by Tina Cambria
Taking a pumpkin pie from the oven, adjusting the temperature down, and then putting the turkey in to roast, she got that satisfying feeling that comes when you smell favorite holiday foods. Between her turkey and pumpkin pie, plus all the other goodies that Ryan’s mom and Alicia would be bringing for dinner, it was shaping up to resemble a Norman Rockwell painting when they sat down for dinner. Except she didn’t think Norman Rockwell’s vision of Thanksgiving included a single mom who’d kept her baby a secret from the father.
She shrugged her shoulders. Now that she thought of it, she didn’t know many families whose lives resembled some of the ideal situations painted by Norman Rockwell. So, what was the point in feeling depressed on such a family-oriented holiday?
By mid-morning, with food preparations well underway and Matt happily playing with toys in the living room, she had time to change into black leggings topped with a black and white striped pullover. After styling her hair and brushing her long bangs off to the side, she applied a touch of mascara, blush, and lip gloss. She hoped the light spritz of her favorite perfume on her wrists wouldn’t compete with the tantalizing aroma of roast turkey permeating the house.
The doorbell rang as she peeked into the living room to check on Matt. He looked expectantly at his mother. “That’s probably your dad,” she said. “Let’s go see.”
A glance out the front window to the porch confirmed that Shane had indeed arrived. Opening the door, she felt nervous but excited when she saw him with a flower arrangement in one hand and a gift bag in the other. His smile literally made her catch her breath. He’d had a boyishly handsome face when she’d known him before. Now he’d matured into full-on gorgeous masculinity.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” he said, holding out the flower arrangement filled with sunflowers, white chrysanthemums, and shiny red oak leaves. He leaned forward to plant a light kiss on her cheek. “Umm, something smells good.”
“I have a turkey roasting in the oven.” She cocked her head toward the kitchen.
“Nice, but the scent is more like what you’d find at the perfume counter of a fancy department store.” His eyes assessed her from head to toe. “Smells much better than roast turkey.”
Certain she was blushing as she took the flower arrangement from Shane, Kendra turned toward Matt, who watched their interaction from his spot on the living room floor. “Look who’s here, Matt,” she said. “It’s your dad.”
Matt tentatively smiled at Shane. “Are you eating dinner with us?”
She moved a step closer to Matt. “Your dad may not be able to stay the whole day, honey.”
As Matt’s smile faded, Shane offered the gift bag he’d brought. “Hey, Matt, I wish I could stay for the whole day, but I have some things I need to take care of later. How about if we play with this for a while?”
Matt jumped up and ran to his father, remembering to say thank you as he accepted the gift bag. Watching her son pull a remote-control race car from the bag, Kendra filled with pride at his manners.
“Wow!” Matt said. “Can we play with it right now?”
“If it’s all right with your mom,” Shane said, glancing at Kendra for approval. “Grab your jacket, and we can play in the driveway.”
She took Matt’s fleece hoodie from the hall closet. “You two go ahead and play with the car while I check on the turkey.” But the turkey had to wait a few minutes while she snuck a glance out the front window to observe her son and his father playing in the driveway. This was a Norman Rockwell scene, even if the artist never painted a boy and his dad with a remote-control car as a scene of classic Americana.
She felt all warm and fuzzy when Shane and Matt came back inside a little later, laughing as though they’d known each other all along. While they were playing with the race car, she’d chopped celery, carrots, and onion for the dressing that her family loved with Thanksgiving dinner. It was a little crazy, but she almost felt like she, Shane, and Matt were a real family.
Matt couldn’t stop talking about how much fun his new race car was. When he finally asked if he could watch a parade on TV, Kendra turned on the set, so he’d settle down and enjoy colorful floats and balloons.
“How did it go?” she whispered to Shane, motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen. “I made a fresh pot of coffee. Want a cup?”
When they had settled at the kitchen table with steaming mugs of coffee, Shane couldn’t stop talking about Matt. “He’s a fantastic kid. You’ve done a terrific job raising him.”
