Love Lost And Found: A Holiday Romance Read online

  “Oh, yes, I joined a little book club at Cat’s Corner Bookstore. She and some of her friends ran it.” Aunt Lynn wore a tight smile, indicating that her time at the book club had not been so ideal.

  “Well, I guess the club is still going strong, if you ever want to come back,” Kyle said. “They’re reading Fifty Shades of Gray this week, I guess.” His cheeks turned slightly pink and so did Lara’s.

  “Oh, sure, sure. But I’m too busy right now. Getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow and all. This year it’s my turn to host dinner so the whole family will be here.”

  “Just as well. That’s a terrible book,” Lara muttered.

  “Well, that must be nice that your whole family is coming.” Kyle smiled at Lara. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy seeing all of your family.”

  “Of course,” Lara nodded.

  “Perhaps I should go check on the turkey,” Uncle Joey said.

  “The turkey?” Kyle looked confused.

  “Oh, yes. We barbecue it for three days underground. We’ll dig it up tomorrow morning before everyone arrives,” Aunt Lynn explained.

  “Ah. That’s so…refreshing. My family always orders a turkey.”

  Lara huddled into her sweater. The differences between the Brennan's and the McClure’s had always been so vast. She loved her dysfunctional, zany family so much but she had always envied Kyle’s. Kyle’s family never had money problems, and they could afford everything nice and new. Their couches didn’t have tufts coming out of the cushions.

  “Want me to come check on the turkey with you?” Kyle added.

  “Well, sure,” Uncle Joey said. “I’ll need you to help turn the spit.”

  The two men trudged out into the yard where the barbecue pit held the slowly cooking turkey.

  “What are you doing?” Lara hissed at Aunt Lynn, who was now setting the table.

  “I invited him to dinner, that’s all,” she said innocently.

  “Really? Why would you do that?”

  Aunt Lynn sighed. “Lara, you seem so lonely. And when I saw Kyle at the HEB with his mom, well, I just thought it would be nice for you two to see each other again. You used to be so in love –“

  “You mean you invited him days ago? And you didn’t think to warn me?”

  “You would just argue and try to get out of dinner with him if I warned you,” she replied.

  Sadly, that was true. “But – but I haven’t even put makeup on!”

  “Oh, honey, you’re still pretty. You know you don’t need makeup. And anyway, why should you care about makeup if you are so over him?” There was a mischievous twinkle in Aunt Lynn’s eye.

  Lara didn’t know how to respond, but she was suddenly fuming. She hurried upstairs just to put on some lip gloss and touch up her hair. As a last thought, she also dug her perfume out of her suitcase and dabbed some behind her ears and inside her elbows.

  Back downstairs, Kyle came in, smelling of smoke and slightly sweaty with his tie loosened. Lara had not seen him look so manly before. He had always been a lawyer type, very smart and slick, and impeccably dressed. Even in high school, in his team jersey, he had appeared somehow professional and sleek. She remembered how he had always worn the nicest cologne in high school. Snuggling up to him had always been a pleasure because he wore a nice scent, unlike the other boys who thought Axe was the ultimate chick magnet.

  They sat down to eat and held hands to say Grace at Aunt Lynn’s insistence. Lara felt so weird, clasping Kyle’s hand. Eight years later and this guy was somehow back in her life? She couldn’t wait until dinner was over, when he would leave and she could get back on with her life as an adult.

  Conversation was forced and awkward. Uncle Joey and Aunt Lynn attempted to keep conversation going by plying Lara and Kyle with questions, in a ridiculously obvious effort to get them to find things in common. Lara saw no similarities in their lives, besides the fact that they were both single and in Seattle. Her aunt seemed to especially stress those similarities.

  “Well, I sure remember you two were in love back in high school,” Aunt Lynn said when Kyle and Lara had run out of things to talk. She rolled her eyes in exaggeration.

  “OK.” Lara tossed her napkin onto her plate. The dining room suddenly seemed to close in around her, cutting off her oxygen. “I’m going outside for some air.”

