A Heartwarming Thanksgiving

by Amy Vastine

  With a glad cry, Daisy flowed into her brother’s embrace before Caleb could move. He and Jared bonded as if they’d never been apart. Caleb really liked Kim, too, though she had a searching gaze like Sophie’s that made him squirm.

  Which gave Caleb another idea.

  If Daisy wanted an army, she’d have one.

  “Jared and Kim are upstairs unpacking,” he told her. “You’re in command for now. I need to do something.”

  “You’re not leaving?”

  “With the smells coming from this kitchen? No way.” After giving her a kiss, he turned toward the front door. “I’ll be right back.”

  Daisy had the dining room table set when Caleb returned.

  “Come see,” he said. “I brought guests.”

  Daisy sent him a startled look. “But who—?”

  She thought he didn’t know anyone else in the area. That he didn’t care about Thanksgiving. But after last night, he did.

  When Daisy walked into the living room, she gasped. Sophie held a place of honor in the recliner. And the soldier Caleb had seen at the center, now wearing his dress blues, grinned. So did Caleb.

  “Sophie was easy. She’s having a good day. It was a bit more difficult getting Mark’s chair into my rental car, but he’s really looking forward to your turkey. We talked all the way from the center. They were going to eat alone,” he said. “I figured even with some guests, we’ll be having leftovers for a week.” He sent her a silent message with his eyes. He wasn’t going anywhere, not far at least.

  “I make great turkey soup,” Daisy said but her eyes looked damp. “Thank you, Caleb. This means the world to them. And me.” She lowered her voice. “Sophie’s family cares about her but they live far away. A phone call was all she could expect today—and dinner in her room. Mark, too. His family has a hard time coping with his wounds.”

  “We’re all wounded,” Caleb said. “But very much alive.”

  “We made a lot of progress last night—”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, “but I’ll need therapy, too. I’m sure you can recommend someone.”

  She smiled and said, “I can. Right after we produce today’s feast.”

  He drew her around the corner toward the kitchen. In the hallway, out of sight of Jared and Kim, who were making their guests feel welcome, he pulled Daisy into his arms. Then kissed her. Several times.

  “I’ve got another idea,” he said after a long while. But what if he was wrong and she didn’t want him? Or wouldn’t take that risk? Too late, she’d said last night. “How’d you like to come to Virginia? To meet Brig and Molly and Laila.”

  Daisy beamed. “I’d like that.”

  “Brig’s got a job for me,” he said.

  “You’re going to stay with your team?”

  “No. But I’ll still be in the military. In uniform,” he warned her.

  She didn’t even blink. “I’m happy for you. I’m glad we’re friends again, Caleb.”

  He cleared his throat. She’d passed his final test with flying colors. But… “What if I want to be more than friends?”

  “What if I do, too?” she said with a cheeky grin.

  And Caleb hugged her tight. “I love you, Daisy.”

  “I still love you, too.”

  Laughter and conversation flowed from the living room. Daisy’s holiday table looked beautiful, and so did she. The aromas of a golden-brown turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes, along with mincemeat pie, drifted on the air.

  “Happy Thanksgiving,” he whispered in Daisy’s ear and kissed her again.

  “Welcome home,” she said.

  * * * * *

  If you enjoyed this story by USA TODAY bestselling author Leigh Riker, you’ll love The Reluctant Rancher. Available in paperback and digitally at Harlequin.com and through online retailers everywhere.

  Thanksgiving Leftovers Casserole by Leigh Riker

  So easy and even better than the day before.

  Ingredients

  Stuffing

  Cranberry sauce

  Turkey

  Gravy

  Whipped potatoes

  Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

  2. Spray cooking oil in baking pan (or coat bottom with butter/margarine if you prefer).

  3. Layer ingredients in the pan in the order in which they appear above.

  4. Heat for twenty minutes in oven or until uniformly warm throughout. Serve.

  Mr. Right All Along

  By Jennifer Snow

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Recipe: Pumpkin and Pear Soup

  CHAPTER 1

  If Aiden had to hear too much more of this, he was going to lose it. Waving a hand to get Kayla’s attention, he tapped his watch and whispered, “Let’s go.”

  Kayla nodded, glancing up from the open Skype connection on her laptop. “Just a sec.” She returned her attention to the screen. “I can’t wait to see you, too….”

  He coughed loudly.

  “Um, Jeremy, Aiden is waiting patiently…” She shot him a look. “…we’re going to check out the progress on the restaurant tonight.”

  Her eagerness made him smile. She’d helped him find the prime location two months before, and after the bank had approved his business loan, his dream of finally owning his own restaurant was taking shape. Quite literally. Kayla had helped him put together the business plan and now with her new Interior Design diploma, she was styling the space.

  “Has he seen your design for the dining room yet?” the deep voice on the other side of the computer asked.

  Aiden’s smile faded. Jeremy had seen the plans for his restaurant before him?

  Kayla looked sheepish as she said, “Not yet. I was planning to show him tonight. I had wanted to surprise him.”

  He had a surprise for her, too.

