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Chapter 14- Lexie

Thanksgiving morning arrived excitement was in the air. The smell of coffee greeted me as I walked into the kitchen to find Kate wrestling a turkey in the sink.

"Can you get this wire thing off the legs?" She asked turning to me. Her curly hair was pushed back from her forehead and she looked discouraged.

"Let me try," I laughed reaching for the legs that were sticking out of the sink. I had watched my mom prepare turkeys throughout my childhood and managed to unhook the wire bracket holding the legs together.

"Why the hell do they make it so difficult?" Kate asked.

I couldn't help but laugh until I saw a picture of the cashier from the grocery story flash across the TV screen. "Turn up the TV," I screamed to Kate, pointing at her picture.

She grabbed the remote and stood in front of the screen as we listened to the announcer recap the story.  The 18-year-old had not returned home after her shift at the store and her car remained in the parking lot.  The police were asking anyone for any information on her whereabouts.

"She's 18. She probably ran off with her boyfriend. I'm sure she's fine," Kate replied and went back to peeling potatoes.

I didn't know her personally, but it was disturbing to see a familiar face on the news. "I hope you're right." As I said the words, a strong smell of dirt washed over me bringing a queasy feeling to my stomach. The strange smell was becoming more frequent and I wasn't sure why.

Thanksgiving dinner turned out better than anticipated and the food, wine, and company were amazing.  I was nervous Lisa would ask about Chris, but she was considerate of my privacy. Only one moment of awkwardness dampened my mood when Matt accidentally mentioned Chris's return home to see his parents. I suddenly felt lost, knowing he was across the country, and wondered if Caroline was with him.

Kate sensed my dismal mood and challenged the group to some games while we ate pie. We laughed until we were exhausted and I was glad Kate convinced me to give Lisa and Kim another try.

"Well, I better get home if I want to do black Friday shopping in a few hours," Kim said standing up.

"Do you go out for that craziness?" I asked.

Lisa chimed in, "Oh it's fun. We fill out coffee cups with wine and just go people-watching in the mall."

Kate laughed. "I'd like that, Lexie let's try it."

"No thanks, I like to sleep in the mornings; the mall is the last place I want to be."

"How about if we go later in the day?" Kate pleaded.

"I don't think so," I replied. "I don't even like shopping.

Black Friday shopping had always been an event I avoided and I wasn't sure how Kate had convinced me to go to the mall. I was in an exceptionally bad mood all day after waking up with a visit from Chris in my dreams again.

We had avoided the early morning crowd but the remnants of the mad crowd remained in the hallways and the store clerks looked exhausted. The weatherman had predicted snow and it was beginning to fall at our last stop, the lingerie shop.  I didn't need any fancy bras since no one would be seeing them, but the deals were too good to pass up.

The first snowfall always brought a fresh exciting feeling and before long I found myself humming to the Christmas music on the speakers.  Kate knew exactly what she wanted while I browsed through the sale racks.

Fancy lingerie had never been my thing and maybe now was the time to invest. Chris's comments still haunted me when I overheard him telling his friends I was sexually inexperienced and could take some lessons from Kate. I picked up a white lacy bra that looked innocent, but sexy. Immediately, I knew this would have been Chris's choice and placed it back, continuing down the row until I found a black bra and pantie set.

Kate paid for her purchase and went out to brush the snow off her car as I stood in line to pay. Suddenly, the hair on my neck stood up and I felt someone staring at me. Apprehensive to turn around, I glanced over my shoulder to find the strange man from the grocery store behind me.

"It is nice to see you again Lexie," he said walking up the counter.

I couldn't remember telling him my name and hoped my name was the only personal information he knew of me.

"Yes, you too. How is your mom?"

As soon as I mentioned his mom, the creepy smile dissipated and he instantly seemed agitated with my question.

"Fine" he mumbled, reaching his hands into his jacket pockets and looking towards the ground. He continued to mumble something and walked out of the store as I moved to the cashier.

The cute blonde clerk smiled as I handed her my purchase. "What a strange man!" I commented so she didn't think he was a friend.

She nodded back, "We get all kinds in here. I've seen him here a few times, but never buys anything. Merry Christmas!"

Big, fluffy, snowflakes fell as I stepped outside to find Kate's car parked near the door. Christmas music was blaring on the radio as I got in. I couldn't wait to tell her about the strange man again.

"Lexie, you know how to attract men," she said after I told her my story. "We better have a date night tonight to forget men. Let's get some wine and snacks and watch the snow"."

I laughed and replied, "Sounds like the perfect date."

By the time we arrived home, the ground was white and the moon seemed exceptionally bright. We ran through the yard, making snowballs, throwing them at each other; behaving like small children. I had forgotten what a stress reliever snow was if given the time to play in it.

Our hair was plastered to our heads as we stumbled into the house. We changed into some pajamas and opened up a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine.

"I think I need to cut back on my wine," I told Kate as I took my first sip.

"Nonsense, we're college kids and this is what we do. Also, there isn't that much wine in a bottle."

"I know, but it seems like I do this every night."

"It's the holiday season. Don't worry about it until next year," she laughed.

We clanked our glasses together and toasted to next year. We chatted for hours about everything except men. I knew men were her favorite subject, but she was considerate of me and kept it to herself.

"Let's get a tree tomorrow, "Kate exclaimed while opening another bottle of wine.

"A tree. We don't even have any decorations. Besides, if we finish this bottle, I won't be going anywhere tomorrow."

"Getting a Christmas tree is just as important as eating turkey on Thanksgiving, besides we can make our decorations. Please, "Kate wined. "We can bring Matt and he can do the sawing. We won't have to do anything."

"Let me think about it," I laughed.