Thanksgiving Knight - 1. Thanksgiving Knight

Today was going to suck. It’s not like I was a big fan of Thanksgiving to begin with, but this year was even suckier than usual. I had recently moved to start my dream job and didn’t know too many people in the area. My family was about a thousand miles away and since I was perpetually single, I had no one to share the day with. My boss found out I was planning on spending the day alone and insisted that I come spend the day with her and her family.

Turn left on Sunshine Avenue in one half mile.

The voice of the GPS sounded way too chipper. I’d have to play with the settings and see if I could find something a bit more morose. And who the hell lives on ‘Sunshine Avenue’? Happy Funshine Bear?

Arriving at thirty-two Sunshine Avenue on the right.

I slowed my car and pulled next to the curb in front of a gray-sided house. It was a typical suburban colonial decked out for the fall. There were mums still flowering in pots on the front porch and cornstalks and hay bales adorning the front flower beds. It reminded me of my parents’ home.

I fished in the glovebox for a pen and signed the thank-you card I had just purchased. I put it in the bag containing the chocolates I had bought for a hostess gift. I exited my car, clutching the gift bag in one hand and the side dish of cheesy cauliflower casserole I made in the other. I bumped the door shut with my hip and proceeded up the walkway, checking out the giant inflated turkey and pilgrims occupying half the front lawn. I managed to wrestle everything into one arm in order to ring the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door.

“Rob! I’m so glad you made it!” Sherrie, my boss, motioned me inside.

I plastered on a fake smile. “Me, too. Thanks so much for inviting me.”

“Nonsense! There’s no way I’m going to let one of my employees spend Thanksgiving alone.”

A crash followed by a loud wail emanated from the room to our left.

“Mommy!” A little girl ran up to Sherrie and latched onto her legs, sobbing. “Andy was pretending he was a zombie and bit me!”

Sherrie looked at me apologetically. “I need to take care of this. You can put your casserole in the kitchen. Feel free to pop it in the oven if it needs to be heated up.” She headed into the living room with the zombie victim in her arms.

As I rounded the corner to the kitchen, someone else was exiting, and we collided, spilling the man’s glass of red wine all over his sweater. I managed to hold onto my casserole, but almost dropped it when I got a good look at the man I ran into. He had auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a physique to die for. He was dressed in khakis and a blue sweater over a button down shirt with a tie. He was the most gorgeous man I had ever met.

He grabbed for the casserole dish as it slid from my hands, and I turned bright red with embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry!” I managed to say.

“It’s no problem. If I get it into the washer right away hopefully it won’t stain.” He set the casserole dish down on the counter. “I’m Jack.”

“Rob.” I shook his hand.

He gave me an appraising look. “Nice to meet you.”

My eyes drifted down, then back up, as my mouth curled involuntarily into a smile. “Likewise.”

Sherrie fluttered into the kitchen and immediately latched onto Jack.

“Oh sweetie, what happened to your new sweater?”

Sweetie? Damn! I was perving on my boss’ husband.

“Just a little traffic accident. It should be fine if I get it in the wash right away.” He smiled at me as he left the kitchen, removing the sweater. I stared after him, entranced. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“C’mon. Let me introduce you to the rest of the gang.” Sherrie winked. She guided me into the family room off the kitchen. It was full of people conversing and laughing.

I am horrible at names, so I knew there was no way I’d remember everyone she introduced me to. The only one that stood out was Jack, and I was still embarrassed as hell at being caught checking out my boss’ hot husband.

I sat on the couch next to an elderly lady who wasted no time in quizzing me on every aspect of my life. After the third round of the same questions, I heard a low chuckle. I looked up to see an amused Jack.

“Aunt Sheila, that’s enough. It’s time for dinner.” He helped her to her feet and guided her into the dining room, pulling out her chair and getting her settled before taking a seat next to me.

“I hope she didn’t drive you too nuts. She has dementia and likes to repeat herself.”

“I don’t mind. She’s really sweet.”

“Jack, honey, would you do the honor of carving the turkey this year?” Sherrie held up a large knife.

“Sure.” Jack moved to the head of the table and proceeded to cut into the succulent bird. There was enough food to feed several armies, and it all smelled wonderful. He returned to his seat after he finished. Our hands touched with a shock of static as he passed me the mashed potatoes and he laughed.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who inspired actual sparks before.” He winked.

I laughed. “I find that hard to believe.” Oh my God…did I just flirt with my boss’ husband? I scooped up a large forkful of mashed potatoes. I’d have to watch myself.

“So, Rob…tell us all about you. Are you single?” A woman sitting across from me asked. I remembered that she was Sherrie’s sister, but couldn’t remember her name.

“Nancy!” Sherrie looked mortified.

“What? He’s pretty hot so I was just wondering if there was a lady Rob.”

I glanced at Jack before replying. “No, there’s no ‘lady Rob’.”

Nancy smirked. “What about a ‘gentleman Rob’?”

I blushed crimson. “No, I don’t have one of those, either.” I swore the look on Jack’s face was one of relief.

