“Oh, Landry...”

“Laura is used to having her way. She’s having trouble accepting that it was too late a long time ago,” he said. “There’s no going back for me.”

“I hope you don’t regret it,” she said.

* * *

Late that night, while Landry was getting a shower before bed, Kaylee called Howard. “I hope I didn’t wake you?” she said.

“No,” he said sleepily. “No, not at all. I mean, wake me anytime. It’s good to hear from you.”

“I wanted to say thank you,” she said. “I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the girls. That was very thoughtful for you to suggest it.”

“In the end I didn’t do much but make a few phone calls. There are no plane tickets to be had on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Did you know that’s the busiest travel day of the year? So a couple of them had to drive a huge distance, but they were good sports about it. I’m going to send out some fruit or dessert baskets as a show of my appreciation.” He paused and started to cough.

She suddenly felt a chill. What if Howard became gravely ill right as she was beginning to not hate him anymore?

“It’s obvious, they love you very much,” he said. “They seemed happy I suggested the idea even though it was last-minute and a lot of trouble. Was it fun?”

“So much fun,” she said. “We ate like pigs, drank a little too much, watched movies, talked till we went hoarse. It was wonderful, Howard. If I’d thought of it myself, I wouldn’t have wanted to impose, so you doing that meant even more. But you know what was the best part? That you seemed to understand my relationship with those women. The relationship I had with Mom and those women. That you respected it and didn’t try to include yourself.”

“No, honey. I realize that’s yours. I’m so glad you were able to be together.”

“So, maybe if you’re willing to travel again, we can get together? Not on Christmas because I don’t know how I’m going to feel on Christmas. Probably like crap, considering. But maybe we can have a nice dinner before Christmas. A week or ten days before. How does that sound?”

“I would like that very much.”

“Landry has a guest room. You can stay at his house, which is right next door to my house. Would that be acceptable?”

“It would be wonderful. Just let me know when.”

“I’ll give you a call. And thanks again. Dad.”

“You’re welcome, honey,” he said, a slight catch in his voice.

12

BY THE TIME Landry and Kaylee returned to town on the second day of the tree raising, it was almost fully decorated. There weren’t as many people there as Kaylee would have expected. She found Mel sitting in a corner of the bar at a table, her laptop open.

“This is usually my position,” Kaylee said.

“Oh, hi. I was just working on a special project,” Mel said, closing her computer. “I barely talked to you yesterday. I was busy bossing Jack around most of the day. Sometimes I don’t know how he stands it.”

“I hear some men like it,” Kaylee said with a laugh. “I don’t know any, but that’s what I hear.”

“So, I met a couple of your friends and Landry said you had quite the Thanksgiving party...”

“Is that all he told you? Because my father arranged for my best friends to come up for Thanksgiving. There were six of us plus Landry, and it was amazing. We borrowed the Templetons’ house. It was a very special day. See, last year, we had my mom. She’d decided to discontinue chemo because she wasn’t sure what was worse, death or chemo, and she’d run out of time. By Thanksgiving she was feeling a little bit better so her best friend and I put together a girls-only Thanksgiving dinner. We knew it could be my mom’s last and we had the most wonderful time. This was almost a reunion.”

“And your dad arranged it?” Mel asked. “I thought you didn’t get along with him very well.”

“He started putting it together with Janette’s help and the generosity of the Templetons. And Landry. He picked up the crab legs and oysters and he certainly stocked the place with wine. He didn’t expect to share it with us but the girls wouldn’t let him leave. He had a wonderful time. It was perfect and just what I needed. That was the last time I saw my mom feeling good and having fun. This group of women—we blend just right. In fact, I think my friends like hanging out with me because they love my mom and her friends.”

“That sounds fantastic. And how’s the book coming?”

“I actually like it,” she said. “I’m closing in on the ending and should be finishing up in the next week.”

“That will be such a relief, won’t it?”

“You have no idea! I think coming up here saved me in a dozen ways. Getting that book done is at the top of the list.”

“Oh? I would’ve put my money on Landry being at the top of the list,” Mel said.

“He’s right up there, that’s for sure. What a guy.”

“So, will you two be staying in touch after the holidays pass?”

