Mom and Russ had apparently gotten lost on their excursion and had to rush back to their cabin to change. Mom texted Chloe that they would just meet us at dinner. I trailed behind our group, holding Ivy’s little hand because she insisted on walking.
By the time we reached the lodge, everybody else had already gone inside. Ivy walked over to a large lit-up statue of Santa Claus just outside the building, and I let her look at it as long as she wanted. Every time she seemed ready to move on, I’d point out something else about the statue to attract her attention once more.
“Oh, look, Ivy! Is that a reindeer behind Santa?”
“Look! Is Santa holding a bag of presents?”
“Do you like presents, Ivy?”
“What did you ask Santa for?”
So on and so on. It was mostly for distraction purposes, but I could squeeze the cute stuffing out of her earnest chubby baby face while she mispronounced words and L’s for the rest of my life.
“Olive.”
I turned to see Chloe peeking out of the doorway.
“You coming?”
“Yeah, sorry. She just wanted a closer look at Santa.” Which was TRUE.
Chloe eyed me suspiciously. “It almost seems like you don’t want to be here.”
“It’s not my fault your kid is so curious.”
She held the door open for me while I picked up Ivy in my arms and breezed past her into the foyer of the lodge. Jett stood to greet us in front of the door leading into the main room.
“Well, look who it is. Rescue any more stranded motorists today?” I asked, smiling at him.
He blushed, a hint of pink creeping across his cheeks. “Not in the last couple of hours anyway.”
We stepped inside to find a sprawling room lit with cozy yellow lights. I had just been here hours earlier, but now the place shimmered with Christmas. Rows of wooden beams held up the high ceiling. Long tables and chairs were lined up and decorated near the stage. Wreaths covered every window, greenery was draped across anything it could possibly be attached to, and white twinkle lights were strung above the tables. A hay bale display in the corner was obviously intended as a backdrop for pictures. It felt like I had just stepped into a Christmas book.
Except for the Fosters, we were the last in our group to arrive. Even my mom and Russ had somehow beaten us there. Crowds of families gathered around the room with a handful of children running wild under everybody’s feet. We were directed toward a picnic-style table, while the buffets behind us were being filled by staff members with bowls and platters, heaping with food. The smell of smoked meats and cinnamon had me salivating.
“Ohh, he’s cute!” Chloe pointed toward a tall blond, with muscles bursting out of his long-sleeved shirt, sitting on the edge of a table.
My eyes couldn’t help but follow her rude finger point, and I settled my gaze on a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties.
“He has a ring on.”
“What?” She squinted closer at him. “Dang it.”
“Stop showing me guys. I’m dating somebody,” I lied, feeling incredibly grateful to have the Miles card in my back pocket, so to speak. Lie or not, it really was genius. Although it was becoming quite evident that, despite my amazing acting skills, a part of Chloe still didn’t seem to believe me.
“I’m just showing you the scenery,” she said, all innocence. “Just in case you might need somebody here physically to fend off Glenn and his mother.”
Chloe motioned toward a long table on the right side of the room. “We’re all sitting over here.”
I glanced over and saw my mom smiling expectantly at me as she stood from her seat and began making her way over to us. I vaguely registered a blurry blob next to her that was probably Russ, but I didn’t let myself look at him yet.
It was go time. Smile on.
Mom came toward me with her arms out and a warm smile. She looked the same as always and yet somehow not. Her brown hair had streaks of gray running throughout and reached just to her shoulders. She seemed younger, but it was probably the cute snow boots, jeans, and flowing floral top she was wearing. She also seemed softer somehow as she pulled me close. I wrapped my arms around her and shut my eyes briefly, soaking in how good it felt to be hugged by her. My mom had always been a great hugger, tight and all-consuming, and she never pulled away first.
Okay, I stand corrected.
She never used to pull away first. But since I didn’t pull away, she finally had to. I probably would have stayed there all night if it got me out of talking to Russ.
“I’m glad you’re here. How was the drive?” she asked me.
“It was slow. You look great, Mom.”
Russ stepped forward, one arm around my mom’s shoulders and his hand outstretched toward me. “Hey there, kiddo! You ready for the party?”
Party.
Russ was large. Not overweight, necessarily, but he was tall, towering over six feet. His shoe size had to have been at least a fourteen. He looked completely skinny from the back and even straight on from the front, but his side profile showed a decent-sized pot belly. And he had a voice that boomed.
I stared at his hand and waited a beat too long to react. It was petty and made our greeting feel awkward. I tried out a new pep talk in my head. I am a grown woman, not a bratty teenager. Summoning up a smile, I managed to reach out and shake his hand.
“Hi, Russ.”
A loud piercing through the room had everybody ducking and covering their ears. The microphone was a perfect excuse to pull my hand from Russ’s and focus my attention elsewhere.
Jack Taylor stood on the stage and tapped the microphone three times. A large smile captured his face as all the eyes in the room turned toward him.
“That’s our welcome-to-the-lodge noise.” A murmur of laughter filled the room. “Welcome, welcome, everyone. If you could all find a seat, we’ll get going on dinner, and we’ll start breaking down the calendar for this week.”
I sat down at the end of our table, next to Ivy, across from Ben, and three seats down from Russ, which meant I wouldn’t have to make polite conversation.
“Man, this is a good group here tonight,” Jack Taylor was saying. “It’s been a great day meeting all of you. We’ve got three different family reunions going on. We got the ice cream machine working again, thank goodness. And our cow, Snowflake, only kicked me twice while I was milking her tonight.” He paused while a low murmur of laughter broke through the crowd.
I looked around, counting roughly sixty people taking up space throughout the large room. Even though it was huge, the rustic wood and brown tones gave the whole lodge a cozy feel.
Jack dismissed the group to get dinner, and the entire crowd began to stand and wander over to the buffet tables along the back wall. Chloe and Ben went before me, each expertly balancing their own plates of barbecued ribs, roasted vegetables, and salad as well as a plate with a dollop of mashed potatoes and a roll for each of the girls. Once we were all back at our tables with heaping plates of food and cups of hot wassail, Jack took the stage once more.
“Alright, keep eating. I hope you’re enjoying the ribs from Old Snowflake’s mom, Bessie. She was a great cow, but she could have been a lot nicer. I’ll bet she regrets that now.”