6. Jenny
JENNY
Jenny drove slowly back to the inn with Gael in the seat beside her, his eyes on the snowflakes zipping past the window.
The car she was renting from Trudy was a simple sedan and she wasn’t sure how it would handle if she had to stop quickly in the falling snow.
It was good to be focused on her driving so she couldn’t overthink that kiss. But it was hard not to. It was so…
“That was amazing,” Gael said suddenly.
“What?” she asked, afraid he was picking up on her thoughts somehow.
“Today,” Gael told her. “It was really nice.”
“Oh, yeah. It was a really nice day,” Jenny agreed, smiling as she thought back to his endless games with the vets, the good food he had eaten, and the comfortable way he had dozed off among his new friends.
Of course that’s what he would be most focused on. Stuff like kissing wasn’t important to a nine-year-old.
“Definitely,” Gael said. “And you and Erik did a good job with that kiss at the end. This is going to work.”
He looked so pleased that she had to laugh.
“You really like doing this, don’t you?” she asked.
“Of course. Didn’t you hear everyone cheering?” he asked. “Don’t you like doing it?”
She winced inwardly. The thing of it was, she did like doing it. In fact, she liked it far too much to be faking it. And it had nothing to do with people cheering. She had longed for Erik Anderson to kiss her all through college. And now that it had finally happened, she only wanted more.
“I’m glad everyone is happy,” she said carefully, leaving out that she hoped she didn’t wind up breaking her own heart with this little game.
“They’re fun,” Gael said dreamily, his eyes on the snowy countryside out the window again. “They remind me of the uncles.”
“What uncles?” Jenny asked, frowning. Gael had no other family, at least that was what she had been told. If there were uncles, she should have been taking him to see them regularly. It wasn’t right for him to fall out of touch with any precious family that he had left.
“Not my uncles,” he said, putting her worries to rest. “My friend, Lucas, he has all these uncles and cousins. When I went over to his house, they were just like that, giving him treats and teasing him and acting silly and all. It was nice.”
“Oh,” Jenny said. “That does sound nice.”
“Yeah,” Gael said, nodding. “It was. Maybe we can go back to the Center another day.”
“Definitely,” she told him, her heart warming. “We’ll bring more treats and games later this week. Maybe Erik can tell us when the most people will be there.”
“They don’t live there?” Gael asked, looking puzzled.
“No,” Jenny explained. “The Center is a nice place for them to get together and keep each other company and make plans for what to do next. Erik has an assistant who helps them find jobs or training or any other things they might need.”
“That’s good,” Gael said. “Because they’re like I was before.”
“What do you mean?” Jenny asked.
“They don’t have families,” he said softly.
Jenny swallowed over the sudden lump in her throat.
“It’s good to have a place where people are nice to you,” he added.
Gael’s grandmother hadn’t been gone long before he came to live with Jenny, but she sometimes worried about what it had been like for him during the short time while he was being processed and waiting for her.
It had seemed like an eternity to Jenny, and she could only imagine how it must have been for Gael.
She also wondered how many nights he’d gone to sleep in his new room before it started to feel like home, and the stranger in the bedroom next door began to feel like she might really be family.
She had thought today was good for Gael because he’d had fun and gotten lots of kind attention.
But maybe something deeper had happened.
Maybe a tender place in his heart had been soothed as he did his best to help out people who were living in the same in-between state he had once been through himself.
They drove on in thoughtful silence for a while, and before she knew it, Jenny was pulling down the long drive of the inn, past the lake.
“I like the decorations,” Gael said as she pulled into the gravel lot to park.
“They’re really pretty,” Jenny agreed. The simple white lights and evergreen branches adorning the inn were somehow just as festive as any of the lavishly decorated homes they had passed.
“Christmas isn’t over yet,” Gael said hopefully as they headed up the steps.
“No, definitely not,” Jenny told him. “I thought we could hang out in the library and drink some hot cocoa.”
The inn’s library had been one of Gael’s favorite things to discover about the place when Trudy had given them a quick tour this morning after they opened presents.
“Do you think there are any comic books in there?” Gael asked uncertainly.