“Thanks, but I’ve had some help. I don’t know how I would’ve done it without my father and my sister.” She explained how her sister had served as labor coach when Matt was born. “She really helped me get through the pregnancy and delivery.”
“Did you work during your pregnancy?”
“I was fortunate to land a job as an assistant in the marketing department of a local business shortly after my mother passed away. So, I had health insurance to cover my doctor visits and the delivery.”
“Man, I feel like you just kicked me in the gut.”
“Why?” She hoped he wasn’t one of those guys who got queasy at the mere mention of childbirth. A man who’d been in battle should have a stronger constitution, for heaven’s sake.
“When you mentioned health insurance…” He lowered his head, looking slightly ashamed. “I’m embarrassed to say that was the first time I even thought of how you paid for pre-natal care or your hospital stay when Matt was born.”
“I managed,” she said, shrugging.
“Did you live with your sister while you were pregnant?”
“We both lived at home with Pop. That’s what we call our father,” Kendra explained. “I actually lived at home until Matt was almost two. That’s when I finally saved up enough money for a down payment on this place—not too long after I started working at QJV and got a pretty good raise.”
“You did all right,” he said, nodding appreciatively as he glanced around the kitchen and into the living and dining rooms. “This is a pretty nice house for someone to buy on their own.”
“It wasn’t quite so nice when I bought it.” She told him how the 1960s vintage split-level had been desperately in need of some TLC when she’d purchased it. “My dad is a building contractor. He helped with all the renovations.”
“How big of a remodel was it?”
“He updated the kitchen and bathroom, painted the whole house, refinished these hardwood floors—the work definitely helped to make the place homier, as they say.”
“You’re lucky to have a dad like that.”
“I guess I am,” she agreed.
Glancing at his watch, he said, “I’m going to have to be on my way soon. I don’t know if I told you there’s a big security audit coming up at work. I want to get a jump on it, so I’ll put in some time over this long holiday weekend.”
Again, with putting his career first.
But she held her tongue. It was a holiday. She didn’t want to spoil it. Shane was establishing a relationship with Matt. For now, she wanted to keep everything nice.
“Do you have any time to spend with us on the weekend?” she asked. “I know Matt would love to see you again.” She smiled at him but couldn’t help adding, “Unless you’re too busy with work.”
If he understood Kendra’s subtle jibe at the importance he placed on his job, Shane didn’t let on. “Yeah, I can definitely make time. What about the kids’ area of a museum? Does Matt like the hands-on kind of activities they have there? Or maybe he’d rather play ball?”
“Let me talk to him about it. I think he mostly wants to spend time with you.” She immediately regretted what she said. Was she actually encouraging him to push for equal shared physical custody, so he could spend even more time with Matt? What if she lost control of everything she’d worked so hard to build? Trying to change the focus of their conversation, she said, “I don’t even know where you live.”
“QJV hooked me up with corporate housing where I’m stayi
ng until I can find a place of my own,” he said. “Hopefully no more than a month. In the meantime, I have a nice apartment downtown, not that far from the office. Fully furnished.”
“Sounds convenient.”
“Oh yeah, it comes with everything from pots and pans to dish towels and bed linens. They even provide toiletries, if you can believe that. The only thing that’s mine in the apartment is my clothing.” He paused for a moment, seemingly in thought. “Oh, and my laptop and phone. Seriously, that’s about it.”
“Makes you seem free as a bird,” she said.
Did that comment came across as another jibe? But he didn’t pick up on it. Or if he did, he ignored it.
Maybe I need to get better at ignoring certain things too.
Shane planted a totally chaste kiss on her cheek, the same as when he’d arrived, and then called out to Matt that he’d see him again on the weekend.
Ignoring my feelings when Shane kisses me is something I should work on too. Because I’m sure I could warm up to him. And that’s probably not a good idea.
