Kaylee felt good down to her toes to be doing some good for others and said so to Mel once they were finished their deliveries.
“It usually gets everyone stirred up and ready for the holidays. Have you decided what you are doing about Thanksgiving dinner yet?” Mel asked. “We have room at the table in the bar if you’re interested.”
“I’ll be cooking and eating with Landry,” she said. “The two of us are alone out there and he’s going to drive over to Eureka and poke around the seafood market.”
“Fantastic,” Mel said. “And what about Christmas? You’ll still be around here then, won’t you?”
“Yes, I’ll be leaving after Christmas.”
“And do you have plans for Christmas? Do you know about our tree?”
“No, I don’t believe I do.”
“We put up a huge tree in the center of town and decorate it with military unit patches that we’ve been collecting for years. Some of the guys chop it down, put it up—it usually falls down at least once in the process and they do a better job of putting it up after that. Jack rents a cherry picker so he can string tinsel and hang lights and ornaments, and half the town turns out to watch because there’s a lot of swearing and a lot of laughing. But it is always a magnificent tree. We have to borrow a flatbed truck from Paul Haggerty to bring it out of the forest.” Mel grinned. “You should put bows around the necks of those puppies and display them around the tree at Christmas.”
“Will they be ready?” Kaylee asked. “They have to be eight weeks and get their first shots, right?”
“Something like that. So, will you be having Christmas dinner with Landry? We would love to have you both if you don’t have other plans.”
Kaylee sighed. “I haven’t made any commitments for Christmas day. To be honest, I’m not looking forward to it. I’ll probably lie low. Maybe read a good book. Or take a couple of long walks. I knew for sure I didn’t want to be in my mother’s house on that day.”
“Is this because of your mother’s passing?” Mel asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid so. I’m doing much better with that, however. I think it’s because of my new experiences and new friends in Virgin River.”
“I hate to think of you alone on Christmas Day. Wouldn’t it take your mind off things to be with friends?”
“It’s complicated,” she said. “My mom was very sick. We had Hospice care the last weeks of her life. And she died on Christmas Day.” She was quiet a moment. “I just don’t know how I can manage Christmas. I don’t know how I can face it.”
“Oh, Kaylee, how difficult that must be. Think about what I can do to help,” Mel said. “Anything that would make you happy or even just take your mind off the sadness of the experience. Maybe it would be a good day to celebrate her life. I bet she didn’t die in sadness.”
“She definitely did not,” Kaylee said. “She was never afraid and never angry and God knows she had enough morphine in her to make the passage smooth. But that was the day I lost my best friend and I’ll never get her back.”
Mel was quiet for a moment. When she pulled into the bar parking lot next to Jack’s truck, she asked, “Have you had some counseling, Kaylee?”
“Yes, right after she died, for several months. I’m not sure it helped.”
“But this will take time. Of course it will take time. I’m not a religious person but I bet your mother is not very far away. I bet she’s your guardian angel. I bet she helps put the right people all around you so that you can feel her love even from a distance.”
Kaylee smiled. “Sure,” she said.
Mel patted her hand. “I’m never sure of the right thing to say. But knowing you a little bit now, I believe you’ll get through this difficult year and find joy again.”
“That might take a miracle,” Kaylee said.
“Miracles happen around here all the time. It will come, I’m sure of it. As your world gets bigger than your grief. Anything I can do to help, just say the word.”
“Thank you, Mel.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” she said. “Will you help us again tomorrow?”
“Absolutely! It was a very good day.”
* * *
Landry did ask Jack if his help was needed in the filling and transporting of holiday food boxes, but Jack said, “We’re good. If you come around, you get cookies, but we’re covered.”