Love at Thanksgiving - Part 1

THANKSGIVING

  1.

  The Stewarts’ home was magnificent, stone and stucco with potted plants framing the large mahogany front door. The tree-lined driveway opened to a circular entrance surrounded by a manicured lawn, green even in the November cold. Stephanie parked behind Holly, wondering why her friend and co-worker had not wanted to drive together. Maybe she planned to spend the night with her family. Stephanie and Holly owned a condo together and worked for the same employer, a global financial institution. They had been best friends since high school, and Holly’s family was used to having Stephanie at their Thanksgiving table.

  “How lovely to see you, my dear!” exclaimed Holly’s mother as she drew Stephanie into an embrace, “welcome, welcome....and happy Thanksgiving.”

  “Thank you for having me again this year,” Stephanie replied, “even under these circumstances.”

  “How are you coping? Holly is quite distraught, and so are the rest of us.”

  “Well, it’s a shock for sure. I’ve never been suspended and sent home before! The walk out of the building felt like a walk of shame,” Stephanie felt sick to her stomach thinking about how she had been escorted out of her workplace the day before. Their employer had suspended them pending an investigation into a suspicious funds transfer that had been discovered during an internal audit.

  “It’s sickening,” Stephanie continued. “How can anyone think we could do something illegal!? It’s hard just waiting for them to figure out who did what, and after working there for so long, it’s all the more upsetting.”

  “You have been devoted to them for years, so it’s understandable,” Mrs. Stewart said, guiding Stephanie into their large living room. “Try to put it all out of your head for tonight.

  Come greet everyone.”

  Stephanie saw familiar faces around the room. Holly was teary eyed, clinging to her father’s arm and speaking loudly to Heather and Zach, her sister and brother-in-law. Zach was holding their son Joseph, a red-cheeked toddler who grinned at Stephanie.

  Holly left her father and stood next to her best friend. “This Thanksgiving is ruined,” she informed Stephanie. “The food might be divine, but it’s still ruined.”

  “Everyone here is in our corner,” Stephanie replied. “At least you have their support.”

  Stephanie could sympathize with her friend. Whenever she thought of it, the shock of the accusation made her hands shake.

  Holly’s older brother Hugh greeted Stephanie warmly, expressing his concern over the suspension. After that, Holly’s grandfather Otto squeezed Stephanie’s hands and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry! It'll all get straightened out,” he assured her. Stephanie felt slightly better, wanting to believe him.

  The remaining Stewarts were scattered around the room, and Stephanie left Holly with her brother to greet them all. The Stewarts also normally invited their next door neighbors the Hughes for Thanksgiving. Stephanie noticed Mrs. Hughes and her son Jack by the sliding glass doors toward the back of the room. She’d seen Jack at a restaurant with a date about three months ago, and wondered whether he remembered her. As Stephanie neared them, Mrs. Hughes saw her coming and stepped toward her.

  “Don’t you look lovely, Stephanie,” she said. “I’m so sorry to hear about what happened at work!”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Hughes,” Stephanie replied, “and how is your husband? Holly tells me he’s been having a hard time lately.”

  “Some bad days and some better days. Thank you for asking. I’ll be sure to tell him you asked about him when I get home. Do you remember our son Jack? Jack, this is Holly’s roommate Stephanie.” Jack had been facing away from them and talking with someone else, and his mother grasped his elbow, turning him toward Stephanie.

  “Of course,” Jack said, “I remember you from last Thanksgiving.” He held out his hand, and smiled. He obviously didn’t remember seeing her at the restaurant. “What happened at work?”

  “I didn’t realize you were listening to us,” Mrs. Hughes said, her blue eyes teasing her son. “Somehow you always hear what’s being said when I talk to women, but not when I talk to men!”

  “I don’t want this Thanksgiving to be about my problems at work,” Stephanie inserted. “I’m trying to forget about work altogether.”