* * *
As Shane opened his car door, a white pickup parked in front of Kendra’s house. Watching the middle-aged man emerge from the truck and scoop up two large bags from the passenger seat, Shane called out, “Good morning. Need some help with your packages?”
“Nah, I’m fine,” he replied, eyeing Shane with a guarded but not unfriendly expression. “You must be Shane.”
“I am. How’d you know?”
“I’m Kendra’s father. I always figured my grandson must resemble his dad because he sure doesn’t take after anybody in our family. You look a lot like him, so I assume you’re the long-lost father.”
Shane reached out his hand, and they exchanged a handshake. Kendra’s dad probably hated his guts. Well, why wouldn’t he? It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to be pissed when some young guy got your daughter pregnant and then disappeared. In fact, it was a pretty darn normal reaction. Couldn’t blame the man at all for not turning cartwheels to celebrate his return.
“Yes, I’m Matt’s father. Wouldn’t say I was lost, though. Clueless might be a better word.”
“Tom Stevens. Nice to meet you. I go by ‘Pop’ around here,” Kendra’s father said as they completed their handshake. “So, everybody’s clued in now about who’s who?”
Shane nodded. “I spent some time playing with Matt. He knows I’m his dad, and he seems fine with it. Kendra’s done a great job with him.”
“You got that right.” Pop looked at the opened door on the driver’s side of Shane’s car. “Aren’t you staying for dinner?”
“Unfortunately, I have to get to work. But I’m glad I had the chance to meet you.”
“Same here. Wish it hadn’t taken so long, though.” Pop took a step toward the front porch. He stopped and turned to face Shane. “Don’t do anything to hurt my daughter or my grandson.”
* * *
Once inside Kendra’s house, Pop apologized for showing up earlier than expected. “I know you said to come over around two o’clock, but I wanted to make sure to stake out my spot to watch football games today.”
Kendra laughed as she hugged her father. “We are thankful on this holiday for an abundance of college football games,” she joked.
After saying hi to Matt and heading to the kitchen, Pop emptied his bags of the pretzels, corn chips, peanuts, and beer he’d brought. She followed him and checked out the snacks he’d unloaded. “Are you going to save any room for turkey and dressing, Pop?” she asked.
“Hey, when did I ever turn down a good meal?” Pop’s expression turned serious. “I met your boyfriend outside.”
She took a step back. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Well, he sure must’ve been at some point.” Seeming to pay no attention to the red spots of embarrassment she felt burning into her cheeks, he continued, “The guy seems decent enough. You two working things out so Matt comes out of this okay?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Pop.” She sunk down into a chair at the kitchen table. “We haven’t even gotten to the whole custody thing yet. I’m so scared he’ll want to spend more than his share of time with Matt. You know, making up for lost time…”
“Believe me, there’s no such thing as making up for lost time. You gotta grab it while you can.”
She clasped and unclasped her hands. Explaining to Pop she knew it was necessary for Shane to get to know Matt, she confessed that her real fear was that Shane might move somewhere far away if an opportunity came along for a big career move. “I dread the possibility of Matt spending his entire summer vacation with his father in New York or someplace like that. I couldn’t stand all that separation.”
“What the heck are you worrying about something like that for? Making up problems in your head when they don’t even exist yet.” Pop pointed a finger directly at her. “You need to focus on the here and now. Yesterday’s not coming back again and tomorrow’s not guaranteed, my sweet.”
Pop’s words echoed through her consciousness for the rest of the day. Although Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, all the guests were in good spirits and ate heartily, and everyone was happy with the outcome of the football games, she couldn’t stop thinking about the elusive tomorrow that wasn’t guaranteed.
A few glances were exchanged around the table when Matt piped up that he was thankful his dad was back, but no one pressed for further details. Kendra had another thing to be thankful for. Her family was too polite to comment on that bombshell during a holiday meal.
When all the guests had departed, and the dishes were washed and put away, she asked herself why she spent so much time worrying about things that might happen. After she tucked Matt into bed, she tried to think of a time when worrying about what might happen had ever paid off.
