Page 124 of Choosing You

“Yeah. I can always come back down here if I need something.”

We go up to his room and I race over to open the drapes. “I can’t believe it’s snowing. It’s not even Thanksgiving yet.”

Garret comes up behind me, putting his arms around me and kissing the top of my head.

“Speaking of Thanksgiving, when are you heading home? I assume Ryan’s coming to get you?”

“I’m not going home for Thanksgiving. It’s too far a drive and plane tickets are way too expensive. Plus, I don’t really like planes. I’ve never been on one but—”

He turns me around to face him. “So what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”

“I don’t know yet. Probably catch up on some reading. Maybe start studying for finals. I’m not sure.”

“I mean, like on Thanksgiving day. Where are you going for dinner?”

“I don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving. I’ll just get some groceries for my room. Actually I was going to ask you if you’d give me a ride to the store before you head home for break.”

“You can’t skip Thanksgiving. It’s a major holiday. You have to stuff yourself with turkey and mashed potatoes. You can’t sit here by yourself. Nobody will even be around. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

“Why would I tell you this? Why do you care what I do for Thanksgiving?”

“Because I don’t want you here all alone.”

I try to break free from him, but he doesn’t let me. “Really, Garret. It’s fine. I never do anything for Thanksgiving.”

“Hold on. You said the same thing about your birthday. So you don’t celebrate your birthday. You don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. What about Christmas?”

I need to get him off this topic. Holidays are not something I like to talk about. At Christmas, there were no presents. No Christmas dinner. No tree. No decorations. Just my angry drunk of a mother yelling at me until she passed out.

“I kind of skip Christmas, too.” I try to wiggle free again with no luck. “Let’s watch a movie. What do you want to see?”

Garret doesn’t answer. I glance up to see him looking at me like I’ve just told him the saddest story ever. I hate it when people look at me that way. So what if I missed some stupid holidays? There’s no reason for him to feel sorry for me about that.

“Didn’t you have holidays with Frank and Ryan?”

I sigh, wishing he would just let it go. “Yes. We usually went to a hotel for Thanksgiving dinner and to the casino for Christmas dinner. Frank and Ryan aren’t really into holidays either.”

“You need a real Thanksgiving, Jade. The parade, the dinner, football. You need to experience all of it.”

“No, I don’t. I really don’t care about it. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll come up here and watch the parade on your TV.” It doesn’t seem to satisfy him. He’s still giving me that look. “So what areyoudoing for Thanksgiving?”

“Going to the Cayman Islands. Ever since Katherine came into the picture, she makes us go to some tropical destination for Thanksgiving. I hate it. It’s just not Thanksgiving when it’s 100 degrees outside. We still have the turkey and all that stuff. We have it all catered in, but it’s not the same as being home.”

“When do you leave?”

“The Wednesday before Thanksgiving.”

“Well, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. You get to swim in the ocean. Hang out on the beach.”

That look is still on his face and it’s starting to annoy me.

“Jade, I’m sure you can go to someone’s house for dinner. It’s still over a week away. I’ll ask around.”

“I’m not going, so don’t ask anyone. I’ll be way happier here in my room. Now can we just watch a movie?”

Thankfully, he doesn’t pressure me anymore. I don’t want to argue with him about it. I used to get all upset when everyone else had these holiday celebrations and I didn’t, but I’ve finally moved past it. So the last thing I want is to have Garret telling me what I’m missing out on.

After an hour of watching the movie, I check out the window again and see that even more snow has piled up.

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