“I certainly hope so,” Kaylee said. “I don’t know when or how, but I hope so. I can’t imagine not having him in my life.”

“Have you made any special plans for Christmas?” Mel asked.

“Nah,” Kaylee said. “I’m just going to let Christmas wash over me. Maybe after this year I’ll be able to consider having fun on Christmas again, but...”

“Your mom?”

“She passed away on Christmas morning,” Kaylee said. “She’d been lingering. I don’t think she was in a great deal of pain at that point, thanks to Hospice and their drugs. I don’t know if I was relieved or devastated, but she left me while I was holding her hand.” She glanced away. “I try to hold on to the sweet memories, but then I get to feeling sorry for myself...”

“I bet you have many sweet memories...”

“It was usually just the two of us for Christmas. Sometimes we’d include friends—we had a lot of friends between us. But Christmas morning it was just the two of us. I’ve been writing for a dozen years or so and our joke was that I’d work in my pajamas, so every Christmas I got a new pair. Really nice, classy, soft and beautiful pajamas. She gave me other things, too, but the pajamas... They were always a treat. And last year, after she passed, I found a box under the tree and there they were, my annual pajamas. Red and silky and perfect. I’d been so preoccupied and distracted I didn’t even notice them and I have no idea how or when she got them. She must have ordered them online. She must have had the Hospice nurse wrap them.”

“Aw, that’s so touching. I understand your feelings completely but if you decide to make plans or join us, I bet it would make your mother happy.”

“I’m sure she wouldn’t want me to be all sad and depressed, but it’s kind of hard to be otherwise. That’s the day she left me. You know, she loved getting her nails done and while she was so sick that last month, the Hospice nurse would do her nails. After she had passed, I went to the kitchen to make the calls and when I went back to her bedroom, the nurse was doing her nails. It was the most tenderhearted thing I’ve ever seen.” She smiled at Mel. “I wish you could have met my mother. She was so funny and smart. You would have loved her.”

“There’s no question in my mind,” Mel said. Then Mel’s cell phone rang. “Excuse me a second, Kaylee,” she said. Then she answered the phone. “Hey there, Marjorie, how’s it going? No, I’m afraid I haven’t made any progress and I’ve checked with everyone I know. Well, I’m not going to let the child go into foster care before Christmas. We’ll make room for her if we need to, but she’s not going to be alone at Christmas. I’ll let you know if I get anywhere.”

Mel hung up the phone and rested her head in her hand for a moment, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. Then she looked at Kaylee. “Sorry.”

“I take it you have a heavy load right now,” Kaylee said.

“It’s very sad. My terminal patient. She has a child. It’s not unlike what happened with your mother. She was diagnosed less than a year ago. And she will leave behind a daughter. Oh, that’s right—you met Mallory. She’s only ten and there is no father in the picture. She’s the sweetest child I’ve ever known.”

“I love Mallory! Remember our lunch? It was like a book club. Where will she go if she loses her mother?”

“I think to the neighbors. They have a ten-year-old daughter and they’re good friends. The problem is, the neighbors are a family of eight pressed into a small house. But they’re good and generous people. We’re working on details. Mallory’s mother is single and there’s no family that I know of.” She shook her head. “If it gets to the county, they will put her in foster care.”

“Surely they’ll find a good family,” Kaylee said.

“Eventually. We suffer a shortage around here so they usually begin with emergency foster care and that often results in moving the kids around a bit. A few weeks here, a few weeks there, until a permanent home can be found that is right for everyone concerned.” Mel smiled and patted Kaylee’s hand. “Maybe her mother will make it till Christmas, but I highly doubt it. I’d give her another week at the most.”

“Wow, and I thought I had it bad. At least I was thirty-five and able to look after myself.”

“Yes, a lot of kinks in the road of life,” Mel said. “I’ll do my best. Now, are you staying a while? Because Jack is going to light up the tree at about six. You really should see it. Even if you don’t think you’re in the mood.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

* * *

Landry was talking to Colin Riordan across the street from the bar, watching as the last of the lights were going up on the tree. He saw Brie wave from the porch of the bar and he waved back. Then she walked across the street to join him.