Running Back to Safety
Chapter Four: Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving has never been one of my favourite holidays. It seemed to only serve as a reminder of all the people missing in my life and even now I'm back home I can't bring myself to enjoy the family based holiday. But since I didn't have the heart to turn Uncle Charlie down on his invitation or to keep Jay away from the little family we had left; we are going to spend the day with Charlie and the others at his house.
I arrived early to help Sue, Emily, Leah, Kim and Tiffany Call prepare the turkey and other foods while Jay hung out with Charlie and the other guys as they huddled around the TV in the living room, yelling and cheering at the football game that was airing. Jay didn't have a clue as to what was going on around him or on the television, but he seemed to love being with the guys as he looked around the room from Uncle Charlie's lap. Every time the guys would cheer for a touch down or good play Jay would squeal in delight, while when the men groaned and yelled angrily at the TV he would grunt in discontent. The girls thought it was the cutest thing ever while I just smiled. Charlie would make a sports fanatic out of my boy in no time if he had his way and by the looks the other guys gave Jay, I assume they would have no problem corrupting him either.
"So Danni, I haven't heard much about you. Did you grow up here?" Tiffany asked as she began mashing the potatoes. I nodded.
"Yeah, I grew up just a couple blocks over." Tiffany seemed interested.
"Really? I had no idea Charlie even had any other family beside his daughter until Embry told me about you when he came home from the funeral." I had a feeling where this was going and I didn't like it.
"Uncle Charlie isn't much of a talker. I imagine that I just never came up in conversation." It was a lie but could you blame me, I had only just met this woman and she was already trying to interrogate me.
"Well I guess. Where have you been living?" Tiffany seemed to be a nosy, gossipy type of person and by the looks Leah and Sue were giving us they knew that Tiffany was digging for information.
"I've been a few places. Spent some time at college before moving around trying to find a place I liked to raise my boy." I answered vaguely.
"That must be lovely. I never got to do much traveling before I settled here and had Embry. That must make things tough with your son's father though." Tiffany finished. She remained looking down at the bowl of potatoes she was mashing, but I could see her glancing out of the corner of her eye at me, trying to gain information from my reaction. My grip tightened on the whisk I was holding as I straightened my back, giving the woman a glare as I spoke.
"Not at all. If it's okay with you Tiffany I would like to move on to a different subject. Maybe how you came to live in La Push?" I suggested. Tiffany seemed a little startled with the direction the conversation was taking.
"Yeah, Tiffany how did you meet Embry's father?" Sue questioned as she glanced over her shoulder, away from the pots on the stove. I noticed that Tiffany seemed uncomfortable with the subject and quickly gave a vague answer before changing the subject once again and away from herself, never mentioning who Embry's father was. I flashed Sue a grateful smile that she returned before pulling her attention back to the pots that covered the stove top.
"What were you studying in college, Danni?" Leah asked.
"I never really picked a major. I took a variety of courses hoping that I would find something that I liked enough to stick with." I shrugged.
"What type of classes did you take?" Sue asked intrigued.
"I mainly took scientific classes like genetics and human body systems. Other than that I took a couple advanced courses in mathematics and psychology." I replied lightly, I could almost see myself getting a degree in science, but once Jay came into my life the idea became a distant dream, no longer obtainable due to my circumstances.
"Wow." Sue replied as she looked at me surprised. "You don't seem like the science type of girl."
"Yeah. Well that was sometime ago," I shrug. Charlie enters the kitchen to grab some more cans of beer from the fridge.
"Smells good girls," he smiles.
"Should be ready soon," Sue smiles looking across the room at my Uncle. I'm glad they have one another, it makes me feel good knowing Charlie has someone to come home to now Bella is gone. "Hope these girls aren't grilling you to much Danni."
"Nah it's been good fun," I smile. He goes to leave the kitchen but not before pausing and looking at the bowl I was stirring. "Everything okay Charlie?"
"Yeah I just thought Dakota was left handed." I look down at my hands, the red whisk controlled by my left hand and the bowl firmly grasped in my right hand. I laugh.
"Sorry Charlie you got it the wrong way around."
"Dam I thought I could always tell you two apart, apparently not," he says leaving the room after giving me a warm smile and shrug. I finish whisking my bowl and hand it off to Emily to bake. No one is talking in the kitchen, most of the noise is coming from the lounge room as the boys hoot and holla over the game.
