by Beth Labonte
“You know what?” I said, suddenly tired of feeling guilty about my money. “I could buy a million of those mugs and I’d still be loaded. What do you think of that?” I stared at him until the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile, which turned into a chuckle.
“I think you’re nuts,” he said, taking a sip of coffee. “But I also think you’re a very generous person, so—” He held his mug in the air and clinked it against mine. “You’re entitled to do whatever you want.”
“Thank you,” I said, leaning my elbows on the island. “So, I didn’t know you had a plow. I’d have hired you to do my driveway a long time ago.”
“Just got one last winter,” he said. “After I leave here, I’ll be digging out some of the older folks around town. Checking in on them. This storm came out of nowhere.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, my spirits lifting as an idea came to me. “Before you dig everybody out, though, do you think you could do me one more tiny favor?”
The drive into town was a slow one, but with Moose clearing the way it wasn’t impossible. My Tesla wasn’t cut out for the trek, but thankfully Mom and Dad, and Meg and Dave, both had driven up to New Hampshire in SUVs. We filled the back of both vehicles with containers of food, drinks, buffet servers, warming trays, a small electric fireplace, and decorations. There wasn’t enough room left for all the pies, so they rode in the passenger seat of the plow truck, strapped in safely next to Moose. Dave, my nieces, and Granny would join us later, once the roads were safer.
Dad and I looked around in silent awe as we wound our way through the wooded back roads. Clumps of snow occasionally fell from powerlines and tree branches, landing in fluffy white bursts on the windshield. The flakes that were still coming down were much bigger now, landing with satisfying plops on the glass. The storm was slowing down.
As I followed in Moose’s tracks, my mind drifted to what Riley might be doing this morning. Was he still in bed, or had he woken up early? Had he found any good Pokémon down in Pennsylvania? My heart ached. I wanted to text him again, but now I was driving, so…later. Not that I even knew what I would say.
The first thing I noticed when we pulled up to the common was that the event tent had completely collapsed. The portable toilets were half-buried. The Welcome sign that I’d had custom-made, and staked into the ground, was completely buried. We’d see it again in the spring. We continued around the common to the church, where Moose cleared the way into the parking lot and handed over the boxes of pies. Then, with a toot and a wave, he pulled out and headed for the inn to dig out the rest of my family.
We went inside and turned on the heat. Eight long tables were set up in the center of the room. I covered them in tablecloths and set out the place settings. In the center of each table I placed a flameless pillar candle, surrounded by a wreath of fall flowers. I taped cardboard Thanksgiving decorations to the walls, and plugged in the electric fireplace. I wanted this to feel like home. We warmed up the food and set up the serving trays on a long table at the front of the room. On a smaller table, I laid out all the pies—apple, blueberry, pumpkin, pecan—and several boxes of maple sugar candy that I’d taken from my store. Uncle Burt, Aunt Carla, Audrey and Randy arrived at twelve thirty, and by one o’clock, we were ready. The roads had been plowed, and we’d seen a few cars passing by. All of us stood at the ready, aprons on. Serving spoons in hand.
Nothing happened.
Five minutes passed. Then ten.
“Can we eat now?” asked Audrey, after fifteen minutes had gone by.
“They’ll come,” I insisted. “Gladys Porter did it in 1974 and she didn’t even have four-wheel drive.”
Finally, at 1:16 p.m., the door creaked open and a gray-haired head poked in. “Hello?”
“Hello!” said Dad. “Come on in!”
An elderly man, a bit stooped over, shuffled slowly inside and looked around.
“Harold!” I called out, recognizing him from the senior center. Harold had lost his wife last year, and didn’t have any family nearby. “I’m so glad you made it!” I rushed over to help him with his coat and show him to a seat.
“Josie, darling!” he said. “I should have known you’d be behind this.” He smiled and patted me on the cheek.
As I went off to pour him a cup of something warm to drink, the door opened again and several more people filed in, and then even more after that. Some of them I recognized, but there were many I didn’t. My heart was full as we loaded up each plate and chatted with our guests. Some were extremely talkative—dying to tell us every last detail about their lives and what had brought them here—while others kept to themselves, simply thanking us for the meal before finding themselves a seat. We had guests of all ages. Most of them were alone—like the man whose flight home to Nova Scotia had been canceled—but there were some couples, as well. One young couple told us that their stove had broken this morning, and if it weren’t for us, they’d have been eating Cheerios for Thanksgiving.
