Love For Hire: The Helena's Grove Series Book 2 (2 page)

Chapter 2

Thanksgiving morning consisted of lots of coffee, cooking, laughs and chaos, and Annie loved every minute of it. All the hard work was rewarded by one glorious meal filled with laughter and loving people. At least, that’s how Annie saw it. Dinner was supposed to start at five and now with only two hours to go, Aunt Gabby was panicking over the candied yams and mashed potatoes.

“Calm down Aunt Gabby,” Annie soothed her.

“I’m calm child; I just want everything to be perfect.”

“I know but even if we have to start dinner a few minutes late, it won’t be the end of the world.”

“I’ve never once served a Thanksgiving dinner late and I don’t intend to start now,” Aunt Gabby said pointing a spatula at her.

Annie giggled. “Okay okay, but really there is no need for you to be so formal.” She took a stack of plates to the table. “It’s just us, after all.”

“You’ll need eight plates this year honey,” Aunt Gabby said as she pulled the boiling potatoes from the stovetop.

Annie counted mentally;
Zack, Jen, me, Aunt Gabby, Mr. Larsen, Mrs. Larsen.
“Who else is coming?” she asked.

“An old friend of yours. I believe you and Zack went to school with him. That boy of Marie’s; you remember Lance don’t you? Anyway, I saw him and his new wife at the store the other day and he mentioned his parents were going on a cruise this year for Thanksgiving, so I invited him to come here.”

Annie felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. “You invited Lance Gingham to this house for Thanksgiving dinner?” she asked slowly, sure that Aunt Gabby had gone crazy.

Aunt Gabby’s brows furrowed. “Why yes. Why? Is that a problem? You look like you’re going to pass out.”

“Aunt Gabby, don’t you remember who Lance Gingham is?”

Aunt Gabby’s face held nothing but confusion.

Annie let out a breath in disbelief that Aunt Gabby could forget. “Need I remind you about a certain prom night, with a certain boy whom I found making out in the back of
my
car with another girl?”

Aunt Gabby’s eyes widened and her mouth formed an ’O’ shape as memories of those days came back to her. “Oh honey, I’m so sorry. I had completely forgotten about that.”

“I noticed,” Annie said, clearly upset. How could this be happening? This was supposed to be a wonderful Thanksgiving and now it was going to be filled with awkward silences and sidelong looks across the table from Zack, who still wanted to kick Lance’s ass.

“Oh it’ll be fine.” Aunt Gabby said as she patted Annie’s shoulder. “You really need to let go of that anyway.” She smiled and went back to her potatoes.

Annie needed some air. She quickly made her way out the front door, grabbing her coat from the rack as she walked by. She sat on the front porch swing, watching the puffs of white leave her mouth as she breathed. She didn’t get upset very often but when she did, it was hard for her to get over it. She watched as Zack and Jen pulled up the driveway in their car. They got out and made their way to the porch.

“Hey there peanut,” Zack said affectionately.

“Hey,” Annie replied but couldn’t bring herself to be enthused.

“Is everything ok?” Jen asked, concern showing on her face.

“Oh yeah, everything’s fine,” Annie said dryly. “I just found out Aunt Gabby invited Lance Gingham to dinner tonight so…” She shrugged her shoulders not knowing what else to say.

“Oh…” Zack said knowingly.

“Who’s that?” Jen whispered.

Zack turned to Jen. “You know what baby, why don’t you go in and help Aunt Gabby and I’ll be in shortly.”

Jen smiled and kissed him on the cheek before going inside.

“Can I sit?” Zack asked.

Annie nodded but kept silent.

“I wondered why you looked like you were going to crap a cow, but now I understand.”

Annie laughed despite herself. Zack was three and a half years her senior and always knew how to make her laugh. He’d been twenty-one when she’d come home from senior prom sobbing, after finding her boyfriend cheating on her. Zack had offered to do all he could to protect his sister’s honor but in the end, he had just sat with her and let her cry. Annie heard that Zack had cornered Lance later and said some things to him but she never did ask if it was true or not. She appreciated knowing he was there for her when she needed him.

“I don’t know why Aunt Gab would even invite him. It’s going to make the entire evening awkward, don’t you think?” Annie asked, not really expecting an answer.

Zack nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure why he’d want to come at all. He’s avoided me for the last six years. It seems strange he’d want to have dinner with us.”

“You really did corner and scare the crap out of him, didn’t you.”

“Yes I did,” Zack said, nodding.

“Thank you.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the sounds of the town.

“I know I’m being irrational,” Annie finally spoke. “It’s just… I wanted it to be just us this holiday. And now…” She didn’t finish.

“Yeah, but maybe everything will be ok. Maybe they’ll come and be nice and I’ll try to be nice and it’ll go off without a hitch.”

“You really think so?”

“No.” Zack smiled at her and she laughed. “But I think it’s worth a try.” He stood up and held out his hand. “What do you say?”

Annie sighed. “Okay.” she smiled up at him as he pulled her up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Then they made their way back inside.

“If all else fails and you decide you really don’t want him here, I’ll be glad to throw him out,” Zack offered teasingly.

Annie laughed. “As long as he doesn’t say something mean, I think it’ll be fine.”

“Can I at least shoot him a few dirty looks through dinner?” Zack asked hopefully.

“Most definitely,” Annie replied.

****

Two hours later, Zack answered the door when Lance and his wife Amelia arrived.

“Well well, look who it is,” he said with a handshake. He led them into the living room where Jen and Mr. and Mrs. Hansen sat.

Introductions were made and they made their way into the kitchen where Annie was helping Aunt Gabby. She greeted them with as much maturity as she could muster, trying to squash the old feelings of anger and betrayal that still lingered after so many years. Zack served them a glass of wine and twenty minutes later, everyone seemed more relaxed.