  Instinctively, his hand went to his jeans pocket. Relief mixed with anticipation washed over him. The engagement ring was still there. Hopefully soon, she’d be wearing it.

  “Okay, yes, I know, I miss you, too,” Kayla was saying from behind the desk of the Brookhollow Inn, where she worked for her brother and sister-in-law.

  Aiden reached for her light blue thermal jacket, hanging near the door and tossed it to her before the soft smell of vanilla spice could torture him.

  She shot him another look, but at least she stood. “Okay, I really have to go now. Okay…bye. You disconnect first…no you…”

  Enough already. Reaching over the desk, he closed the laptop lid.

  “Hey!”

  “Do you want to see the restaurant or not?”

  “Definitely.” She quickly slid into her coat and wrapped a white cashmere scarf around her neck as she set the B & B’s front phone to voicemail for the evening. “Do we have time to stop for food first? I’m starving. Lost track of time Skyping with Jeremy.”

  He sighed, setting a bag of take-away onto the desk from the Riverside Grill. “Gotcha covered.”

  She reached for the bag. “How are you still single?”

  “Too much amazingness for most women to handle, I guess,” he said sarcastically, though he was starting to wonder himself. He’d been stuck in the friend zone with Kayla from the moment they’d met. Except for one brief but very real moment two months before. The night they found the restaurant location. She’d just broken up with Mr. Wrong number 876 and was complaining about men. He’d been about to point out that she probably scared guys off with the intensity of her five year plan from first date to first baby when she’d turned to him and said, “Why are there no men like you? You were ready to commit, settle down and start a family.”

  She was right. He had been, but after a broken engagement, he hadn’t thought he’d ever be ready to take that leap of faith with someone again.

  “I want someone like you,” she’d said, looking at him in a way he’d never seen before.
<
br />   In the long, tension-filled silence that followed, he’d realized two things: he could no longer deny the feelings he had for his best friend and five years after the breakup, his heart might be ready to commit to someone again.

  But then she’d laughed, breaking the spell and crushing his epiphany and newfound courage. And then she’d gone to New York to complete her last semester of school.

  Waiting for her to come back he’d done a lot of thinking. Waiting for the right time to tell her he was in love with her had kept him quiet for too long, but he’d decided that once she finished her course, there was nothing stopping him.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  She took another bite of the chicken casserole and nodded. “Just let me put this in the fridge,” she said, picking up the container and eating as she disappeared down the hall toward the B & B’s kitchen.

  She couldn’t boil hot dogs, but she could certainly eat. One of the many things he loved about her. Kayla had been on the tasting panel at the Riverside Grill as they’d tried out new recipes the week he was hired. The sheer joy she got out of eating reminded him why’d he’d gone into culinary school in the first place and watching her practically lick her plate clean, knowing it was his food making her moan was…attractive.

  Of course, at the time she’d been seeing someone, and he’d sworn off women, so he’d moved into the friend’s zone and unfortunately that’s where he’d stayed.

  When she came from the kitchen, her eyes were glued to her cell phone screen.

  And so the texting starts…

  “Oh crap.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You know how Jeremy is coming for Thanksgiving?”

  It was all she talked about, so yeah. The tiniest part of him hoped the message was the guy bailing. Hadn’t had the courage to tell her when they’d been talking a minute ago.

  Okay, a big part of him hoped that.

  “He can’t make it?” He faked a sympathetic look just in case.

  “No, he’s bringing his mom.”

  His gut twisted. Wow. Meeting the parents… That was a big step.

  “Said he tried to tell me before our Skype connection was lost.” She glared at him.

  Oops. “Well, you had to meet her sometime, right?”

  “Yes, but he’s expecting me—” panic rose in her voice “—to cook Thanksgiving dinner…”

  He clenched his teeth, regretting his next words before they even left his mouth. “Just bring them to dinner at the restaurant.” He wouldn’t tamper with Jeremy’s food. Promise.

  She shook her head. “I already suggested that when it was just him coming. He said he wanted a nice, intimate dinner—just us.”

  Aiden cringed. That wouldn’t be happening if he had anything to do with it. “Well, now that it’s become a family affair, why not take them to your parents’ Thanksgiving dinner.” The words stuck like peanut butter to the roof of his mouth. He needed to get her to the new restaurant and propose already. This was killing him.

  “He’s not ready to meet my family yet.”

  Yet the guy was coming to her family’s home during the biggest family holiday of the year—how could he expect to avoid meeting them? Plus he expected her to meet his mom? “Sounds like a keeper,” he muttered.

  She didn’t hear him. “Besides, his family is Italian and food is like the big test.”

  “Relax. It’s just dinner.”

  “No it isn’t. This is the test to see if the new girlfriend will fit in…make a good wife.”

  “Wife?”

  Exasperation flickered in her expression. “Don’t get crazy. We’re far from that, but this is still a big deal. I’m so screwed,” she said, texting, then deleting…texting and deleting.

  He took the phone away from her. “Stop. I’m sure you’ll figure this out. Cooking is not that hard.”

  Her eyes lit up and immediately he knew where her thoughts were heading. “Cooking isn’t hard for you.” She grabbed his hands in her small soft ones, making his heart pick up speed.. “Teach me,” she said.