“It looked like there were all kinds of books,” Jenny told him. “But I was thinking we could bring our new books down too, just in case.”
That earned her an enormous smile, and she was feeling really happy as they headed inside.
“Welcome back,” Trudy called out from the dining room, where she was putting out a fresh vase of holly branches as a centerpiece. “Did you have fun at the Center?”
“Yes,” Gael answered enthusiastically. “And now we’re going to read comic books in the library.”
“Well, that sounds like an activity that would be better with hot cocoa,” Trudy said.
“That’s what we said,” Gael said, looking thunderstruck.
“I guess great minds really do think alike,” Trudy declared. “I’ll just start the kettle.”
She headed for the kitchen as Jenny and Gael went upstairs to take off their coats and grab their new books.
Jenny felt happy all over again seeing Gael in the sweater she had made him. He’d been so happy this morning when he opened it. He’d pulled it right on, like there was no question in his mind that it was going to be his favorite article of clothing.
Once they dropped off their things and picked up their books, they headed back downstairs and settled in the library. Jenny curled up on one of the sofas and Gael took a big cozy chair by the Christmas tree and the window overlooking the lake.
The library itself had been added to the building in the twenties—Trudy had told them all about it this morning—and it was built to a larger scale than the rest of the rooms, though the ceiling was lower, which gave it a cozy feeling.
There was a big stone fireplace, where a fire crackled away merrily, keeping the whole room nice and toasty.
Three of the walls were lined with built-in bookshelves that practically overflowed with fancy leather-bound volumes, dog-eared paperbacks, and every kind of book in between.
In the corner was an upright piano that looked as old as the house.
And then there was the focal point, a great big Christmas tree by the picture window that overlooked the lake.
Between the dancing fire and the gently twinkling lights on the tree, the room felt almost like a living thing, welcoming guests in to relax and enjoy themselves.
And somehow, in spite of the tumult of feelings from their day, Jenny found she was able to do just that.
She lost herself in her new book while Gael eagerly tore through his comics, pausing only to enjoy a cup of hot cocoa with Trudy and her husband Ward when they stopped back with a tray of steaming mugs and a tin of cookies.
When it was nearly nine, Gael seemed to be yawning more often than he was turning pages.
“Should we head up?” Jenny asked. “It was a wonderful Christmas, but I can barely keep my eyes open.”
“Me too,” Gael said.
She knew he was ready for some rest, but he looked a little sad that the day was over. Which was understandable, since Jenny was feeling a little of that herself.
“Erik offered to take us to a big farm tomorrow,” she reminded him. “He said they have a lot of Christmas stuff there. What do you think about that?”
“Okay,” Gael said, brightening instantly. “Will the Christmas stuff still be there tomorrow?”
“Erik seems to think so,” Jenny said, not exactly wanting to promise when she couldn’t vouch for it personally. “And he lives in Trinity Falls, so hopefully he’s right.”
“He’s a good guy,” Gael said around a big yawn as he slid off his chair and grabbed his stack of comics.
“He really is,” Jenny said. It was a funny thing for a nine-year-old to say, but he wasn’t wrong.
They headed upstairs and took turns in the bathroom. When they both had clean teeth and faces and warm pajamas on, Jenny walked with Gael to the nook where his cot was waiting.
“Is this thing comfortable?” she asked him again.
“It’s awesome,” he said right away. “And I can hear you walking around and stuff, so it’s cozy.”
“Well, I’ll try to keep it down,” she told him. “We need our beauty sleep if we want to have enough energy to explore a real farm tomorrow.”
“Beauty sleep,” Gael echoed, chuckling as he crawled into his cot.
“Sleep well,” she told him, tucking a blanket around him.
“Can we say a prayer tonight?” he asked her.
“Of course,” she told him. “You don’t ever need my permission to say a prayer. You know that, right?”
“I know,” he said contentedly. “Ready?”
She lowered herself to the floor beside the cot, then nodded and closed her eyes.
“Thank you for a great Christmas,” Gael said. “And thank you for good food to eat and a safe place to sleep. Please bless Abuela and make sure she doesn’t miss me too much. And please help the soldiers find stuff to do and people to love them so they don’t feel scared and lonely. Amen.”