  On the porch, she took several deep breaths. Her face burned and her chest was tight from humiliation. All of dinner she had been trying to avoid looking at Kyle too much. She didn’t want to seem weird or like she was still into him or anything by looking at him too much. The memories were sending her head in a dizzying whirl, causing her to develop a headache.

  The door creaked open behind her. She turned, expecting her aunt Lynn. But it was Kyle. Lara quickly flushed and turned her back to him.

  “Hey. I’m heading out now,” he said.

  “Oh – OK. Well, bye.” She gave him a little half-hearted wave, still avoiding eye contact. She couldn’t bring herself to look in his green, green eyes. What if she looked in them and found they still took her breath away? Eight years of work on herself and her self-esteem would then go straight down the toilet.

  “Um, it was nice seeing you again?”

  “Sure,” Lara faked a smile. She really couldn’t say the same.

  “Could I maybe have your number?”

  “Wh-why?”

  “I’d like to catch up more. It’s been years and we used to be so close. Seems like a shame.”

  Lara blurted out her number as Kyle tapped it into his phone. But even as she stated her digits, Lara kicked herself. There was absolutely no reason for Kyle to have her number. Yet a tiny part of her was glad that he had asked. She would have been so down if he had just left, never looking back. At least now she felt validated, after the way they had parted years ago, when he didn’t even bother to chase her down as she stormed from his house and then when he never even called or texted her once after she went away to school.

  Chapter 4: Thanksgiving

  It was finally Thanksgiving.

  Lara was still shaken from the night before as she rose early, took a shower, and put on her special wool Thanksgiving dress. While the house was always warm, she knew that cooking would heat the house up to unbearable levels and she hoped that she wouldn’t become too sweaty and nasty. Outside it was sunny and seemed fairly warm too. You never know how the weather will be in Texas, she thought.

  “Good morning, darling!” Aunt Lynn chirped when Lara reached the kitchen.

  “Lara!” Aunt Mary was already there, helping Aunt Lynn prepare the turkey. She seized Lara in a tight hug. Uncle Ben, Aunt Mary’s husband, came in and hug her as well. They had driven all the way from Dallas at six in the morning just to help Aunt Lynn and Uncle Joey get ready.

  “So everyone should be here by four,” Aunt Lynn said.

  “OK. Do you need any help?” Lara asked.

  “Just go relax. Don’t worry about a thing. Though if you could peel these apples for the pie, that would be a big help,” Aunt Lynn said.

  Lara smiled. Aunt Lynn was always that way, subtly asking for help. She never would directly ask you to do anything that she needed. It caused her some sort of guilt.

  “So have you found a special man yet?” Aunt Mary asked as Lara began to peel the tall tower of apples on the counter.

  “No,” she said, flustered. “That was smooth, inviting Kyle over like that, Aunt Lynn.”

  Aunt Lynn flushed. “I just thought it was time you gave him another chance. He’s really the perfect man. And he lives in Seattle, too! You two could see each other up there.”

  She sighed. “Well he did ask for my number. I guess he wants to catch up.”

  “Wonderful!”

  “No, not wonderful. I really don’t think it’s a good idea to see him at all.”

  “Honey, you need to let what happened go. You two are in an excellent place to get to know each other again. Things didn’t work out but you were perfect togeth
er. Now maybe you can actually make it work.”

  “I don’t want to just make it work! He made me feel awful.”

  “That’s just how high school boys are,” Aunt Mary chimed in. “He could be better now, all grown up.”

  Lara sighed. “He’s probably just on a rebound, anyway. I guess he just got divorced.”

  Aunt Mary frowned. “Any kids?”

  “No,” Aunt Lynn and Lara both answered.

  “Then you got nothing to worry about,” Aunt Mary waved her hand. Ben was on a rebound too, and look at us. Twenty years later. We’re renting a bungalow on South Padre and renewing our vows this month.”

  “I’m so happy for you,” Lara said, grateful for the change in subject.

  “Thanks, dear. Anyway. Just because a man is on rebound doesn’t mean he can’t be good for you. Maybe his divorce just made him appreciate you more.”

  “Kayla was gorgeous, apparently,” Lara said. Last night, in a fit of curiosity, she had looked the woman up on Facebook. She was a skinny and preppy blonde, just like Kyle’s mom, and she had even been in a sorority at Princeton, where Kyle had attended law school. Clearly she was more his type, rich and Barbie doll perfect. The opposite of Lara.

