by Mara White
“Yeah,” he said. “You’re not?” Jackie’s lower lip stuck out a tiny bit when she was hurt. Ryan wanted to nibble it.
“No, I have to. I usually cook. My sisters are still in high school.”
She didn’t look the least bit happy about it. He was tempted to invite her home to Des Moines to celebrate with his family. Their holidays were always a blast. Four boys, his Mom and Dad and they feasted, played football and sometimes even did the whole Black Friday showdown to get Christmas presents out of the way early. Ryan’s mom would have loved having him bring a girl home. But it was too much, Jackie and he were good friends and not ready for anything else.
“Your mom?” Ryan didn’t know what to say. They’d talked a little about home but Jackie was slow when it came to opening up. He knew she was from rural Wisconsin, farm life—that coming to the U was, in and of itself, an adventure for her.
Jackie just shook her head. It was all she had to do, he knew what she meant.
“Aw, man, Jack. I’m sorry. Wish I hadn’t said anything.” He was kicking himself for being such an asshole. No wonder the holidays got her down.
“It’s okay. It’s been a while.” She looked out the window.
“You want to talk about it, maybe?” She shrugged and then looked up through her long lashes and burst her dazzling smile at him.
“Okay, therapist.” She resumed eating her eggs. She’d doused them in hot sauce and salt and pepper. Ryan loved to watch her eat.
“Or not,” he said. “You can get premade Thanksgiving meals from most grocery stores. I was trying to be helpful.”
“I know, I grew up on that shit.”
Even when she was feeling down, Jackie was still full of bright light. There was sadness there, obviously, but it didn’t dim her sense of adventure and fun that seemed, more than anything, to be the two tenets than ruled her life.
She added ketchup and hot sauce to her potatoes.
“Ready for the game on Monday, tough guy?”
“Fuck yeah, I am!”
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