Page 10 of Christmas By The Shore

“It’ll be fun!” she prompted. “I thought you said you wanted to get back into the dating world.”

“I said I would let you make me an account on a dating app, but I never said I was going to start going up to random men in bars and chatting them up. That’s not something I feel comfortable with. I am only allowing you to put me out there electronically because at least then I’ll have the security of operating from my phone first.”

“Lame.”

Cat laughed. “I don’t know what you expected. You running into Chris definitely threw me for a loop, but it didn’t change my entire personality.” She brought her cool drink up to her lips but only sipped a tiny bit. She wanted to go slow. It had been a long time since she’d had hard alcohol, and this bar was notorious for serving generous pours. “But listen, before I forget, we’ve got to talk about Thanksgiving.”

“Oh yeah.” She nodded happily. “Did you talk to your mom? I was hoping they might be in need of an extra dessert because I have this coffee cake recipe I’ve been dying to try. It doesn’t takevery long either, so assuming we’ll make the drive down there on Wednesday night, I could easily make the cake the morning of. I’ll just need the oven for a little bit. They have a dual anyway, right?”

“Er—yes, they do, but?—”

“And wine,” McKenzie interrupted. “What kind of wine do your parents drink again? There’s this liquor store not far from my building that always has this week-long Black Friday sale, so they’ve already got markdowns. I figured it’s my one chance to be able to afford really nice wine. At least, until I become aNew York Timesbestselling author, obviously.”

“Kenz, the thing is?—”

“Is your mom still trying to do keto? God, I hope not. Nothing more depressing than a keto version of Thanksgiving dinner, don’t you think?”

“Sure, yeah, but the thing is,” Catherine said, speaking fast so she could get her complete thought out before her friend talked over her again, “we’re not going to be havinganysort of Thanksgiving dinner with my parents.”

“Huh?” Her face fell. “Oh no, don’t tell me that you’re backing out for work again! Please, Cat, don’t do this to me. I know you’re busy, but?—”

Catherine put a hand up. “It’s not me who is bailing. My parents are the ones who aren’t going to be in town this year.”

McKenzie frowned. “What?”

“Apparently, they are going on a cruise. My dad forgot to tell me, so when I called my mom earlier today to let her know that we were both going to be coming to Cape May for the holiday,she informed me that they were getting on a cruise first thing tomorrow morning and weren’t going to be back until January 2nd.”

“They’re not even going to be here for Christmas?”

Cat shook her head. “Nope.”

“So then—what? You’re just going to spend the holiday season here in Boston again? Doing nothing?”

“I—I hadn’t thought it through really. Granted, since it’s already the week of Thanksgiving, I don’t see any reason to expect another invitation to someone else’s dinner. As for Christmas, I have no idea what I’m going to do. Probably the same thing I did last year.”

“No. No, I do not accept this. What you did last year was too sad! And to think, you wouldn’t even come home with me for Christmas Eve dinner, even though my parents live like half an hour away.”

“In my defense, it was storming pretty bad that night, and you know how stressed out I get when it comes to driving in the snow.”

“Excuses, excuses.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll tell you one thing. I’m not going to let it happen again. You and I are going to do something forbothmajor holidays this year, and who knows? If I’m feeling really bold, then I might even force you to come out with me on New Year's Eve as well. We’ll just have to see how things shake out.”

Catherine laughed and threw back half her drink in one swig. So much for going slow. The prospect of McKenzie making her go out and celebrate three upcoming holidays was enoughto make her want to order another one, which is what she did. She understood that she was staring down the barrel of a very frustrating month and a half, during which time McKenzie wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She would be hounding her around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, and it would most likely prove more distracting than if Catherine had just been able to visit home for a day or two.

Not to mention, the more time McKenzie spent getting on Cat’s case about not holing up alone in the office, the less time she would be spending actually writing her next book. It was truly a recipe for disaster.

“I’ll buy us some sliced turkey,” Catherine said as she slid out of her bar stool. “And we can make sandwiches and watch the parade on Thursday. But that’s all I’m promising you right now, okay?”

“Where are you going?”

“I have to use the bathroom,” she said. “Order me another round if you happen to get the bartender’s attention.”

“You really want another one?”

Catherine shrugged. “Why not? We can get to celebrating early.”

McKenzie pursed her lips. “You’re just getting another drink to drown your sorrows because you aren’t going to be able to work the rest of the year away, aren’t you?”

“I don’t see why it matters. I’m going to stay out a little longer with you. Isn’t that what you want?”

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