My throat feels dry so I grab a bottle of water from the fridge. I almost choke on my first sip as Tiffany and her great sense of timing asks. "Who's Dakota?" I cough a few times as all eyes in the kitchen turn to look at me.
"Oh uh she's... she's my sister."
"I didn't know you had a sister?" Leah says. I shrug.
"We haven't talked in years so she's not really a common topic," I say a little to quickly. I excuse myself to go set the tables outside. Today was such a nice day, with hardly any clouds in the Sky the sun shone brightly. Since the weather was so good, and there was going to be far to many of us to fit around the table inside, we had chosen to eat outside. The boys had set up the table and chairs earlier this morning so all that was left to do was set the tables and bring out the food.
After around five minutes of being outside alone setting the table I heard the back door open. I look over my shoulder to see Leah.
"I'm fine," I say.
"Yeah I know. But if you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here for you."
"Thanks Leah."
"No problem, that's what friends are for," she smiles. "Do you need any help?" Leah offered.
"No I'm almost finished," I forced a smile.
"Okay I'll start to bring out some of the food then," Leah says as she goes back into the house.
As I set the last plate on the table I hear the back door re open and look up. I was expecting to see Leah carrying some item of food, but it's not her. Paul offers me a smile as he exits the house, Jay in his arms.
"There's my gorgeous boy," I grin walking over to Paul.
"Yeah I think he was starting to get a bit bored inside," Paul says.
"I can't blame him, that stuffs boring isn't it baby?" I smile grabbing Jay from Paul's arms. I kiss Jay's cheek and he smiles widely. "Hu bub," I say hosting him up higher on my hip. "Yes?" I ask looking up at Paul. He gives me an odd look. "You look like you want to ask a question," I say.
"Did you want to go out sometime?" He blurts out. There is an odd look of fear on his face and I have to tell myself not to laugh.
"Like on a date?" I ask.
"Yeah umm, if that's okay?" He said nervously scratching the back of his head.
Before I could get over my surprise and answer the back door opens and Leah walks out holding two large bowls. The game must have reached half time as everyone else starts flowing out of the house and crowding around the table. Jared pulls Paul away from me saying something about a score their team had made in the time he was gone.
Charlie sat at one end of the table and Sam at the other. Sue was on one side of Charlie so I took the empty seat on his other side. Jay sat in my lap instantly playing with the shiny fork. I forgot about Paul's question as food was passed around the table. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, enjoying good company and food. Jokes were made and laughs shared around. Jay loved mashed potato and gravy. I fed him in between bights of my own food.
As the last of the food disappeared Charlie stood up and the table fell silent.
"I'm not the best at speeches but I just wanted to thank everyone for making the effort to be here today. After such a rough couple of months I'm grateful for everyone here. It really means a lot and I hope to see you all back here next year." I smiled up at my uncle, feeling a tight pain in my chest as I thought of all the people who couldn't be here with us. Jay didn't know what was going on as he played around with a red plastic cup. Uncle Charlie looked down at Jay smiling he reached for the small boy. I handed him over and Charlie hoisted Jay onto his side. Charlie lifted his beer up in his free hand. "To good food, good company, and a bright future." We all held our cups and cans up in the air and toasted.
Looking around I was glad I had made the choice to come back here. It would be hard to leave this place one day but I know my time here would be short lived. I would be surprised if we were still here next thanks giving. Hopefully we could still visit.
...
Everyone else went inside to clean the dishes or watch the second half of the game. Charlie held onto Jay as I stayed outside to clean up. I silently picked up the empty cans and dirty napkins throwing them in the bin before the wind could carry them away.
"Couldn't have asked for better wether," Paul says joining me in the backyard.
"Tell me about it, I was starting to forget what the sun looked like," I smile looking up at the sky as a few grey clouds slowly started to cover the sun.
"So umm... you didn't get to answer my question earlier."
"Look Paul you seem like a nice guy and all but I'm just not looking for anything at the moment. Sorry." I couldn't complicate my life here any more then I already had. "I hope we can be friends, I know how stupid that sounds but it's true."
"Yeah that's fine, I understand you got your son and all, we can definitely still be friends."
"Thanks for understanding Paul."
###Authors notes
If you want an update please let me know your thoughts. I have an idea for the next chapter but i am a bit stuck on this story so any thoughts are greatly appreciated.