Page 2 of Light Up My Life

“Don’t mess with perfection,” he said. “They’re not ready.”

“He doesn’t want your marshmallow mountain anyway,” I said.

“Everyone wants it.”

I shook my head and waited by Momma as she carved a piece of turkey and laid it on the plate. I covered it all with foil.

“Tell Mr. Lenny happy Thanksgiving and that we are thinking about him,” Momma said as I headed for the door.

“Okay.”

It was cold outside, and I immediately regretted not putting on my coat. I’ll be fast, I thought. I was halfway across the street when I heard footsteps behind me.

I figured it was Harris so I said, “He’s not going to have candy.”

“Guess I should turn around then,” a deep voice said.

I let out an embarrassing yelp, nearly dropping my plate in surprise. I whirled around to see Ryan Moreno, the only son of our terrible neighbors, standing behind me. Ryan was a major snob. Though we went to the same high school and literally lived next door to each other, I could count on one hand the number of times we’d ever interacted in my life.

“What are you doing?” I asked him.

“Delivering a Thanksgiving plate to Mr. Lenny.” Ryan held up a plastic-wrapped plate. I could see mashed potatoes and turkey and broccolini through the covering. “You too?”

“Yes, we do every year.” I continued my walk.

He followed. “So do we.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Since when?”

“Since forever. It’s probably why your moms started.”

I bristled. “Excuse me?”

He shrugged, all smug-like.

“We bring Mr. Lenny a plate every holiday,” I said.

“So do we.”

Now I knew he was lying. “I’ve never seen you before.” We had both started walking faster and were now practically running up the steps to Mr. Lenny’s front door.

Ryan knocked first and looked at me like I should award him some sort of prize.

Mr. Lenny opened the door, and we both shoved our plates forward and shouted, “Happy Thanksgiving!” in his face.

Mr. Lenny blinked several times, then said, “Thank you.” He took Ryan’s plate first and that irritated me more than it should’ve. He set it on a table just inside his door, then took mine. “Tell your parents thank you as well.”

“I will,” I said. “I hope you have a great day!” It sounded fake coming out of my mouth, but I couldn’t change it now.

“You too, dear,” he said.

After he shut the door, I spun on my heel and cut a pathway through the grass. When Ryan matched my steps, I said, “You should tell your parents they don’t need to do this anymore. We have it covered.”

“You should tell your parents that.”

I rolled my eyes and put some space between us, heading over to my house.

I glanced back once to see Ryan reach his front door. It was a huge front door to go along with his huge house. My gaze lingered long enough that I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see his dad when he stepped outside as Ryan opened the door.