Page 59 of An Unexpected Turn
TWENTY-FIVE
PEYTON
“On nights like tonight, I remember the days when I’d be out until dawn,” Erin mused with a wistful sigh before she took a long sip of wine. “I actually was a little jealous of my seniors before I dismissed them today.”
Deirdre and I shared a smile as Erin’s words slurred out of her mouth. The housewarming party my school friends had thrown was winding down. The remnants of charcuterie boards and dip littered my kitchen. Cam had to head home to help his wife prep for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and left Erin and Deirdre to linger over the last bottles of red they’d brought me tonight.
My own head spun from too much wine and not enough food. I dove into the alcohol a little too hard before I’d created enough padding in my stomach. Uncle Keith was picking my mother up from the train station in the morning and dropping her off here before he came back with Aunt Maya and the boys. Just enough time to pick at all the ways I was preparing the side dishes wrong.
I wanted to host Thanksgiving here and give my dining room table a purpose other than a makeshift office for when I came home from school. Plus, I wanted to thank my aunt and uncle for all those weeks of free room and board. Aunt Maya was bringing the turkey—thank God—so I only had to synchronize everything else.
School let out early today, and I’d managed to finish all the baking I needed to do, already anticipating being too tipsy to go near a stove after my friends left tonight.
“Thanksgiving may be my least favorite holiday, other than the food.” Deirdre chuckled. “It takes a long time to deflect the why am I still single and didn’t bring anyone questions.”
“I hated that,” Erin agreed. “Before I married Will, I dreaded Thanksgiving. I think it’s because dinner is the whole focus of the day, and Christmas has more distractions.”
“I may have a reprieve from that this year, seeing as how the focus will be on how I moved upstate at what my mother describes as a moment’s notice.”
“So hopefully you can dodge the ‘Can I set you up?’ questions I get from family every Thanksgiving because I’m not seeing anyone.”
“I am seeing someone,” I said, shocking myself at how it just slipped out.
They whipped their heads toward me, my news seeming to sober them a bit as well.
Jake and Mike were heading up to his mother’s house until Saturday morning, and then he was scheduled for an all-weekend job. I wished the someone I was seeing would be sitting next to me tomorrow as my mother counted the lumps in my mashed potatoes, but there were a multitude of reasons why that wasn’t happening this year.
“You sneak.You never said anything.”
“It’s new.” I shrugged. “We’re keeping it to ourselves for the moment.”
“Ah, I see.” Erin nodded, shooting me a grin. “That little smile playing on your lips must mean you’re still at the good part.”
“Good part?” Deirdre asked as she swirled the rest of the wine in her glass.
“You know, that passionate, I can’t think of anything but you and the glorious sex we’re having part.”
I sputtered around the rim of my glass. After a few drinks, Erin lost any kind of filter, but she was pretty spot-on. Jake would come over when Mike went out with friends, and we’d have that glorious sex until he had to go home. Each time he’d go, goodbye became more excruciating.
It would have been nice to be out around my family tomorrow, but Jake kept insisting that we tell my uncle together because he didn’t want me to bear the brunt of it. Aunt Maya knew something was brewing between us and probably had a feeling that we were somewhat together by now, but I knew she wouldn’t bring it up unless I did.
Mike’s fight seemed to blow over, the football team now keeping themselves in check for the time being, but I still kept an eye on all of them. When I’d see Mike in school, he didn’t appear bothered or fearful, so I hoped he’d moved past it. Other than an amazing man in my life whom I couldn’t tell anyone about, life had reverted to a normal routine.
“So, who is he?” Deirdre shot me a wry grin. “And Erin must be right, because you haven’t stopped smiling since you brought it up.”
“As I said, it’s new. When I’m ready, you’ll hear all about it.”
When I was ready was something I was anxious to find out myself. I was curious about what had happened when parents dated faculty in the past, but I couldn’t ask them now. First, because that would tip them off a little, and second, because I didn’t totally trust them yet. They’d basically catered this party for me tonight, but after almost every friend I had in my old school scurried away when I’d hit my lowest point, for the moment, I kept it superficial with work friends.
“I can see why you’d want to keep things to yourself. In this town, if you have coffee with someone and appear too close to each other, everyone starts to speculate.”
My mind went to that afternoon in Mary’s coffee shop that seemed like years ago, when Mary hovered over us. Maybe people were already talking, and when it finally came out about Jake and me, it would be an anticlimactic moot point. But I’d bet the age difference and connection to my uncle would give it some legs for a while, even if he wasn’t a parent of one of my students.
I had a constant headache as the carousel of possibilities went around in my head.
“Not to talk work at a party,” Deirdre said, turning toward me. “But I’d like to plan a parent workshop for when we get back from break. We could do it on one night for both freshmen and sophomores or separately, but judging by the past turnout rates, I think a combo night is fine. If you’re interested.”
“Sure! You know I’m always in for that,” I said, already thinking of how I’d act at school around Jake. My mind went to old faculty meetings when I’d make it a point not to look at Travis for too long, even when he was speaking.
