Page 29 of The Thanksgiving Hookup

When I had been video-chatting with her, he had shoved his face in the screen and introduced himself before saying a bunch of flattering things about me. I saw her eyes light up, and suddenly, all she cared about was when she was going to meet him in person, how long he’d been a pilot for, and what his mom was like in Miami. I thought she had started planning our wedding by the time we ended the call.

The elevator halted, the cage bouncing, and River reached for my hand and weaved his fingers with mine as we exited. Apparently, we were making a statement.

“How do you think Chad will react?” I whispered to River and felt his grip on me tighten.

“Hopefully with a comment that won’t make me want to hit him this time.”

Before anything else was said, our group came into view. Along with a couple of additions from Stacy’s flight—both pilots.

“Shit. You two really did hook up. I was joking. I think.” Chad acted like nothing bad or untoward had occurred last night.

Maybe he didn’t remember all the things he’d said. Or maybe he simply didn’t care.

“Are you two a thing now? Is this really happening?” Carmella asked, her eyebrows wagging, but there was concern behind her gaze.

She didn’t want me to get my heart broken.

I looked at River, letting him answer for us both.

“It’s definitely a thing, and it’s happening. Right, babe?”

My cheeks heated with the term of endearment, and I buried my head in his shoulder instead of saying anything in response.

You see, there were no guarantees when it came to love. If you thought about it, most of the time, relationships didn’t work out. They ended. Sometimes badly. But we always moved on, in search of the next person to give our heart to.

Whatever was going to happen with me and River, it was worth the risk.

River pulled out a seat for me, and I sat before he scooted it closer to the table and took the seat next to mine. His hand instantly found my thigh, and it stayed there, his thumb gently moving back and forth.

“What about when we’re done being snowed in?” Chad asked, directing his question at my new… whatever River was.

“What about it?” River responded.

“Will you two still be a thing when we go back to work? Or is this just a holiday fling?”

Chad actually wasn’t trying to be an asshole with his questions. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was just genuinely curious.

“This is the start of something real,” River answered.

I bit my bottom lip to try to stop myself from smiling, but couldn’t. I felt the grin take over my whole face.

Raul appeared with a big smile of his own even though I was sure he had to be tired. Other than one other bar employee that I’d only seen sporadically, I hadn’t noticed anyone else helping him.

“Happy Thanksgiving, everyone,” he said. “We’ve opened the buffet tonight, so you can have your classic holiday meal your way. The meat is turkey or ham. There are three different kinds of potatoes, two types of stuffing, steamed vegetables, salad, cornbread, fresh rolls, cranberry sauce, and apple pie for dessert.”

“That’s awesome,” I said because I loved the idea of choosing our favorite foods, like we would if we were at home.

“I’ll bring you some dinner plates, and then you can head over. Let me know what you’d like to drink, and I’ll start making them. Except you.” He pointed at Chad and laughed. “Joking, joking. But maybe not so many tonight, all right?”

Chad’s face turned bright red, and this time, I knew it was because he was embarrassed.

“Yeah. Okay. Sorry about that.”

Once our plates were filled and we were all seated back at the table, I raised my hand in the air, getting the attention of everyone in the group.

“Do you think we could go around the table and say what we’re thankful for? I know it’s cheesy, but it was something my dad loved to do, and I’d love to carry on the tradition, if you guys don’t mind.”

“I love it.” Carmella grinned. “I’ll go first.”

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