A fresh start
Chapter 29: the holidays
Hey, what's up, everyone? We're back with another chapter. Not much longer to go on the story now. It's been a long run and definitely the longest story I've published in chapter terms, but I couldn't have done it without the help of my co-writer A Writer With Mixed Interests. A special thank you to her.
And thank you to all you guys for reading. I would list your names down, but I'd be worried of missing one of you and making it feel like I didn't appreciate it. But I do, so thank you guys and gals. Here's chapter 29, enjoy.
Summer passed soon after, and Lee returned to work at the university. It was a wonderful summer, but he was glad to be back. He only had problems with a handful of students, which was pretty good compared to last year. Lee didn't have a chance to see his friends very much since he was busy, but he would occasionally make plans with Kenny or someone on weekends.
Before he knew it, the holidays were approaching. Near Thanksgiving, Carley's family had called her to tell her that they were snowed in at their hometown, making them unable to visit, so Lee had invited her along to Macon to spend it with him and his family. It was a lovely time, and the two had made the announcement to Lee's family that they were together. On the Saturday afternoon afterwards, Lee took Carley home and went home after making sure she went into her house okay.
Lee stepped into his home and the first thing he did was turn on the heating. Atlanta was quite cold now that it was near Christmas, even though it did not snow that much in Atlanta, mostly just ice and cold air.
He decided that he would wait a few days until he would put up his Christmas decorations; for now he just wanted to relax. He made a mental note to call Kenny's family and ask how their holiday was.
He was pretty much on his own for a while. He made himself some hot chocolate and kicked back on his couch with his feet up whilst watching some TV for a while.
He settled on some random movie that he'd never seen. It was called World War Z, a movie about the zombie apocalypse. Lee wondered why the zombies moved so fast; on everything else he'd seen, they moved rather slow.
He could not imagine being in a zombie apocalypse, he would probably die instantly. But still, that would never happen within a million days. Why they were showing a zombie movie near Christmas was a mystery.
But nevertheless, Lee enjoyed the movie. The part near the ending intrigued him, when Brad Pitt's character was injected with the virus. He didn't know why, but he felt like a sequel would likely come out too.
As the movie came to an end, Lee's phone rang within perfect timing. He answered it to hear Ed's voice on the other end of the line.
"Hey Lee, it's Ed." Ed greeted on the other line. "Diana, Clementine and I are next door and we noticed you're back from Macon. We was just wondering if you would like to come over for dinner?"
Lee decided this wasn't a bad idea, since he had nothing else planned for this evening. "Sure, I can come over. When would you want me there?"
"Around half-hour?" Ed suggested.
"Sure, I'll see you then," Lee replied as he stood up. He went to the kitchen to place his empty mug in the dishwasher.
After half hour passed, Lee grabbed his keys and coat and went over to Clementine's house. Even though they only lived next door, it was still pretty cold outside.
He rang the doorbell, and about thirty seconds later Clementine answered it.
"Hey, Clem," Lee greeted.
"Hey Lee." Clementine greeted in return before opening the door open for him. "Come on in."
Lee followed Clementine into their front room with Diana sitting on the couch. Ed was in the kitchen preparing dinner for a while since Diana usually did most of the cooking.
"Hey, Diana," Lee greeted as he took a seat in the armchair. Clementine took a seat by her mother. "How was your holiday?"
"Hectic," Diana responded with a small laugh. "We had relatives come over here for once, instead of going to Ed's parents' house. Ed tried to deep-fry a turkey...which backfired."
Lee let out a short laugh; he could imagine his father or Blake doing the same thing.
"At least everyone enjoyed the turkey sandwiches I made." Ed called out from the kitchen.
"Sorry to hear that happened," Lee commented with a small smile.
"Yeah, I'll leave the cooking advice to Dianna next year." Ed replied whilst he put in the dinner they were having for today: pork chop with mashed potatoes.
"So I heard you took Carley with you to Macon," Diana pointed out. "How was that?"
"It was fine, it was a good time," Lee responded. "It would've been a little unfair for her to have to spend a holiday alone."
"That's nice of you, Lee." Clementine commented after taking a sip of some tea.
