Chapter 9
“The rehearsal hall is confirmed, right?” I held up the phone, listening to Priyanka confirm my question.
I was in the backseat of the car I’d ordered, with Van sitting quietly next to me.
His tagging along to my attendance at a very McKendrick Thanksgiving was another one of Priyanka’s ideas, to get him even more acclimated to being by my side, regardless of the situation. He’d ultimately agreed.
“Right, then rehearsal can start right after Thanksgiving.” I sighed with a smile.
Nothing said the holidays quite like spending thirteen hour days practicing cues and learning choreography.
“Thanks, Pri. Yeah, we’re almost at Kit’s.
I’ll tell his mom you said hi.” I half-scoffed, half-laughed.
Priyanka would’ve come herself if she didn’t have her own family traditions.
No one loved the McKendricks more than Priyanka.
Except me, of course. “Love you too. Bye.”
I hung up the call, letting my phone fall back into my lap as I looked out the window to get a grip on our blurring surroundings as our driver maneuvered the car right by the sign that I’d grown so accustomed to, my heart both cringing and soaring at the sight of it.
The wooden sign told us that we were finally entering the town limits of Phoebe, North Carolina. The dark wood had an honestly terrifying jack-o'-lantern with purple bats adorning the spooky font, and just seeing it made me beam with pride. I loved being from Phoebe.
If only most of my memories of the town weren’t drenched in the alcohol of my mother’s mistakes.
The car jostled from the worn road, shaking me from my thoughts. It was Thanksgiving. I was back in my hometown and I was minutes away from seeing the people I truly considered family. I didn’t want to sour the day by being incapable of not thinking of the past.
From where Van sat beside me, I watched the eccentric Halloween decor that Phoebe was wrapped in assault his eyes.
His mouth slacked in astonishment, giving me a little grin as he noticed me watching before turning back to gawk at all the manufactured spiderwebs that covered the lampposts that littered Main Street, the fake shrubbery that had fake blood staining the leaves, and the plethora of plastic pumpkins that were glued to the curb every couple of feet.
“This place is incredible.” Van’s tone was filled with childlike wonder, and it did absolutely everything to make him even more adorable to me.
With my thoughts tinged with thoughts of my troubled past, I didn’t have the strength to safeguard myself from thinking Van was the cutest. Not today.
Just today, I’d let myself think he was the most attractive man I’d ever met.
Even if it was going to fuck me up later. Because I’m a what? Masochistic hopeless romantic.
“Yeah, it’s pretty great.” I responded with a leaded sigh. As much as I wanted to think of Phoebe as the amazing place it was, I just had too much baggage to deal with. Maybe once I shed the past, now that my mother wasn’t intoxicating the town with her presence, I could make new memories.
“To think, the great Alistair Finn came from this town.” Van snickered.
The rolling of my eyes proceeded us turning down another street, further into the core of Phoebe’s less than favorable district. My heart tightened. We were approaching the trailer park and if my rapidly inclining pulse was any inclination, my body did not want me to relive the trauma.
“Everyone comes from somewhere.” I shrugged, but the truth was, I was struggling.
I looked out the window and the houses started to shift from one story homes of love to the rectangular metal boxes like the one I’d grown up in.
I hadn’t stepped foot near that trailer park in more than a decade, and knowing I was about to lay eyes on it again was making me quiver in my seat.
As soon as I saw Van observing the change in my demeanor, I couldn’t handle looking at him in that moment.
I couldn’t handle him seeing the truth in my eyes of the amount of pain I was in, so I looked back out the window.
By some stroke of luck, Van didn’t press me about it and soon enough, I felt him move his gaze off of me and back to the window as he took in the rest of the town.
The trailer park looked exactly the same.
Not run down, but not built up either. Not trashy but not glamorous.
It just was. Like it always would be. I closed my eyes as we continued to pass it, unable to allow my eyes to bear witness to it any longer.
I knew people still lived there, but more than anything, I wish that everyone would move so the ground could be leveled and cleansed of the sins committed there. Full exorcism, full destruction.