When everybody was seated, I raised my glass for a toast.
“I just wanted to thank all of you for coming out in the snow today,” I said, smiling around the room. “I hope you enjoy the food and make some new friends. And may we all be back here again next year.”
“Unless you get a better offer,” added Uncle Burt.
“Unless you get a better offer,” I conceded. “Cheers!”
“Cheers!”
I was exhausted by the time the last of our guests had gone home, but there was still one more big thing that I needed to do. I’d asked Burt, Carla, Audrey and Randy to pack up their things and sleep over at my house tonight. Kit and Amy would be back in Autumnboro tomorrow, and I needed to make sure the inn was sparkling clean and completely back to normal. It was after ten o’clock when I put Tom’s stagecoach back on its display stand, still not believing how good of a job Moose had done. I hadn’t been able to replace the glass case yet, so I was planning to tell Kit and Amy that I’d accidentally bumped into it while dusting. Clumsy me.
It was midnight before I fell into my bed back at home. The sound of Uncle Burt snoring from down the hall was oddly comforting. I loved my family, and I was thankful for all of them. Even so, I grabbed a pair of earplugs from my nightstand and put them in. I needed a good night’s sleep since I was opening early tomorrow for Black Friday. Main Street had finally been transformed into all of its magical, snowy New England glory, and I was expecting plenty of shoppers.
Also, Riley was coming home.
Chapter 23
“Come again!” I said, waving to the woman who’d actually bought out the last of the pumpkin spice Tums. God bless her.
My Black Friday sale had been a huge success. Since Pumpkin Everything didn’t typically have sales, customers were excited to stock up on discounted fall items for next year. By four o’clock I was exhausted and ready to close up shop for the day; I hadn’t slept well for the second night in a row. I was about to head over and flip the sign on the door to Closed, when Amy, Kit, and Tom walked past the front window and threw open the door. I paused for a moment, in the middle of the store, waiting for Riley to come along behind them. It would be so typically him to be lagging behind, staring at his phone. But the door slammed shut without him.
“We’re back!” said Amy.
“You’re back!” I said, pasting on a smile and giving each of them a hug. “I missed you all so much!”
“We missed you too, darling,” said Tom, hugging me back. “But what the heck is that?”
I stepped back and followed his gaze to the life-sized Santa Claus standing beside a tree-shaped rack of Christmas ornaments.
“That,” I said slowly, “is a man who dressed up as Santa Claus for Halloween.”
“Lovely,” said Tom, shaking his head as he went to sit by the fireplace.
“So, did you just get in?” I asked, turning back to Kit and Amy.
“Yep,” said Amy. “We came here straight from the airport. We thought we’d stop in an
d say hello before heading home. Grab the key to the inn. This one’s been worrying about it all week, as if we left a child home alone.”
“Right,” I said, laughing along with her, even though my stomach was roiling with guilt and nerves. “Let me get you that key.”
I walked slowly over to the counter and fished the key out of my purse. Instead of turning around again, I paused and stared at the key in my hand. Kit and Amy were my friends and they’d trusted me. I couldn’t do this.
“I let my obnoxious relatives and two guys I barely know stay at the inn while you were away!” I blurted out.
“Um, what?” asked Kit.
I turned slowly around. All three of them were staring at me, wide-eyed. I swallowed.
“I didn’t want them at my house, so I put them up at the inn. But they left candles burning all night long, and they made a huge mess, and they left underwear hanging from a lamp.” I made underwear hanging from a lamp motions with my hands. “And then, they broke Tom’s model stagecoach. But it’s fixed now!” I looked pleadingly over at Tom. “Moose fixed it! He’s like, this amazing woodworker, so…it’s not as bad as it sounds.”
I walked up to Kit, handed him the key, and burst into tears.
“Oh, boy,” said Kit, shrinking back.