"How are your family, Lee?" Ed inquired as he sat down besides his wife now that dinner was in the oven.
"They're doing fine," Lee replied. "Business has been a little slow at the drugstore, but it always picks back up in December. What about you, Clementine? How's school going?"
"Schools going great." Clementine answered with a nod. "I thought moving up a grade would be tough, but I'm actually finding it easy."
"She's almost on the honor roll," Diana nearly boasted, rubbing her daughter's shoulder gently.
"That's great to hear," Lee answered.
"Yep." Ed agreed with a nod. "We're really proud of our Clementine."
Clementine smiled in response. She always enjoyed being praised.
It wasn't long before dinner was finally ready, and Ed went to get the chops out of the oven while Clementine, Lee, and Diana went to sit at the table, which Clem had set right before Lee came over.
"Hope you like pork chop, Lee." Clementine inquired with a small smile.
"I'm sure I will," Lee gave a small nod.
"Don't worry, Lee, it's only turkey that my husband isn't good at cooking," Diana chuckled. She probably wasn't going to let her husband hear the end of it for a while.
"I should probably take some cooking lessons." Ed suggested to himself. "I somehow burned boiled eggs once."
"The house didn't smell too pleasant after that," Diana added, making Clementine laugh a bit.
"How do you burn boiled eggs, Dad?" Clementine inquired, placing her arm near her mouth in an attempt to prevent her laughter.
"Carley used to burn water," Lee spoke up with a smile. "But she says that was a while ago."
"Burn water?" Ed repeated before chuckling slightly.
Lee nodded and cut up some asparagus, deciding to change the subject. "So, you guys have any major plans for Christmas?"
"Yep, we're all heading to visit our family in Washington." Ed answered. "It's going to be a great trip. What about you, Lee?"
"That sounds like fun," Lee replied. "I'm not sure yet, my family said they might visit. If not, I'll probably go back to Macon."
"Well, hope it goes well." Ed replied.
"How are your family, Lee?" Clementine inquired.
"They're doing fine," Lee answered. "Blake told me he's thinking of asking our parents for new workers part-time. It might help pick up business. And they'll be selling small Christmas trees at the pharmacy."
"Sounds great, Lee." Ed agreed with a nod.
"Yeah, it will be," Lee responded.
Soon, the four of them finished their meal - which was actually pretty good - and Ed and Diana began clearing the table. Lee offered to help, but they kindly declined.
"Thanks for coming over, Lee, we hope you have a great Christmas." Ed said while placing the dishes into the sink.
"It's no problem," Lee replied with a smile. "Have a great holiday." He said good-bye to Clementine and started off for home. The air was even cooler now than it was earlier.
He stepped back forward into his home where the warm heating brushed up against his skin, freeing him from the cold air.
For the time being, Lee decided to grade some papers and get that out of the way before Monday. The time was coming soon for final exams, and he would have to prepare.
He was impressed with his students results during the last summer and hopefully, they could do twice as good this time.
They had been discussing the Civil War, one of Lee's favorite topics, so these assignments were easier to grade than certain ones. He'd had a discussion on Civil War generals just the other day with Omid.
While he was at their home, Lee could not help but take note that Christa was now six months pregnant and it was heavily noticeable. Not long now.
They were going to be an interesting little family, Lee could already tell.
After about an hour, Lee finally finished grading his students' papers, most of them doing pretty well.
Since the day was still early, Lee decided to go out for a while and head downtown to Sarita's diner for some lunch.
Since it was Daylight Savings Time, it was already dark out, despite it only being a little after 6:15 pm. Lee got up and left his papers in his study, and decided to go for a drive, maybe to the local bar.
Lee arrived at the local bar and stepped inside to see not that many people were inside. There as a guy sitting in the corner who Lee known to be named Troy, a jerk who drinks a lot. Mike was also there, sitting at the bar with a beer in his hand.
Troy was yelling at the barkeeper to get him another thing of whiskey. The barkeeper just shook his head and replied, "Sir, I think you've had enough for one evening. Please tell me you have a ride home."
"Hey Mike," Lee greeted as he took a seat by his friend, trying to ignore the "pleasant conversation" going on between Troy and the barkeeper.
