Chapter 2
Change was inevitable. I knew that. In my heart of hearts, I understood.
But that didn’t mean it sucked any less.
Friendsgiving was going to be so different this year, and I couldn’t get myself to even try to fake it. Or try to see the good stuff. I was terrible when it came to change!
The one holiday I not only loved but loved to host had all gone to shit.
And why? Because Tabby got a boyfriend! Because Tabby’s way-too-big-heart was nice and invited her stupid, new-to-town boss to Friendsgiving!
I knew I was being a brat. It wasn’t fair; Tabby had done the right thing.
I just couldn’t wrap my head around just how different everything was going to be this year.
No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get myself to think about anything else as I chopped cabbage at my mom’s kitchen table.
At the same table where I had eaten dinner throughout my childhood.
Seriously, what is wrong with these two men? Can’t they just stay home alone one night of the year? Nope. Guess that wasn’t possible. I sighed.
My attention moved toward the huge window in my parents’ kitchen that faced the backyard that had been the background of my childhood.
Mami had pulled all her veggies already and planted the bulbs that would brighten the planters she kept out there come spring.
But right then and there, it looked as empty as I felt.
“Why do you look so grumpy?” My oldest sister, Connie’s, voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
“What?” I turned to find my sister staring right at me.
I had a feeling she’d been doing that for a long moment.
Shit. I was so stuck in my head about my friends and the new plans, I’d forgotten she was sitting next to me shredding carrots for the escaveche my family liked to eat for Thanksgiving that went with the panes con pavo.
“You look grumpy,” she repeated slowly. My brows bunched, probably making it worse. “What’s up? Isn’t this your favorite time of year, Abundance?”
“Don’t call me that.” I swatted her, and Connie’s lips twitched.
“Okay, Abundancia!” she mocked, using my actual full name.
“Shut up, Concepción,” I argued in the same mocking tone, knowing I was going to win. I loved my parents, but they had given us the longest, worst names ever. Just ask my sister Prudencia, which translated to prudent, and our brother, Salvador. Though Sal’s name was a little easier.
“Fine!” she groaned. “We’re even.” She laughed then turned contemplative. “But seriously. You get to be free from all“—she waved around my mom’s kitchen, making my lips twitch—“this crazy mad house for Thanksgiving. What’s up?”
“I heard that,” my mom’s voice sounded from the living room.
“I didn’t whisper,” Connie smart-mouthed.
I could practically hear our mom’s eyes roll.
“You get a jail free card from the family craziness… What’s up?
Why do you look like that? Is it work?” The concern was clear in her voice.
As the oldest of four, Connie had always been a caretaker-slash-third parent to us.
Even now, when I was closer to thirty, she was still worrying.
“No. Work’s fine,” I muttered. I loved my job at the ski resort.
“Okay, so if it’s not work, is it money?”
“I’m good.”
“You sure? I have some—“
“Geez, Con, I’m good, but thanks.” That was my sister. We could always count on her.
“The girls?” she asked, and I was about to say no but stayed quiet.
“Tabitha has a boyfriend,” I shared, my voice quieter than usual.
“I saw.” She smiled. “They came into the diner,” she shared. “She introduced him to me.” She worked as a cook there. “He’s a good-looking guy. Older than I would have expected her to be with, but they looked good together.”
“Hmm.” I grunted.
“I like the way he looks at her.” That made me look back in her direction. “He looks at her like she made all the stars shine with her smile.” Connie wasn’t wrong. Brew and Tabby were definitely sickeningly in love.
“Yeah,” I muttered. “They met at the masquerade party.” I reached for a napkin from the middle of the table.
“Damn. I should have gone to that! Everyone I’ve talked to said it was amazing.”
“It was.” I nodded.
As the head cook at our local diner, Connie usually worked nights. Her dream was to own her own restaurant one day or buy the diner from Big Joe when he finally decided to retire.
“They’re pretty tight. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re engaged by New Year’s,” I muttered. I’d said the same words when Brewster wanted to talk to us as a joke. But now, with how everything was changing and how little we saw her compared to before, I didn’t think it was all that funny anymore.
Everything felt like it was about to change.
All the traditions we had somehow held on to, even when they’d left for college or travel, felt like they were about to slip between our fingers.
“Change can be hard,” Connie said. I nodded, slowly moving my attention to the cabbage and how horribly I’d been chopping it. “But it’s also part of growing up,” she added gently. I looked up at her with a frown.
“I’m twenty-eight, Con. Not eighteen.”
“I get that, but…” She shrugged. “You guys have been doing the same stuff on the holidays for almost that long. The fact you didn’t do the Halloween book club surprised me.”
“Hmm,” I muttered.
“But did you have fun?” she asked. I blinked. Had Halloween been fun? Yes, it’d been a blast.
“We did.”
It wasn’t a lie. Watching our timid friend approach a stranger with a pickup line only to go home with him had been crazy! We had stuck to our promise and walked up to strangers with corny pick-up lines, had danced and drunk the night away. It had been a night to remember.