After they were all seated, Aunt Gabby picked up her glass and lightly tapped it with a spoon to get everyone’s attention. “I want to thank you all for being here tonight,” she began. “It’s a really important thing for me to have my family here with me.” She smiled at Zack, Annie and Jen. “And also my friends.” She gestured towards the rest of the table. “It’s been an interesting and amazing year for me. I was able to get to know my niece, which has been an answer to my prayers. I know there aren’t many people my age who are surrounded by so many people they love and who love them so…” She raised her glass and everyone followed suit. “Here is to family, to friends and to love, which is the most important of all emotions.”

“To love.” Jen raised her glass.

“To love,” the rest of the guests resounded.

Annie finally began to relax and settle into the meal. She was actually surprised how easily everyone seemed to converse.
This night might actually end up being a success
, she thought.

“So Annie,” Amelia started, “what do you do?”

Annie glanced at Zack quickly then back to Amelia. “I’m a nursing student at Penn State.”

“Oh wow, a nurse.” She seemed impressed. “And Zack, aren’t you a doctor?”

“Not yet,” Zack said as he took a sip of wine. “I start my internship at the first of next year.”

“Family of achievers.” Amelia smiled. Annie and Jen looked at each other and Jen rolled her eyes.

“How long have you been together?” Lance gestured to Zack and Jen.

“Three and a half months,” Jen said and smiled as Zack reached for her hand.

“And you already live together?” Amelia gasped.

Annie’s heart suddenly felt tight as she saw Jen’s annoyed expression. She knew it well, since she had gotten the same look the first few times she and Jen had met. It took some time for the two of them to become friends but judging from the look on Jen’s face now, Amelia wasn’t someone she wanted to spend any more time with than she had to.

Luckily, Zack also saw the look and spoke before Jen was able to. “There are some people that know sooner than others. For me, I knew right away that I wanted to be with her forever.” He smiled his most dazzling smile at Jen and she blushed slightly. They shared some silent
I love you’s
and Mrs. Hansen, a slightly overweight, cheerful woman awed at them. “There is nothing more romantic than young love,” she giggled.

“That’s true,” Amelia went on. “You are lucky to find someone like that. Lance and I dated for almost four years before he asked me to marry him. But I’m glad he finally did.” She gave Lance a sidelong glance and he smiled back uncomfortably.

“What about you Annie,” Amelia asked. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Well… I,” Annie stammered. This was the question she’d been dreading.

“Annie’s in school full time so she’s very busy, not to mention she volunteers for every goodwill organization there is,” Jen quickly said before Annie could continue.

“Is that so?” Amelia said with mock interest.

Aunt Gabby gave Amelia a look as she and Zack simultaneously included more of Annie’s good deeds. Annie cringed as the two of them spoke at the same time.

“Annie doesn’t need a man in her life. Besides, there isn’t anyone good enough for her,” Mr. Hansen chimed in.

“There is someone for everyone,” Annie heard Mrs. Hansen say. She prayed it would stop there, but the chatter seemed to get louder as Jen and Zack agreed with Mrs. Hansen and went on their own spill about finding the right person. Somewhere to her left Annie could hear Aunt Gabby talking about how she has never been married and she’s just fine. Life doesn’t end just because you don’t have a significant other. Lance and Amelia were in their own argument, Annie assumed because Lance was upset with her for bringing it up in the first place. Annie’s heart was pumping so fast she could barely breathe. She hated contention, confrontation and anything to do with an argument, especially when it had to do with her. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed it to stop.
Stop
, she just wanted it to... “STOP!” she yelled.

The table went silent and everyone looked at her. “Just stop talking about me,” she said, so frustrated she could hardly speak. “It just so happens…” She looked around the table. “That I
have
met someone.”
What are you doing?
her inner voice urgently asked. “I met him at school and we’ve been dating for several weeks now.”
Stop! Stop now while you can!
“And I was going to bring him today but I thought it might be a little early to bring him to a family holiday.”
You’re not a liar Annie, why are you doing this?
“So you can all stop worrying about me. I’m fine.”

“Who is this guy?” Zack asked, “You didn’t say anything to me about him.”

“Well, like I said. We’ve only been dating a few weeks and I didn’t want to rain on your relationship parade.”

“Oh Annie, I hope you don’t feel like our relationship is any more important than yours,” Jen said, clearly concerned they might have hurt Annie’s feelings.

“No, not at all. It’s just been kind of hectic and I didn’t get around to saying anything.” She smiled the best she could and everyone seemed to believe her.

“What’s his name?” Aunt Gabby asked.

“His name?” Annie repeated. “Uh… his name is… Marcus.”

“And you met him at school? Is he a good person?”

“Yes, Aunt Gab, he’s a perfect gentleman.”

“What’s his major?” Jen asked.

Annie looked at her, searching her brain for anything that sounded legitimate. “He is studying, um… mechanics. I mean, he’s a mechanical engineer. Or, well, at least, that’s his major.” Annie could feel the sweat on her forehead and took a large bite of her potatoes before anyone could ask her more questions.

“A mechanical engineer, hot damn!” Zack said enthusiastically. “Well I hope we get to meet this guy sometime soon. Maybe Jen and I will buzz on over there and we can all go to dinner together.” Jen smiled and nodded, obviously excited at the thought.

Annie smiled and nodded as she tried to swallow the potatoes with the growing lump in her throat.

Lance and Amelia had said little more up to this point but suddenly Lance seemed to find his voice. “I’m really happy for you Annie. I’m sure he’s a great guy.” His smile was sincere and Annie suddenly felt bad about not wanting him to come to dinner. She sneaked a look at Amelia who looked like she’d taken a bite of something nasty.

“Why don’t you bring him during the Christmas holidays?” Aunt Gabby offered.