Jenny felt a twinge of heartache at the innocent yet wise words of the boy she loved so desperately.
“That was beautiful, Gael,” she told him, trying to keep her voice calm and level so that he wouldn’t see that she was close to tears.
“Thank you,” Gael said sleepily. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” she told him, rising and kissing the top of his head before heading out to the living room area.
The rooms they were staying in, thanks to Erik, were quiet and cozy. The light from the little Christmas tree was just enough that she didn’t need any other lights on to make her way to her bedroom.
But on her way past, she spotted her cell phone charging in the windowsill and decided she’d better check on it since she’d been without it all day.
She and Gael had done a video call with her parents this morning, but she must not have plugged it in properly on Christmas Eve, because that was about all the battery it had left. So she’d left it plugged in here when they headed to the Center since she figured she wouldn’t really need it there.
It was funny. There was a time when being without her phone for even a short time would have filled her with anxiety.
But ever since Gael came into her life, she had been relying on it less and less.
She guessed that she just didn’t need it as a way to check on the world now, since her whole world was right here with her.
As she picked it up, she was surprised to feel it buzz in her hand.
She unplugged it and carried it into her bedroom with her. It buzzed twice more as she walked the short distance.
“What in the world?” she murmured to herself, glancing down at the screen, which was covered with notifications.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she took a deep breath and swiped her thumb to unlock it.
There were so many texts and missed calls, including more than one from Sandy, another teacher at the school where she’d taught before adopting Gael.
She clicked on the teacher’s name first.
Sandy:
You didn’t tell us you were getting married!!!!
Congratulations, girl!
Hey, just because we don’t see each other every day doesn’t mean we don’t want to keep in touch.
All the girls are freaking out! Text me back and tell me all about him. Or call!
There were a few more messages from Sandy and from two other teachers, but Jenny scrolled past them, a knot tightening in her stomach at the idea that they all thought she was getting married when she wasn’t.
How had they even found out?
Her phone buzzed again while she was holding it and she tapped to see another text from her cousin Mindy.
Mindy:
i know we don’t see each other much, but WOW. i don’t get a wedding invitation???? JK you do you, but call me and tell me about this mystery guy. i want to make sure he’s good enough for my favorite cousin. i already know he’s hot enough…WOW.
“Oh, no,” Jenny sighed, feeling awful that Mindy would think she was getting married without telling her own family.
But the phone was already buzzing again, and she tapped, surprised to see a name from their small group of friends in college.
Raquel:
oh honey, i couldn’t feel happier at this news
i can’t believe we fell out of touch after how close we all were
seeing that photo come across my feed made my day
it was so clear even back then how he felt about you
Jenny drew in a breath, surprised.
How he felt about me?
She had always figured her crush on Erik was obvious to everyone around them, no matter how much she tried to hide it.
It never would have occurred to her that anyone would think he had feelings for her.
“And what photo?” she murmured to herself, scrolling through her phone.
It had to be a social media thing. The school had insisted that she have an account, so she’d opened one a few years ago and never done anything with it since.
But when she clicked the icon, the app opened up to a barrage of private messages.
She ignored them and clicked on a notification saying she had been tagged in a photo.
Sure enough, there was a single picture, taken today at the veterans center, holiday decorations on display.
In it, her eyes were closed and her chin was tilted up, like a flower to the sun as Erik leaned down to kiss her, a look of hunger that was almost like pain on his handsome face.
It would be obvious to anyone who saw this photo that she was wildly in love with him. And that wasn’t exactly a surprise.
It was more shocking to her how clear it was in the picture that Erik desperately wanted to kiss her.
Either he’s an amazing actor, or…
When the phone rang in her hand, she was so startled that she almost dropped it. And then she saw her mom’s contact picture pop up on her screen.
Sucking in a worried breath, she slid her thumb along the screen to answer the call. It was her mom—Jenny obviously had to pick up. What she was going to say was anyone’s guess.
I can’t lie to my mother.
But how in the world am I supposed to tell her what’s going on?