"Hey Lee." Mike greeted in return.
"Sir, do I have to get security?" the barkeeper asked Troy, trying to sound as calm as possible. Lee and Mike both had to admit, it was a little hard to ignore all the shouting.
The security guard arrived and took Troy outside without much effort. He returned seconds later and stood in the corner with his arms crossed.
"Jesus..." Lee muttered, shaking his head. Now that that was done, he ordered himself a drink.
"People nowadays." Mike muttered, shaking his head before taking a sip.
Luckily, Troy didn't come back in, and the barkeeper handed Lee his drink, just a bottle of beer that wasn't all that strong. Lee wasn't much of a drinker, but he would have one or two on some occasions.
"So, how was Thanksgiving in Macon?" Mike inquired. "Enjoy your time there?"
"It was a good time, I invited Carley along since her family got snowed in."
"That's a shame." Mike replied, his expression dropping slightly. "I went to Bonnie's this year. I lost my parents a few years back."
"Sorry to hear that, man," Lee responded with a frown. He didn't say anything more about it as it was none of his business.
"Thanks." Mike shrugged.
The door opened again, and Lee noticed Jane sitting on the other end of the bar, removing her hat. Jane saw him and gave him a nod, which he returned.
Lee never expected Jane to be in a place like this, especially near Christmas. He would probably go and speak to her later.
"Isn't that the girl who works in the store by the park?" Mike asked Lee.
"Yeah, I wonder what she's doing here," Lee inquired. Jane didn't appear to look unhappy, she stared at the football game that was playing on the small TV.
"Go and talk to her if you want." Mike suggested before taking a bite out of some chips he ordered.
Lee shrugged and decided that he might as well, and went over to greet Jane. "Hey."
"Hey." Jane greeted in return. She took a drink out of her beer when it was delivered to her.
Lee took a seat in the barstool next to her. "Umm...may I ask what brings you here?"
"Just...Needed some time alone." Jane answered. "There was a big fight between my family and my sister, and I just had to go and cool down before I did something regrettable."
"Oh, I understand," Lee answered. And he did. He knew how a lot of people tended to go to a bar after a heated argument or something of the like. After a long pause, he spoke up again. "So...how was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was okay." Jane replied, resting her face against her hand. "Just my parents and my sister at home."
Lee, seeing as she was clearly stressed, decided not to both her anymore if she didn't want. "That's...good. If you want, I'll leave you alone."
Jane nodded in response and Lee left to give her some space.
"Might be best to leave her alone," Lee told Mike a bit softly as he sat down in his original spot.
"Good idea." Mike agreed.
For now, the two men decided to watch the football game that was playing on the TV with the occasional small talk. The bartender seemed thankful now that Troy wasn't in here anymore and things were quiet again.
But Lee did not stay for too long and decided to head back, bidding Mike and Jane goodbye along the way. Now that they were near Christmas, it was time to get his decorations up and buy some gifts for his family and friends.
It was going to be different from last year and he knew it. His life was almost perfect now. Since it was dark outside, he'd have to wait to decorate his porch. When he passed by Nick and Luke's house, however, they weren't quite waiting.
"Luke! LUKE! Where the hell is the cord?" Nick shouted to his friend.
"I thought you had it!" Luke shouted back. "Don't you have the flashlight?"
"I think Pete took it," Nick grumbled.
Lee couldn't help but chuckle to himself, but he remained unseen by the two farm boys as he continued on home.
As he walked away, he heard one of them fall of the ladder followed by laughter from the other. Before going into his own home, he looked into Clementine's house and could see the family of three decorating the inside of their home through a window.
Lee smiled; it was how the perfect family should be. He opened the door to his house, glad to be away from the cold. If his brother were here, he'd be chattering away about how Christmas was less than a month away.
This Christmas he was going to spend it with Carley. They were going to go to Macon, but due to some strikes and blocks, that was going to be impossible now. Nevertheless, Lee had the feeling this Christmas was going to be perfect.
That's the end of this chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Christmas will be coming up in the following chapters. I know it's April now, but we had this planned during December before we actual began writing. Stay tuned for the next chapter.