  “And obviously he thinks you are, too. You should see the way he looks at you, even now. Same way he used to stare at you in high school, with those green puppy dog eyes,” Aunt Lynn said. “I get the feeling he never got over you. And now is his chance to know you again and get it right this time. I would consider it, if I were you.”

  “The clock is ticking,” Aunt Mary added.

  “Gee, thanks,” Lara groaned.

  Every year her family had become more and more pushy about her getting married and giving them a new member of the family. She was now older than almost all the other women in her family when they had gotten married, at least for the first time. Her mom had only been eighteen when she had had Lara. Of course, Lara’s dad had been a good-for-nothing who ran off as soon as he learned that her mom was carrying his baby. Lara had never met him and had only two pictures of him.

  But really, Lara was beginning to feel impatient, too. Twenty-six wasn’t that old but she had spent so many years dating unsuccessfully. She was sick of men that didn’t care. When would she finally find the one? The pressure her family put on her to marry soon only made her feel tired and depressed.

  Fortunately, her aunt Mary decided to change the subject and the rest of the morning flew by in a blur of cooking. Lara worked up a good sweat in the sultry kitchen. The turkey was perfectly cooked from its hot charcoal den in the backyard. The potatoes and apples peeled easily and the pies baked without burning. The three of them pulled off Thanksgiving so much better than Gramma. Gramma would be so sad and jealous.

  Family started trickling in at four, all bearing food and hugs. Lara embraced aunts, uncles, cousins, and kids that had grown so much since last year. She couldn’t believe how the little ones in the family had grown. Aunt Mary’s daughter, Denise, brought by her baby girl Sylvia, who was now walking. Lara scooped her up and made her giggle by covering her plump little face in kisses. Her hair was so cute, done up in little pigtails on the top of her head with bows. Denise herself looked like such a woman now. She was a year younger than Lara, and Lara remembered playing in the creek with her whenever they visited Aunt Mary in Dallas. They used to get grounded for getting mud all over their dresses.

  Gramma was still the same as last year, fortunately. But when she hugged Lara, she accidentally called her Denise. Denise and Lara laughed and exchanged slightly concerned looks. “Grams? I’m Lara,” Lara said gently.

  “Lara? Oh, yes, Lara. You look just like your momma.” Gramma folded Lara into her arms and kissed her on the forehead. “Now will somebody show me where the coatroom is?”

  “There’s no coatroom, Mom. Here, I’ll put your thing in the bedroom. You just sit down. You had a long ride from Dallas,” Aunt Lynn said, guiding Gramma into a couch in front of the football game on TV.

  Seeing family made Lara miss her mom intensely. Her aunts Lynn and Mary were her mom’s older sisters. They both possessed her mom’s square face shape, but they were plump, blonde, and chatty. Lara’s mom had been brunette and pensive, just like Lara. No one in the family truly resembled her mom. Yet every year, a tiny part of her, a subconscious part, sought her mom among the throngs of relatives.

  Her mom had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer while still pregnant with Lara. Lara had been delivered early by emergency caesarean. Her mom had been OK for four years, but after receiving a full hysterectomy, the cancer had metastasized throughout her entire body. Her aunt Lynn and uncle Joey had taken her in during the last six months of her mom’s battle. Lara remembered standing on tiptoes to hold her mom’s hand over the rails of a hospice bed. When her mom died, Lara had walked into the kitchen to find her aunt Lynn sobbing. “Honey,” her aunt Lynn crouched down on her knees to look Lara in the eyes, “we can’t go see your mommy today. I’m sorry, honey. She dies last night in her sleep. Don’t worry, she didn’t suffer. She just went to sleep.”

  After that, there were no more visits to the hospice place. Lara kept waiting for her mom to come home, or for her aunt to take her to see her mom, but it never happened. Slowly, over the years, Lara just got used to her mom not being there. But she had never fully accepted the fact that her mom was truly gone. Probably because she had been so young, she had never properly grieved.