Amy put her arm around me and led me over to the chair beside Tom. “Josie, slow down. What the heck are you talking about?”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, between sobs. “I know that it was a stupid and selfish thing to do, but I was just…I was hurt, okay? Nobody asked for my opinion on a single thing about the inn, and I thought…I thought you guys had used me for my money, just like everybody else.” I looked up to see Amy and Kit exchanging glances, as she rubbed circles on my back. “But I had no right to do that, no matter how I felt.”
“Josie, we—"
“I cleaned the inn from top to bottom last night,” I said, cutting her off. “You’d never even know anybody had been there. But I couldn’t just lie to you all forever. I couldn’t.” A fresh wave of tears hit me and I put my face in my hands. “I love you all too much.”
“Honey, it’s okay,” said Amy. “Yes, you should have asked us first, but we forgive you.”
“Maybe we should go check the place out first?” mumbled Kit.
“Don’t listen to him,” said Amy. “Josie, look, we were talking while we were away. This trip down to my parents was the first real chance we’ve had to relax in quite some time, and after a few margaritas, we got to talking about you.”
“Me?” I asked, peeking up at her.
“Yes, you. Look, we realized we’d been so wrapped up in each other that we hadn’t been including you as much as we should have. Yes, you’re a silent partner, but you’re our friend first. We would never take your money and push you away! We’re so sorry if we made you feel that way. We love you, too. You know that, right?”
I nodded as a huge weight lifted from my chest. I looked over at Tom. “I really am sorry about your stagecoach. You worked so hard on that.”
“It was an accident, darling” he said, batting his hand at me. “To be honest, I’m surprised its lasted as long as it has. Every so often, Lillian would threaten to throw it away, along with the rest of my junk.” He smiled fondly at the memory of his late wife.
“Anyway,” said Amy, “we know how much you wanted to work at the inn, and I know that we never really talked about it, but of course there’s a spot for you. If you want to work a few hours at the front desk, or if you want to play concierge…anything you want!”
“Thank you,” I said, nodding my head. “I appreciate that. And a few weeks ago, I’d have said yes in a heartbeat. A few weeks ago, all I wanted was to fill my days with working at the store, or the inn, or the mini mart. But now…” I trailed off. “Is, um, is Riley home yet, do you know?”
“I don’t think so,” said Amy, studying my face. “But he left this morning, so he should be here in a few hours. He seemed sort of out of it all week. Like, his mind was elsewhere. I didn’t even see him playing Pokémon Go. Did you?” She looked at her husband.
“Nope,” said Kit, shaking his head. “He seemed sort of depressed.”
“He didn’t even try to plan my funeral,” added Tom. “That kid was definitely not himself. Drugs, maybe.”
“Weird,” I said, my mind racing. Riley hadn’t been playing Pokémon Go? His most favorite thing in the world? In an instant, that seemingly silly piece of information swept away any last doubts about his feelings for me. They were real. And he’d missed me.
It was quiet at my house.
My family had all gone back home, none of them even asking for a penny before they left. Audrey actually hugged me, and then—in a very Buzz from Home Alone sort of moment—said that it was cool, what I’d done for all those people. Randy said he understood now why I liked to waste my money on that sort of thing. They both offered to come back next year to help out again.
Now, it was dark outside, and I was stretched out on the couch, not really paying attention to the episode of Supernatural on the screen. Pixie was by my side and my phone was in my hand. I’d finally come up with the words to text to Riley. Wherever he was.
I miss you. Come home.
My hands were shaking as I hit send. I immediately received an “I’m Driving with Do Not Disturb Turned On” message in return. So, he was on the road; that was good news. I waited a bit longer, but by eleven o’clock I’d given up. He must have driven straight back to his apartment. Maybe he’d never even seen my text. Maybe I’d been wrong about everything.
I turned off the television and was heading upstairs, when the doorbell rang. I froze on the bottom step, Pixie barking at the door. At this hour, there were only a few possibilities of who might be out there. I grabbed the baseball bat that I kept next to the refrigerator, and looked through the peephole. My stomach dissolved into butterflies as I wrenched open the door.
Riley held his phone in the air, my message visible on the screen. “I thought maybe I should reply to this in person.”
