In a weak attempt to run from her past, Valley moves away from home after she graduates high school. She keeps to herself in this new small town like she plans and she thinks she is doing fine this way. That is until she comes across a boy who won't...
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I was restocking while Ida told me how she scheduled her and Jerry's kids to fly here for Thanksgiving. She wanted to introduce me to them when they did. Thanksgiving was not a topic I wanted to be reminded of, though. It was about two months away but I was trying to shove the thought far from my mind.
"So what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Going home?" Ida asked.
I didn't want to go home for Thanksgiving this year and I certainly didn't want to see my mom nor the empty house I left behind. My mom and her husband would do the things they did every year. They would go visit family and stay longer than the rest of the guests while I would be on the couch waiting for them to leave. It was hard to enjoy my family when all my mother did was brag about her 'top of the class' children. The children she knew nothing about other than what they got on their AP English paper or the after school activities they were in.
I bit my lip, "No."
"No, you're staying here? Well, do you have plans?"
I didn't have the money to fly back for Thanksgiving and Christmas and fly down to Ivy in Florida to meet her for spring break. So I picked Christmas and Florida. That way I could see Sadie and Ivy. I would just have to wait a little longer to see them- not that I minded spending more time away from my mom. So, no, I didn't have plans.
"No, but I'll find something to do."
The only person I was disappointed in not seeing was my sister. We'd gotten even closer now that we were not always in each other's faces.
"Oh, well, that's not too bad. But only a few months or so until you can see them for Christmas. If you like, you can spend Thanksgiving with Jerry and me"
In all honesty, I didn't mind being alone on the holidays. I didn't like them. I liked that when back in California, with all the tipsy aunts, uncles and, cousins around, I could hide and no one noticed but that was about it.
"Thanks, but it's alright. I'll be fine." It would be wrong to intrude on their family time. I knew Ida was looking forward to spending time with her kids and grandkids.
I moved over to clear off a table after a customer left, he left a generous tip too. Ida was putting away clean cups and glasses behind the counter. She was humming a soft tune while Jerry sat in one of the booths eating a muffin, reading the paper, never setting the cup of coffee too far from his grasp. As I was finishing wiping down the booth, my phone began to ring in my back pocket.
I took it out and saw the number was my mom's. I thought about answering it but decided to let it ring a few more seconds before I declined the call and shoved my phone back in my pocket.
