Page 48 of OMG Christmas Tree
“This Megan sounds like she challenges you. You’re defending her, after all, even when your mother is dead set against saying this girl’s name.”
I rubbed my forehead. “After what Megan said, it makes sense Mom would be offended. But I think Mom also believes Megan is the reason I don’t want the city job. She doesn’t get I’ve been wanting to leave town before Megan showed up.”
And that fell on me.
Grandma pointed to the large pot already on the stove indicating I should add the peeled potatoes. “You’re a bright boy with so much heart. You don’t have to stay in this town if you don’t want.”
“Thanks. But with Mom sick, you know I can’t.”
“She’s doing well and has all of us.” Grandma gestured toward the family room packed with relatives watching a holiday movie with the kids. Most of my family lived within ten or twenty miles. Only my brother lived farther, at Madison for college, same as I had.
Only unlike me, my brother applied for a post-grad internship in Minneapolis. Not for a second did he hesitate about moving over a five-hour drive away after college. Mom had looked at me when he told us his plans last night. I heard her look loud and clear.I have you. My oldest boy stays.
“I’ll let her down,” I told Grandma.
“Oh, pish. Saint Nick, I should call you.” She rolled her eyes with the same intensity as my fourteen-year-old cousin. “If you’re leaving to pursue a job you care about, how can you possibly let her down?”
Except, I hadn’t gotten that far. I hadn’t found an opportunity thatmeantsomething.
Grandma nudged me toward the family room. “You let me talk to your mother. I know how to handle her. Her survival rate is high and she caught the cancer early. Us Bennington’s don’t go down without a fight, and she’s barely limping.”
If Megan were here, I’d want her to meet Grandma. I wished she’d been at the benefit last night, but Grandma always lived life her own way.
Now it was time for me to live mine.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Megan
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NEW YEAR’S EVE TO MEalways signaled a fresh start. Dad was famous for using the previous year’s wall calendar for kindling in our fireplace on New Year’s Day. Couldn’t get more symbolic than that to burn away the past.
Back on the schedule at Drip, I was working New Year’s Eve as part of my bargain to get the days before Christmas off. Our largest party to date rented the cafe for New Year’s Eve. I’d coordinated the rental and helped the customer arrange a blues and cover band, plus recommended a catering vendor. I was on-site to assist the hired staff with anything.
Part of me still hoped for a magical New Year’s fantasy. A mysterious stranger sweeping me off my feet. A sudden call with my dream job on the other end. My next phase in life spelled out in glittery fireworks. Only I could barely glimpse the Navy Pier fireworks from the cafe two miles inland. The neighborhoods usually let off their own light shows, but they weren’t exactly destiny-spelled-in-the-sky material.