I dropped the baseball bat with a thud, stepped forward, and threw my arms around his neck. He slipped his arms around my waist, and we stood there like that for a while, the cold air streaming through the open door.
“I’m sorry I took off like that,” he said. “And I’m sorry it took me so long to get back. Traffic.”
I just nodded into his shoulder.
“Were you planning to hit me with that bat?”
I laughed and took a step back, pulling him into the house and closing the door behind us. “I wasn’t going to hit you.”
“Good,” he said, pushing a piece of hair off my forehead. “Because I missed you, too.” His dark eyes locked onto mine, making my knees go weak.
“I’m coming with you,” I said, staring right back at him. I was so glad he was home. “I’ve decided.”
“Yeah?” he asked, a small smile forming on his lips.
I nodded. “We go together, we come home together.” I stuck out my hand. “Deal?”
He took my hand, slowly shaking it up and down while keeping his eyes on my face. Then he pulled me closer and lowered his head, his lips inches from my own. “Best deal I ever made, Moneybags.”
With his lips pressed warmly against mine, and Pixie running circles around our feet, that final weight lifted from my chest. I let out a yelp of surprise as he scooped me up and carried me into the living room. He flopped down on the couch, leaning back against the pillows, holding me on his lap.
“I was worried when I heard you hadn’t been playing Pokémon Go,” I said, playing with the zipper on his sweatshirt.
“I just wasn’t feeling it,” he said, gently kissing the back of my hand, sending shivers down my spine. “I’m not sure why…but I’m suddenly feeling much better.”
I smiled. “You realize we’re about to travel around the world playing that game, right? I don’t know if you’re taking it seriously enough. We’ve got some catching up to do.
”
“Yes, we do,” he said, swiftly flipping me onto my back. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.” I smiled.
I looked up into his eyes, my fingers tangled in his hair, so thankful for everything I’d been given and everything yet to come.
Tomorrow was going to be great.
Next Thanksgiving
“I’m just so excited about the babies!” I said, scooping mashed potatoes onto my plate before passing the bowl along to Riley. “I have so many ideas! Xenophilius and Luna—”
“Xeno what?” asked Amy.
“Opal and Pearl,” I continued.
“Which one of those would be the boy?” asked Kit, glancing around the table.
“Ooh, or Titania and Oberon!” I said, ignoring both of their comments. “From A Midsummer Night’s Dream, you know? King and queen of the fairies! What could be sweeter?”
I looked across the table at Kit and Amy, whose faces had both frozen into semi-horrified half-smiles.
“I am not naming my son Oberon,” said Kit, shaking his head. “No way.”
“Yeah, sorry, Josie,” said Amy. “Oberon’s just a little too close to Orion.” She shuddered at the name of her ex. I loved that they thought I was serious.
There were twenty of us for Thanksgiving this year. Me, Mom, Dad, Granny, Riley, Kit, Amy, Tom, Maggie, Amy’s parents, Meg and her family, Uncle Burt, Aunt Carla, Audrey, and Randy. Half of us had hosted the free community dinner earlier in the day—which seemed to be turning into an Autumnboro tradition—and now the whole lovely gang was at my house, seated at two long, candlelit tables in front of the windows overlooking the Pemigewasset.
It’s only been a month since Riley and I returned from Bora Bora (our ocean hut was just as amazing as everybody said it would be), and since Kit and Amy announced that they were having twins. Twins! I’d already ordered them so many things from QVC, they had no idea.
Riley and I have done a lot of traveling this past year. The Pokémon Go trip was just the start of it, and what a whirlwind adventure that had been. For three weeks, we hopped from Japan to China to Spain, and then on to France and Italy—my heart and soul filling up with new experiences, new people, new food. And while a good part of our trip was spent staring at our phones and playing that addictive little game, that wasn’t nearly the whole of it. We ziplined off the Eiffel Tower and went clubbing in Ibiza; we drove go-karts around the streets of Tokyo and looked up at the Tian Tan Buddha; we saw the Mona Lisa, and the Colosseum, and I believe it was on our second to last night in Venice—when Riley nearly dropped his phone off the gondola and into the canal—that I realized my crush was creeping dangerously close to love. Only, it hadn’t felt very dangerous at all. Just safe, and calm, and happy.
