A Beautiful Instrument

56: A Reason to be Thankful

We head out for drinks with Christian and Monica afterwards. Jeremy keeps glancing over at me while we drive to the bar. I finally call him out. "What?"

"You're such a badass." He tells me.

"You think so, huh?" I quip.

He gets serious. "I'm also sorry I put you through that. I had no clue."

I accept his apology. "There's a reason why I have almost all together given up on having her in my life. She's too much."

He looks at me and sighs before turning his attention back to the road. I continue. "I actually want to thank you."

He scoffs. "For what? Ruining our night?"

I rub my hand over his forearm. "Giving me the strength to confront her directly. I've done the passive aggressive angle and it doesn't faze her. But seeing you try and fail urged me to be direct."

"So does that mean you owe me?" He asks with a devilish smirk.

"Oh most definitely not! That dinner was still painful as shit! And we owe Christian and Monica too. I can't believe Christian picked up that tab." I laugh.

"Yeah. We need to find a really awesome Christmas gift for the guy." Jeremy agrees.

"I have some ideas that would also be cost-effective. Hey, can I ask you something?" I pivot as I am reminded of something he said earlier.

"You know you can."

"When you said you're saving for our future...what did you mean exactly?" I ask.

"All will be revealed soon. I just know there are things we want in life and I want to be sure I can give that to you." He states cryptically.

"Jeremy, as long as you're the one who is beside me that is really all I care about. My mom thinks I'm a snob and only like finer things, but I'm my father's daughter. I take joy in spending time with the ones I love." I confess, hoping he knows that.

Jeremy smiles at me and says softly. "I really wish I could have met your father. He sounds like a wise man and I'd thank him for giving you the foundation to become the woman that you are today."

I feel my eyes flood with tears. "Oh my goodness! Don't give me a reason to cry!"

He brings my hand up to his lips. I wish we weren't going out now. Once at the bar, however, drinks turned out to be a fantastic idea. The vibe is chill and we share a good laugh that we can collectively chalk that up as the worst Thanksgiving ever.

"Well, we just set the bar low so we can always be improving." Christian reframes it.

Monica tipsy giggles and gestures with her near-empty glass. "You're mighty certain you're going to make it another year."

"You always keep the guy who foots the bill." Christian jokes, snatching her glass.

"About that..." I start to say.

Christian shrugs. "Consider it an early Christmas gift that will come with a much smaller something at Christmas time."

At the mention of Christmas, we start talking about plans. Christian is taking Monica home to meet his parents on Christmas Day so we decide to get together on the eve for dinner at Monica's house. Jeremy pins Monica with a look. "You aren't bailing on Josie, are you?"

Monica, even her intoxicated state, shakes her head adamantly. "Never, brother. I was going to ask Christian to come with us."

"I already asked Leigh." They share a moment of eye contact and then nod to each other. We finish our drinks and decide to call it a night since we're all together again tomorrow, anyway.