  His mouth dropped. “In two days? Kayla, I have three hundred people I need to prepare a menu for and execute that evening…” But more than anything, he refused to keep helping her with these crazy ideas to impress the flavor of the month. It got him nowhere.

  She clutched his hands desperately. “Please, Aiden. Just some basic dishes. A turkey, I can probably handle. I mean you just stuff it full of…”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Stuffing,” she said, “and put it in the oven. I just need help with some traditional Italian side dishes.”

  He sighed. She was giving him that please-bail-me-out-one-last-time look he could never resist. Not that there was a look from her he could resist.

  “Fine. I’ll help you with a couple of dishes.” He hoped after he confessed his own feelings for her that evening, it wouldn’t be necessary anyway.

  “And dessert?” she asked sheepishly.

  “You really are a pain in the backside.”

  “That’s why you love me,” she said, taking her phone back with a smile.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Hurry up and open the door,” she said, shivering in the late November air. Snow hadn’t made an appearance in this part of New Jersey yet, but based on the layer of frost on the ground that evening, it was close. The trees had long ago lost their leaves and the crunchy, multi-color blanketing beneath their feet was one of the things she loved most about fall. While she’d enjoyed the last month in the city, she was glad to be home. She was a small-town girl and she hoped she could generate enough work in the area to avoid moving away from home. This restaurant remodel was a great first project to start building her portfolio.

  Aiden opened the door and moved aside to let her in, hitting the main light switch.

  The place illuminated in a soft, welcoming glow.

  “They did all of this in two months?” Formerly a hair salon, they’d gutted and completely rebuilt the space, adding a new kitchen and two dining areas separated by a rock wall fireplace. The transformation was incredible.

  “Your brother and his company do good work fast,” he said, flicking on the fireplace.

  Dawson’s Architecture, her brother Luke’s company would be her major source of referrals as well. She hoped.

  “I’m so happy for you. You must be getting excited seeing it all come together,” she said, shrugging out of her coat and setting her designs on the wooden bar, in the section of the restaurant that would serve as the lounge.

  “I’m happy for us. You’ve been as much a part of this as I have.” He touched her hand on the bar.

  His warmth against her cool skin sent tingles down her spine. Her best friend was gorgeous and though they’d never talked about a relationship, she couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him. She wouldn’t be a hot-blooded female if she wasn’t. Behind his back, the other women in town called him the Curtis Stone of Brookhollow and she couldn’t argue that her best friend did share a lot of features with the celebrity chef…except Aiden’s eyes were darker blue, his hair a lighter shade of golden blond and the dimple in his cheek more….

  She’d missed him.

  Which was natural. He was her best friend.

  “Want to see the designs?” she asked, opening her portfolio.

  “I would have liked to have seen them before Jeremy,” he mumbled.

  She scoffed. “Whatever. You weren’t there and I was excited to show someone.” Wasn’t that their story in a nutshell? He was never available, having made it clear when they’d met that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready for a life-long commitment again.

  “Fine. Let’s see,” he said, removing his jacket and draping it over the bar.

  He was wearing the sweater she’d given him for his birthday the month before: a dark charcoal crew neck that hugged his muscular chest and arms better than it should. She also noticed that he was still wearing the watch she’d given him the Christmas before
. “Why are you still wearing that? I told you to return it and get something more your style.”

  “I like this one,” he said, as he twisted it back in place on his wrist.

  “Liar.”

  “Okay. I like that it was a gift from you.”

  And there it was—the rare, earth-shattering look he gave her sometimes. One she refused to try to understand. That look had the power to destroy their friendship. And just as he’d rightly told her years ago, she didn’t want to lose her best friend by falling in love with him.

  “So, for this section…” she started, but feeling his hand on hers once more, she stopped.

  “Do you remember the last time we were here?” he asked, moving closer.

  She could feel his warm breath on her neck as she nodded, not trusting her voice.

  “Something happened that night, didn’t it?”

  Oh, yes. No. She didn’t know anymore. The night two months ago when they’d connected in their mutual excitement over Aiden’s plans. A tornado of emotions had spiraled around them. She’d experienced a jolt to the heart she’d never felt before and for one moment, what she wanted had been clear.

  Except she couldn’t ever lose him. Her best friend.

  * * *

  She stared at the interior design plans as she said, “I thought so…”

  “Well, why don’t we make it more clear this time?” he asked, placing a solitaire engagement ring on the plans in front of her.

  Her mouth dropped. Was he for real? They’d never discussed feelings. They’d never even kissed… He’d just agreed to help her make a meal for another man.

  It had to be a joke. “Kayla.”

  His voice next to her made her jump and she swung around to face him. “You’re kidding right?” She forced a laugh. “Teasing me about my constant chatter about marriage and commitment.” Wasn’t he the one who claimed he couldn’t trust anyone again? “Right?”

  He remained silent. His expression unreadable.

  “I mean, we’re best friends. We don’t love each other.” She looked around, tugging on her scarf. Was it really hot in here all of a sudden? “I mean if we were in love, we’d know…right?”