It seemed like bad things usually happened when you didn’t even expect them. So why didn’t she figure she’d deal with things if they actually happened instead of dreaming up things that might go wrong and then getting all upset over nothing?
She headed to the living room to relax for a few minutes and snuggled under a blanket on the sofa to catch the news before she settled into bed. The newscast went on with details of holiday celebrations, football scores, and preparations for the next day’s official start of the Christmas shopping season until the anchor suddenly switched gears and announced breaking news of a multi-alarm fire at a downtown apartment building.
The live report from a mid-rise building showed flames spewing from several windows as well as the roof. She couldn’t imagine the horror of a fire on Thanksgiving. Such a terrible thing for people to lose their belongings but, thankfully, it sounded like everybody was going to be all right.
Exhausted from the day’s cooking, entertaining, and meeting with Shane, Kendra turned off the TV and fell asleep almost as soon as she got into bed. She slept straight through until a little after six the next morning. The sun wouldn’t even be up for another hour, but she decided to get a head start on some online Christmas shopping before Matt woke up.
With a short kimono over her tank top and pajama bottoms, she headed to the bathroom in her fuzzy slippers to quickly freshen up before brewing a pot of coffee. While she measured the second tablespoon into the coffeemaker a few minutes later, she heard a noise from the living room. Pausing to listen, she heard it again. Someone was tapping on the door. Who in the world would be at the door so early in the morning?
She moved gingerly into the living room, not sure whether to be fearful. The tapping continued, so lightly she barely heard it. Wondering whether a cat might be pawing at her door, she pulled back the curtain of the front window enough to peek outside. Was that Shane’s car in the driveway? She leaned closer to the window and saw Shane on her porch, looking disheveled.
CHAPTER SIX
“Shane, what are you doing here at this hour?” Kendra spoke softly so that Matt wouldn’t be disturbed. But she was apprehensive. She’d never seen Shane looki
ng like this. Not even after a night of college partying.
His shoulders sagged. “Did you see the news last night? That apartment fire?”
She nodded but before he could continue, she motioned him inside. As he drew closer, she took in the acrid smell of smoke clinging to him. “Don’t tell me you helped to put out the fire,” she said, only half-joking.
Shaking his head, he said, “Hey, I’m a former army officer, not a superhero. But that fire was actually in my apartment building. The corporate housing I told you about.” He threw up his hands, looking frustrated. “I can’t even get into my unit. There’s fire, smoke, or water damage. Or a combination of all three.”
“I had no idea that was your place,” she said. “Do you want some coffee? I already had a pot started when I heard you tapping on the door.”
“What I was actually hoping is maybe I could crash here. Only for a few hours?” His eyes had a questioning look, his expression a few notches down from outright pleading. “I’ve been up most of the night, trying to find out the state of my apartment, and then trying to get a hotel room. All the hotels are booked. Half the population must have traveled home to San Francisco for Thanksgiving.” He rolled his eyes. “And they’re all staying in hotels.”
At a loss for words, she simply gawked at him.
He continued on, with a rush of words pouring out. “Just a shower and a quick nap before I have to get back to working on that security audit. I should be able to find a hotel room tonight when some people check out.”
“But your mother’s local…”
“I thought of going to my mother’s place but, like I told you, she’s spending the Thanksgiving weekend with her sister down in Santa Barbara.” He pinched his lips together. “I don’t even have a spare key to her house yet. I finally parked in your driveway, and when I saw your lights go on, I knocked on your door.”
“For a shower and a nap?”
“Look, just the shower will be enough. So I can wash this smell of smoke off me,” he said, hugging himself and then holding both hands out in front as though he’d been in contact with something distasteful. “I’ll even take a nap in my car if I can pull it into your garage. I don’t want to be found sleeping in my car out on the street or in a parking lot. Not too great if the new QJV security chief is found asleep in his car. I don’t think that would go over big with the boss.”