My breath came to me a little easier as I opened my eyes to see that we’d long passed the trailer park.
We’d arrive at Kit’s parents’ house momentarily now.
That had always been one of the benefits of being best friends all our lives.
Kit was so close we usually were able to walk or ride our bikes over to each other’s places.
A few beats later, the car pulled up to the McKendrick house, a cute little rancher with a shades of beige brick exterior.
The lawn was trimmed and wrapped in wrought iron that secured the perimeter.
As I thanked the driver and got out of the vehicle, the first genuine smile graced my face.
This place was my home, not the trailer park.
Here was where my family lived, where I belonged.
This was my safe space. Everything was okay because I was here now.
Shivering in the chill of the open air, I pulled my beige trench coat tighter against my frame before rapping my fist on the front door.
More vehicles were filling up the driveway, so it was a good thing we didn’t have a permanent vehicle to add to the inevitable hysteria of being blocked in by whoever wanted to leave first. Van standing next to me in his usual full suit made me inwardly smile.
He was committed to his role as my personal bodyguard.
At least he had pulled on a fur-lined dark brown jacket.
One didn’t survive Phoebe in late November without some type of coat on.
Van was fidgeting, and I wasn’t convinced that it was from the cold. His hands were practically vibrating in the pockets of his slacks, and when I met his gaze, it told a different story than one to do with the weather.
“Nervous?” I prompted with a lazy smile.
“Sort of.” Van admitted, shifting his stance off of one foot and transferring it to the other. “I get why Priyanka wanted me to come with you, but I can’t help but feel like I’m imposing on another family’s holiday celebrations.”
Suddenly I was hit with an insurmountable wave of guilt. “Did you have plans with your family? I can call Priyanka and tell her—”
“No, no. Not necessary.” Van said, a light chuckle leaving his throat. “My family doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Or Christmas, for that matter.”
Curious, I was about to ask him why when the door opened and pried our previous conversation away from us. The person behind the door gave me the biggest grin and I instantly felt relaxed.
“Hey, superstar.” Kit said as he pulled me into an overwhelmingly tight embrace that I felt down to my very core.
I hugged him back earnestly, feeling my reservations about being in Phoebe and all thoughts tied to my mother melting away now that I’d been reunited with my real family.
When Kit pulled back, he kept his hands on either side of my shoulders, giving me an up and down scrutinization.
“Mom and I were placing bets on when you’d arrive.
” I rolled my eyes because we weren’t even five minutes beyond the time that Kit had texted me this morning to arrive by.
And considering both Van and I had had to ride in a sprinter all the way here from Nashville and then order a rideshare, I’d say we made great time.
“You owe me twenty bucks for not being more late.”
“Whatever.” I brushed him off, playfully pushing him backward inside the house.
The sounds of Kit’s laughter played off the walls of the entryway as I stepped inside the familiar home.
I looked back at Van, who hadn’t been told to come in, and gestured for him to follow me.
When he stepped forward, I made a mental note to formally introduce him, just to see if maybe that would put him at ease a little bit.
Just because his family didn’t do Thanksgiving didn’t mean I wasn’t aware of how unusual it was for a security guard to accompany me to a family dinner.
Kit gestured for us to follow him to the kitchen, where I knew his mother and father would be double teaming the cooking, per usual.
As soon as I stepped into the perimeter of the kitchen, I was assaulted by a slew of smells.
A beautiful concoction of rosemary, garlic, lemon, and other delectable spices slithered throughout the room and it made my mouth instantly salivate.
As soon as Meredith McKendrick’s eyes found me, her face broke out into the smile that always resembled home for me.
It was the same smile that was turning her husband’s face as he saw me as well, and while Clark McKendrick had a great smile, it paled to the motherly love that wafted off of the woman who had become more of a mother to me than the one that gave birth to me.
“Alistair!” Her voice turned shrill, and she twisted away from her husband from behind the kitchen island to wrap her arms around me. Taking in her the scent of her familiar shampoo as we embraced, I felt even more at home.
“It’s so good to see you.” I said back, staring into the crisp blue eyes that she shared with her son.