“So… whatever has you all“—she made a face I could only imagine was her attempt to mimic my expression—“is going to be fine, too.”
“It’s Friendsgiving. They’re having it at Brewster’s house.”
“Brew—“
“Tab’s boyfriend.”
“Right. Got it.”
“And it’s more of us, not just our little group. Tabitha felt bad for her boss, so she invited him. You know, the new principal in town? So, now, so he won’t feel like the only add-on, we’re all supposed to bring a person with us.” I knew how horrible I sounded.
“Well… that happens, but it’s also the whole, you know, reason for the season. The more the merrier.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I complained under my breath like a brat, hating how much I loved the sound of my sister’s laugh.
“So… who are you bringing to Friendsgiving?” I rolled my eyes.
“Me, myself, and I. I refuse to entertain all these changes.” She stared at me without judgment because my sister, being the oldest, knew me all too well. She knew I was just talking out of anger.
“Well, if you change your mind, the new waitress at the diner doesn’t have anywhere to go for the holiday. You could stop by and invited her.”
“Or you could invite her here,” I clipped. “Mom and Dad were always more than happy to add an extra place setting,” I smarted off, and I knew by the way she stared at me and took a deep breath I’d pushed too far with my bad mood.
“Okay, I see we’re not getting anywhere with this little chat.” She stood and patted the top of my head.
“Don’t do that!” I argued, but she just laughed, unaffected by my bad mood. “Want some horchata?” she asked. “I just made it this morning.”
Of course, she had. Connie could do wonders within a couple of minutes. I had no idea how she did everything she did and somehow always was so put together. So grown up. She was only five years older than me, but she had always been cooler than me.
“Yes, please,” I muttered and forced myself to smile at her when she set the cup next to me.
“You know, it’s going to be okay.” She squeezed my shoulder. “You just have to give new people a chance. Remember when Tabby moved into town? I remember you saying you didn’t like new people then.” She stood by the chair she’d just left.
“Twenty years ago,” I argued.
“Yeah, exactly. That was a long time ago. Maybe it’s time for you to make a new friend?” I don’t need a new friend. I need things to stay the same, damn it.
“Or,“ Connie continued gently, “maybe it’s time to meet someone.”
“Someone,” I repeated, then I started to laugh. “Me? Meet someone?” I almost snorted at the idea.
“Yes, you. What’s wrong with you? Dating isn’t the craziest idea.” She was clearly starting to grow frustrated with me.
“I don’t know. What’s wrong with you?” I argued back.
“It’s not like you’re exactly going out on a bunch of dates yourself since you know who left town.
” Connie’s face paled, and I instantly regretted the stupid words that had come out of my mouth.
“I didn’t mean that, Con—“ She put a hand up, and any words I was going to say died on my tongue before she turned around and walked out. “Shit.”
“Shit’s right,” my mom said as she stepped into the kitchen, her hazel eyes that I got from her set on me. “Te pasaste’s,” she scolded and had every right.
“I know. I went too far,” I agreed solemnly.
“She’s right, though, you know?” I started to chop up what was left of the cabbage.
“About what?” I asked without looking up as she took the seat next to me and picked up the shredder and a carrot.
“You and dating. It wouldn’t kill you to meet someone.”
“Mom,” I groaned. I didn’t get the idea of dating someone just to date someone. I’d never met anyone who called my attention. Not even movie stars did it for me. Maybe I am the one who is broken?
“You’re not broken,” my mom said softly. Her soft hand covered my wrist, and I looked up at her. She had to be part witch to know what I was thinking. She smiled softly. “When you meet the person you’re supposed to be with, you’ll know.”
“Love at first sight? Like you and Dad?” This wasn’t the first time she’d tried to give me a pep talk when it came to love and relationships, and I was pretty sure I’d be hearing it for the next forty years, god willing.
“Maybe.” She winked. “If you’re lucky. If not, you’ll definitely know by dessert,” she joked. I rolled my eyes while a soft smile played on my lips.
“I should go apologize.”
“Dejala. Give her some time. You might have gone too far, but maybe you weren’t wrong, either.”
My sister had been in love a long time ago. After it ended, she hadn’t been the same.
I really thought he had loved her, too.
Until one day, he up and left, vanishing from Moonlit Pines like he never even existed. I had always assumed they had fought about something but was never sure because Connie never talked about him again. We weren’t even allowed to mention his name.
No, she only carried shadows in her eyes when she thought no one was looking. Even after years of him leaving, she bore the scars as a reminder.
It was like her heart was still his.
Maybe that was why she was always trying to do something every waking minute of every day? To fill the time she no longer spent with him. The thought of my sister and her heartbreak followed me home that day.
If that’s what love did to you, why would anyone want to sign up for that?
Love and happily ever afters were not for me. No, thank you. I’d rather take leftovers.