“I’m so looking forward to a few days off,” Faith mused, weaving between the aisles at HomeGoods, one of her favorite stores. Sure, there was Williams Sonoma, Kitchen Virtue or the Food Network shops, but Faith found the best gems on the racks and shelves at HomeGoods. “The kitchen closes tomorrow and we don’t open up again until New Year’s Eve.”
“I hear you.”
She glanced over her shoulder to cut her eyes at me. “Mkay, says she who has been off work for a week already. I knew I should have been a teacher. You get all kinds of vacation.”
“I need all kinds of vacation. Those kids are two full-time jobs. Add the ‘at risk’ qualifier and I don’t even know why you’re complaining about me getting time off. I don’t want to see those beautiful brown faces until January 3rd at the earliest.”
“I guess,” she said, sighing. “Then can I be jealous about your post-Christmas plans, at least? I mean…” She reached for a ceramic tea-kettle and tipped it up to peer at the price tag. She grimaced and set it back down. “Jamaica? Isn’t Will laying it on a little thick?”
“You know what this is? Payback. You’ve been married, what… thirteen years now? Do you know how many stories I’ve had to listen to about your happily ever after? Dozens. Dozens, I say. You just settle down over there, old married lady, and listen to my happy stories.”
“Well, not-so-quietly, I’m excited that you have happy stories. Especially this time of year. It’s so nice to see you smiling, and out and about, your place all decorated again. Tell your stories, girl. Don’t let the fact that Anthony has never surprised me with a trip to Jamaica over the holidays deter you from bragging your face off, okay?”
“How come you don’t sound committed to that statement?”
“Cause I’m not. I’m salty as hell. Tell Will to tell Anthony the honeymoon ain't over in the Thomas household. He can still woo me. I can still be impressed.”
Faith waved a hand over the hodgepodge collection of cookware and utensils and frowned. “There’s nothing here I can’t live without. Let’s go get some hot chocolate and a cookie. You can help me finalize Christmas dinner.”
Faith and I left the store and headed to her small SUV parked a few spots from the door. As we climbed into the vehicle, I uttered a quiet admission. “I’m a little nervous about this trip to Jamaica. I mean, I told him I wanted to go, because it was the last trip my parents took before…”
I swallowed the lump trying to form in my throat. Nearly six years and I still couldn’t talk about my parents. I was working through it, though. I’d finally started seeing a therapist to take my life back from the tragic accident that took them from this world.
“It’s not the same resort, is it?”
“No, no. Not the same resort.” I shook my head. “But it’s still… I don’t know. Is it creepy to want to go there? To repeat the last vacation they took, to want to see the spot where they sat and took that last picture?”
“Not... creepy, no. But do you think you’ll find something there? Some kind of meaning or closure? You’ll probably be disappointed, if you’re expecting a big emotional moment.”
“I don’t know what I think, Faith. I just know that I feel like I need to go.”
“Then you should go. And if someone thinks that's creepy, well…” She shrugged a shoulder, then pressed the ignition button. The vehicle rumbled to life. “They don’t have to live your life, do they?”
No, I mused. I supposed they didn’t. And, as of late, my life had been pretty damned good, and I wanted to live it myself.
I’d met Will on Christmas Day the year before, at Faith’s house. Her husband had invited my old college flame to dinner and, despite my plans to sack out on the couch watching Christmas movies and drinking spiked cocoa, Faith lured me to her house.
Where I took the leap towards healing and let someone climb over that fortified brick wall I had built around my heart.
“Please promise me you and Will will not disappear halfway through dinner this year.”
I snorted before I took a sip of my salted caramel latte. “I make no promises. Especially since you let your husband invite Jay again.”
Faith sighed loudly and rolled her eyes before dropping them to the notepad sitting in front of her. She had listed what she planned to cook for Christmas dinner and was trying to cobble a shopping list out of the menu.
“I told Anthony that if we have a repeat of last year, that I will send him and Jay somewhere by themselves. Hell if I let him ruin dinner two years in a row, not when I’m making my prime rib with horseradish cream. The only reason he is coming this year is to apologize for last year.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve had my share of spending time with him. His AA journey has been inspiring, and I’m happy he and his wife have reconciled, but he’s still the same insufferable buffoon from college. I don’t even know what I saw in him.”
“So it’s still not weird, dating your college love’s younger brother?”
“He’s not my college love. He’s a guy I dated. And no, it’s not weird. Will is nothing like Jay. That’s what I love about him.”
I grinned, knowing I was beaming from my wide forehead to the tips of my toes. But it was okay. I was crazy in love and it felt good.
“Speaking of Will,” I noted, checking my watch. “He’s probably in the kitchen. It’s his night to make dinner and I like to help.”
Faith nodded, tipping back the red paper cup to sip the last of her hot chocolate. “I’d better head home, too. Anthony has had the girls all day. I can only hope he hasn’t burnt the house down trying to make pizza.”
“He’d better not. I want my prime rib with horseradish cream.”