A Holiday to Remember

Two

Cali took a leave of absense from her job at the Insurance company she works at, to take a vacation somewhere off the grid. Remote. She turned her phone off and kept it in her bag, so no one will know where she is.

She drives up the road, into a driveway of a pretty cabin, secluded from the road. 

The door would be open, the owner said the key was inside. James Williams, is his name.

She walks through the door and locks it behind her, being curious if anyone was home. She took off her snow-covered boots and put them on the mat beside the coat rack, which had a coat and a pair of boots as well.

She saw a bedroom, and went right into it, rolling her suitcase along with her. The shower was on, so she quickly backed out of the room and went to the other one, which was a gorgeous room with a view of a frozen lake and the snow-covered trees. 

"Like the view?" a male voice says, deep but not too deep. 

Cali whips around, her hair touching the other side of her face. She sees a man, about 6'1, with brown hair that is cute kinda messy, and a chain around his neck. He had a black shirt and jeans on, with his hands in his pockets.

"Do you?" He asks again.

"I uh, ya love it." Cali swallows her tears, this was her first time speaking after the phone call that changed her life forever.

"Good. The name is James, by the way. I am the owner of this place. I'll be staying here for a while, something just came up and I needed an escape." He explained, looking her in the eye.

"Same." She says, looking back out the window.

"Family?" He says, immediatly understanding what has happened.

"Yeah, you?" Cali looks back at James, watching his reaction to her question.

"Something like that." He sighs and looks down at his feet. "Breakup."

"Ahhh, "Cali says. "Those are tough."

"I didn't get your name, by chance?" James changes the subject, but she won't complain.

"Cali." She says, giving him a small smile.

"Well, Cali, I'll be making dinner at 6:30. It's pasta night." James said, leaning back onto his heels.

Cali got excited at the words 'pasta'. "What kind?" She asked. "I'm Italian, so pasta is a godsend."

"Ahh, well probably lasanga. Can you speak italian?" James questions.

"Si. Mi capisci?" I say, making him look confused. (yes. Do you understand me?)

"What did you just say?" James asks.

"Yes. Do you understand me?" I repeat in English. 

"Oh. No, I don't." He says, walking out of the doorframe.

Cali sighs and grabs her suitcase, lugging it onto the bed. She opens it, and starts taking out her clothing and placing it in the dresser. She then hangs up all her shirts in the closet, and places her books on the dresser. After unpacking, she walks into the kitchen to see if she can help out with the pasta. She finds James, getting all the things out of the fridge. He turns to her and smiles.

"Anything I can do for you, Cal?" James asks, leaning into the counter. 

"I was wondering if I could help you." She asks, looking around the kitchen. 

She gets a memory, she was about six or seven, and Devon was making pasta with Uncle Bryan. And it was lasagna. The same thing she was eating the day he died. It wasn't relevant to the situation, but it was enough to make her want to cry.