  In addition, Uncle Joey had adopted her a year after her mom died, so she had always seemed to carry the McClure last name. She had never really gotten used to her born last name, Heathers. Sometimes even now she practiced saying it out loud: Lara Heathers. How would her life have gone differently if she had been Lara Heathers, with her mom in her life? Maybe also her dad? If her dad had married her mom, she would have the last name Johnson. Three last names, three life courses. The one she had gotten was really not so bad, but it made her sad to think that she could have lived a life with her mom. That she could still call her mom and visit for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She had even missed out on teenage fights and embarrassing mom moments. Other people did not understand how good they had it when they got to have an argument with their mom or rolled their eyes and said, “My mom is so weird!”

  Lara had to step outside a while to cry. Some years were easy. Others were hard. This one seemed to be the hardest yet with the memories. The piercing pain in Lara’s chest hurt physically.

  Finally, her aunt Mary came out for a smoke. “You OK, honey? You been out here a while.”

  “I’m fine.” Lara forced a smile. “Is it about time?”

  “Just about. The men are fighting about who gets to carve the turkey this year. You know they all want to show off their non-existent biceps.”

  “Is Gramma hurt that we didn’t let her cook it this year?”

  Aunt Mary chuckled. “Not too bad. I’m sure she’s relieved to not have to cook this year. Her arthritis is getting pretty bad.”

  It seemed her mind was getting pretty bad, too. But Lara didn’t say that.

  Dinner was delicious, as usual. Everyone contributed something. The turkey was succulent was actually seemed fully cooked. Even so, Uncle Joey didn’t eat much of it. The family all chatted, then broke off into groups. Lara sat with Denise and little Sylvia. Her family and the food took her mind off of her grief. She was just glad to be here, in this full house, surrounded by loved ones.

  After everyone had eaten more than they should have, her cousin Billy put on a little piano recital. Everyone clapped and cheered. The men had Bud Lite and the women had Moscato. Lara sipped the sweet wine, remembering how she used to steal sips of Aunt Lynn’s Moscato in high school. And Strawberry Hills and Boones Farm out in the fields or at the lake with Cassie and her other friends. Such good times.

  Lara finally had to lay down for a little while to sleep off her food coma. Her family just didn’t know when to stop forcing food down her face. Her stomach had not hurt so fierce
ly since…well, her last Thanksgiving.

  Last year she had flown into Dallas and stayed with her gramma, where Thanksgiving was held. Gramma had ruined the turkey, as usual, overcooking it into a dry and tough disaster after undercooking it and putting Uncle Joey in the hospital. Needless to say, Lara had not eaten any turkey. Nevertheless, she had stuffed her face with all the other wonderful food that her family had brought. Every Thanksgiving, she overdid it.

  Lara was almost asleep when her phone dinged. It was a Seattle number. “Hi, this is Kyle. Just wanted to say hi and see how your Thanksgiving dinner was.”

  “I can’t believe I gave this guy my number,” she muttered to herself, as she wrote back. “Yes it was great….How was yours?” Why did she even bother asking? She knew it was probably perfect, with turkey ordered from a gourmet chef.

  “It was all right. I bet your turkey was better though,” Kyle replied.

  Lara had to smile. Well that felt good. It was always weird to her, how Kyle had always embraced her family, even though they were so ordinary and messy compared to his.

  She struggled to think of what to say to him. That was how she had always felt, back when they first started texting their senior year. She had had a pink RZR phone. How quick she used to be, tapping all those keys to get the letter she needed. So funny. Now, with her Swype Android, it was so much easier to type messages, yet still just as hard to think of what to say to hold Kyle’s interest.

  Why was she doing this all over again?

  She was so mad at her aunt!

  “So what are you doing?” Kyle sent another message before she could reply.

  “Nothing really,” she Swiped. Then she deleted the message. “Spending time with family. Full.”

  “I know how you feel. I suppose you wouldn’t want to do anything tonight. But would you like to do something tomorrow?”

  Could this be a date?? Eight years later, and he was asking her on a date?? Unbelievable.

  “I don’t know what we would possibly do,” she wrote back after several minutes of mulling over different rude replies. Being rude just wasn’t in Lara’s nature.