Those That Came Before

Holiday Cheer

The wind blew through the empty branches of the trees lining the entrance to the woods behind a little log cabin. The pitter patter of rain almost washing out the sound of the Christmas music blasting from the kitchen. The smell of cinnamon and cranberry swirling about like the sugar plum fairy. It was two days before Thanksgiving, but that didn't stop the Christmas cheer. 

The sound of the phone ringing stopped her in the middle of cookie making. She wiped her flour covered hands on the white dish towel hanging over her shoulder and picked up her cell. 

"Hello?" 

"Hey, sweetie. It's mom." The voice rang out on the other end of the line. 

"Yes, mother. I know. My cell phone has this wonderful little thing called caller ID." She rolled her honey colored eyes toward the ceiling. 

"Well anyway," Her mother huffed, disapproving of her daughter's attitude. " I am really sorry darling, but I have to cancel Thanksgiving dinner this year. Steve is taking me to the Bahamas on a last minute trip." 

She sighed, not really surprised one bit by this news. "Fine, mother. I will see you at Christmas. Have a nice trip." And with that, she hung up the phone. Tears threatened to escape, but she held them in. Thanksgiving wouldn't be canceled if her father were still here. She turned the music back up and continued to make her famous double chocolate chunk cookies. Nothing was going to stop her holiday cheer. Not even her fly by night mother who couldn't hold on to a relationship to save her life. 

The sound of the front door opening and closing brought a smile back to her face. A tall, built figure rounding the corner, catching her eyes. 

"Hey, beautiful." His voice was like music to her ears. 

"Hey, babe. How was work?" She came out from behind the island and gave him a great big hug. 

"Same crap, different day. Hey I have something I need to talk to you about." He trailed off. Her face fell, knowing what he was going to say. He was going to have to work the Thanksgiving shift. It had been looming over their plans all month long. 

"Really, Jay? Now you are bailing on me." 

"What do you mean? You knew I probably wouldn't be at dinner. They need another detective on for the day. It is over time. I can't pass that up." Jay stood in the middle of the kitchen looking sympathetically down at her. 

"Yeah, I know. Looks like I am ordering take out and binge watching Netflix." She tried to joke. 

"I'm sorry, baby. I'll make it up to you. I promise." 

"You better." She shot him a look. 

"I mean, I have to go hop in the shower. Why don't you join me. We can start there." A smirk creeping up his pink lips. 

She shook her head, tendrils of chocolatey brown hair falling around her face from her loose ponytail. She could never say no to him. No matter what it was. Especially if it involved sex. She threw the dish towel toward the sink and followed behind down the hallway to the bathroom. 

When they emerged 45 minutes later, pruned from the water and fully satisfied, there was a text waiting for her. She opened the message icon. 

'heard the news of your mom dipping out, come spend the Holiday here'

She toyed with the idea for a few minutes before answering. 

'see you soon' 

She padded down the hallway to the bedroom and turned on the light. Her duffel bag slung over a chair in the corner, she grabbed it and began packing. It was times like this that she wished she had been more diligent about doing laundry on a regular basis. 

"What are you doing?" Jay asked, leaning against the door frame in his gray sweat pants. 

"I am going to go to Georgia for a few days. Spend some time with my best friend and her family." 

Jay looked at her with a furrowed brow, but didn't protest. "I think that is a wonderful idea." He smiled and let her finish packing. 

She hadn't been to Georgia since her best friend had gotten married three years ago. Now her friend was living the dream while she was only praying that one day Jay would ask her to marry him and settle down. She snorted at that thought and threw another pair of black leggings in her bag.