worked on Daniel’s Christmas gift. I had saved all of his newspaper clippings over the last four years, and I was going to make him a big scrapbook. I had tons of pictures that I had taken as well, and it was turning out great. I even had a copy of his letter of intent from Notre Dame that I had found on his desk last week, and I had made a quick copy. I would need to sneak the original back on his desk the next time I was over there. That would be the last page of the scrapbook, with a picture of him visiting Notre Dame last spring. I had tons of scrapbook paper in Notre Dame colors and football-themed papers that I had been collecting for his book. I kept the book hidden under my bed, and I would be working on it for a few more weeks.
Back at school everyone was buzzing with excitement about Christmas. I loved this time of year. There was a chill in the air, and I savored my runs in the fresh, crisp air. Daniel was running or riding with me several days a week to help me train for track. After Christmas break I would begin training with my team again. I couldn’t wait for Christmas break.
The Hollingsworth family usually went on a big vacation, but this year they were not going out of town. Tom’s father, Daniel’s grandfather, was ill, and Tom wanted them to stay in town. I used to get so sad when they would leave on vacation. Daniel and I were so excited when we got cell phones because he would text me nonstop from wherever they were. He got in big trouble sophomore year when they went to Mexico, and we texted all day every day for two weeks. When they got the bill, Daniel was grounded. We didn’t know it was more expensive if you were out of the country. They were such a nice family though; they told Daniel that I could keep him company during his grounding. So basically they grounded him from everything but me. I would laugh thinking about it.
I was so happy they were staying in town this year because it was our last Christmas break while we were still in high school. My family rarely went out of town for Christmas. We would go skiing in Park City and make it a four-day weekend, but with my dad being a single dad, work was a priority for him. He provided very well for his four children, and we truly wanted for nothing. We had a beautiful home, and our education was also very important to Dad. Dad was a partner at his law firm, Whitley, Ford & Blemming, but I thought he also used work as an escape. Aside from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Dad would definitely work a lot over Christmas break. I was really looking forward to spending Christmas with Daniel that year.