  “I’ll be happy to discuss the weather or sports instead,” Jack continued to smile at Stephanie, “or we can talk about Mother’s book club since she’s still holding my elbow.” Stephanie couldn’t help noticing how Jack’s eyes almost disappeared when he smiled, and how engaging his smile was.

  “I like talking with your mother,” Stephanie said, “about books or whatever she feels like talking about.”

  “Really, dear,” Mrs. Hughes replied, “I’m not that interesting! Also, I did promise my husband that I’d visit with Otto, so I better go find the poor man before I forget my obligation. Jack, you talk about something other than work with Stephanie, and that’s an order!”

  “Shoot, I was going to ask you for details, but I’m afraid of my mother,” Jack said, sitting down at a nearby sofa, and indicating that Stephanie do the same. “Did you want something to drink?”

  “I hate to drink on an empty stomach, “she answered, “and I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of room for turkey, plus everything else.” Stephanie tried not to talk too much, which was her tendency when she was nervous. She sat as far away from Jack on the sofa as possible.

  Although he was attractive, Stephanie felt slightly uncomfortable in his magnetic presence. “I saw you a few months ago at the Olive Garden over by the mall,” she continued. “You were there with a dark haired woman in a lovely suit. Was that your girlfriend?”

  “Ah, sadly no. There’s no girlfriend in the picture. Was it at lunchtime? That must have been Janene. She’s a lawyer I’ve had some business dealings with. I don’t remember seeing you there, though. You should have said hello.”

  “I was there with my supervisor, so I really couldn’t. It was a business lunch as well.”

  “Of course. That Olive Garden is near your office, isn’t it?”

  “We are not going to talk about my work, remember?”

  “Technically we’re talking about restaurants, not work,” Jack laughed, “but I concede I was going in that direction.” Stephanie wondered whether he knew how good looking he was, especially whenever he laughed. She looked away from him, and breathed in slowly. Hugh caught her eye from across the room, and he started walking toward them just as his mother called them to dinner.

  Mrs. Stewart had arranged the Thanksgiving seating so that conversation would flow easily during dinner. Stephanie sat next to Holly with Holly’s grandfather, Otto, on her other side. Jack and Hugh were seated directly across the table from them. Otto was always enjoyable company, telling stories from his youth or from when his grandchildren were small. Stephanie made an effort to listen.

  Holly kept interrupting her grandfather. She had consumed too much wine before dinner, and was not interested in eating. Hugh told her more than once to let their grandfather talk. Holly may have listened, as she slumped down in her seat and grew quiet. Stephanie tried to get her to eat a few bites of the delicious meal.

  “Hugh is just as worried as we are about the investigation,” Stephanie whispered to Holly, “but let’s leave the work worries until next week. We can’t do anything over Thanksgiving.”

  Holly nodded, but when dessert was served, she told Stephanie that she would not be returning to her job regardless of the conclusion of the investigation.

  “Holly! Don’t decide anything th
is soon,” Stephanie pleaded with her.

  “I don’t know about you, but just being accused has ruined my desire to work there again,” Holly was adamant. “I can’t go back.”

  “Don’t you think some people will think you’ve done something wrong if you don’t return? I think that’s exactly the wrong thing to do!” Stephanie wanted to clear their names and not make any decisions until after the investigation.

  “I don’t care what other people think,” Holly had made up her mind. The two friends tried to converse in low tones, but the men across the table realized something was going on and kept asking them what was happening. Holly just shook her head at them. Stephanie did not touch her dessert, and excused herself as soon as she felt she could leave the table.

  Stephanie grabbed her coat, and went outside to pace in the back garden. Now she understood why they had driven separately. Holly had excused herself and gone to her childhood bedroom upstairs, where she planned to stay indefinitely. Stephanie could not control what Holly decided to do, and this, on top of the accusations, made her feel overwhelmed.

  She could not think about other things until she knew who had made the fraudulent funds transfer at work. One thing at a time, she kept telling herself. It was hard to let others do the investigating, since it was her good name and reputation on the line.

  “Stephanie, come back