Yours for Christmas

If any of her friends knew that was what she secretly longed for, they would be surprised. After all, she’d been married. Happily—or so it had appeared on the outside. But not in her heart, she thought. Will had been a terrific guy...just not for her.

Theirs hadn’t been a bad marriage. Just not special. Maybe they’d married too young. Maybe they’d grown apart because of his frequent deployments. There could be a thousand reasons. Her only hope was that he’d never figured out that she wasn’t happy.

* * *

THANKSGIVING MORNING DAWNED clear and cold. Bailey was up early—in part to prepare the turkey and stuffing, but mostly because she couldn’t sleep.

She was going to spend the entire day with Kenny. The realization made her feel like she was sixteen again and had a mad crush on... She stopped applying her mascara so she could laugh without poking herself in the eye. Because the cliché that had come to mind was a mad crush on the football captain. And she would bet that Kenny had been just that. He was the kind of guy who would take charge of the team and lead them to the championship.

Not that she would have been there to see it, she reminded herself as she leaned into the mirror and continued applying her makeup. She would have been working as many hours as she could manage. There hadn’t been time for things like football games.

It wasn’t going to be like that for Chloe, she told herself. Chloe was growing up in a community where she connected with people. Bailey wanted her daughter to feel safe and strong. Like she could do anything.

Bailey’s grandmother had been willing to take in her only granddaughter when her own daughter had skipped town. The older woman had been loving but firm. The message was clear. Bailey was expected to take care of herself starting the day she turned eighteen. To that end, Bailey had put aside her dreams of a college education and had instead focused on after-school jobs and learned to be an adult as early as possible. It wasn’t until years later that she’d saved enough to go to community college.

She supposed the lessons had served her well. While she’d had to adjust when Will died, she’d known that even if she didn’t always feel capable, she had the skill set to survive.

She put away her makeup and tidied the small bathroom. It was the only one in the apartment and they were going to have company. She paused to take in the pink-and-gold plastic shower curtain, the princess-printed towels Chloe loved and the turkey-shaped liquid soap dispenser on the small vanity. Probably not anything a man like Kenny was used to.

She walked into her bedroom and dressed. While the thought of getting all fancy and sexy for their visitor was fun, it simply wasn’t going to happen. For one thing, she wasn’t the sexy type. For another, she didn’t actually own anything that fit that category. She was a single mom who worked for the mayor. Her clothes were either casual or for business. There wasn’t room for much else in her life. She didn’t date, so there was no LBD in the back of her closet.

She did have on a nice pair of dark wash jeans and a deep brown sweater with flecks of gold and green in the weave. The cotton blend was just thick enough to be warm but not so heavy as to add bulk. She thought maybe the colors were good for her complexion and brought out the green in her eyes. Of course while she was cooking she would be wearing an apron with a turkey on it. Not exactly a pattern designed to bring a man to his knees.

Bailey stepped in front of her dresser and started to take out the hot rollers. She was determined to have pretty waves in her hair. It was the best she could do. Not that Kenny would notice anything more than the fact that they were friends and he liked her kid. She was clear on that. Any crushes went strictly one way. But that was fine because her giddiness was enough for two.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. Chloe got up and ate her breakfast while Bailey got the stuffing together. The scent of sautéing onions and celery filled the small kitchen. The turkey was already out of the refrigerator and in the roasting pan.

She’d made the sweet potato casserole the night before. It only had to be reheated, which would happen after the turkey had come out of the oven and was resting. The potatoes were peeled and sitting in water. She’d prepared the broccoli for the steamer. All that was left was for her to make her famous cheese biscuits and she would do that after the parade. They only took twenty minutes, which meant they would share space with the sweet potato casserole.

She would make gravy while Kenny carved and, with luck, they would sit down to a perfect dinner. Or just a good one, she thought happily. Because perfect was seriously overrated.

She’d already set the table, as well. The centerpiece was a sterling silver bowl with a candle in it. While they weren’t going to decorate for Christmas until after the move, she’d put her favorite gingerbread-men cookie jar on the old sideboard she’d picked up at a garage sale when they’d first moved to town.

“I don’t remember the parade from last year,” Chloe told her as she carried her cereal bowl to the sink.

“We went.”

Although they hadn’t stayed long. Chloe had said she wasn’t feeling well and Bailey had brought her home. She’d known that what was bothering her daughter had little to do with a virus and everything to do with the loss of her father.

Chloe had come a long way, Bailey thought gratefully. She would always miss her dad, but she’d remembered how to be happy again. She had friends, she loved school and she was thriving. No mother could ask for more.

“I’m really excited to see it again,” Chloe told her. “We’re going to meet up with my friends, right? I told you where that was?”