She grinned. “Good.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by that or if I should have lied and said I was seeing someone.

After dinner I helped clear the table, and Jack washed the dishes as Sherrie and her sister cleaned up the leftover food. I grabbed a towel and walked over to Jack.

“Would you like me to dry?”

He grinned. “Sure, that’d be great.” He handed me a pan he had just finished washing. We worked together in companionable silence, occasionally bumping shoulders and hands as we exchanged dishes and glances in the small kitchen space.

I felt very at ease with Sherrie’s family. I was pleasantly surprised that the day turned out much better than I was expecting. At least it was until I walked into the kitchen to return my dishes after dessert and found Jack and Sherrie embracing. I felt like a fool for flirting with Sherrie’s husband all day. I really liked him, but at the same time felt a pang of disrespect for him since he had been flirting back. I set the dishes down as Jack looked at me. My disappointment must have shown on my face since he looked chagrined.

“Rob…,” he started.

“Sherrie, thanks so much for inviting me to spend the day with you and your family. I had a great time, but I need to get going.”

“Are you sure? We’ve just loved having you here.”

I nodded, avoiding looking at Jack. “Yeah. I’m sure. Everything was delightful.”

I said my goodbyes to Aunt Sheila – who insisted I was her nephew and gave me a big hug and kiss – and the rest of the family before heading out the door. I was just about to open the car door when I heard someone say, “Rob! Wait a minute!”

Jack jogged down the sidewalk and stopped in front of me. “I had a great time today.”

I smiled ruefully. “So did I.”

“I mean it, Rob. I hate the holidays. I love my family, but I get so sick of the questions every year. You really made things bearable today. Thank you.”

“I’ll be honest and say I had a much better time than I was expecting to. It isn’t easy being a part of a family holiday with people you’ve never met.”

“I’d really like to see you again.”

I raised my eyebrow. “What would your wife think about that? I’m sorry, Jack. I really like you, but I don’t date married guys.”

He frowned. “Wife? I’m not married.” He stepped closer to me. “I haven’t met the right guy yet to even consider marriage.”

I was dumbfounded. “But I thought you and Sherrie…She called you ‘sweetie’ and I thought….”

He laughed so hard I thought he was going to piss himself. “Oh my God! You thought me and Sherrie….” When he composed himself he ran his fingers through my hair, resting his hand along the back of my head. “Sherrie is my sister. She calls everyone ‘sweetie’.”

I laughed in relief as he drew me into an embrace. I wrapped my arms around him and breathed in the scent of his cologne.

“So can I see you again?” he whispered into my hair.

“I’d like that,” I replied. I stepped back and took his hands in my own, squeezing them before getting in my car and heading home.

*****

“Wait. You want me to do what now?” I stared at my boss incredulously.

Sherrie took a deep breath. “Rob, please… Do this for me and I owe you, big time.”

“This isn’t exactly in my job description, you know.” I wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with, and her request was not helping improve my temper.

“I know. I promise I won’t ask again. Please? Just this once?”

I sighed in frustration. “Fine. I’ll go this once, but I’m not your errand boy. I have a lot of work to do.”

She beamed at me and held out a twenty dollar bill. “You are an absolute doll.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled. “I’m keeping the change!” I yelled as I headed to my office to grab my coat. I wasn’t looking forward to going back out in the snow just to get my boss coffee from her favorite shop. I really hoped she wasn’t going to make a habit of asking me to do petty errands like this. The next time she asked, I would definitely refuse.

The shop was only a block away from the office, and once outside I found I welcomed the brisk air. The snow flurries felt good against my flushed cheeks. Sherrie liked to keep the office hot, and I was glad to escape into the cold. I hadn’t slept well in the two weeks since Thanksgiving, and my body was feeling the effects of the lack of rest.

I huffed out my breath in a puff of steam, producing a coughing fit. Great. I hoped I wasn’t getting sick. Jack had texted me several times since Thanksgiving, but I hadn’t responded. Even though I wanted nothing more than to get to know him better, my rational side was prevailing over my emotional side. Dating my boss’ brother was a potential disaster that I thought was better avoided.

I liked my job, and I liked Sherrie. She was a very good boss, and I didn’t want to jeopardize our working relationship. If things didn’t work out between me and Jack, things could get ugly pretty quickly. I knew this from experience. Dating Allen had cost me my last job.

I’ve always had a strict ‘no dating co-workers’ policy, but Allen convinced me to break it. He was charming, good-looking, and I fell in love with him almost immediately. He convinced me to keep our relationship a secret, which I foolishly did. We dated for about eight months before I found out that I was the other man. No wonder he wanted to keep us in the closet.

After the break-up, my boss wrote me up several times due to major errors on proposals I submitted. I had no idea why there were so many mistakes. I was good at my job, but chalked it up to my state of mind due to Allen’s betrayal. I loved him, but he made it clear he didn’t feel the same way. One day, I exited my boss’ office to see Allen looking my way with a big smirk on his face. It hit me then where all the mistakes were coming from.

I wasn’t just fired; I was escorted from the building by security after punching the smug grin off the asshole’s face. At least he didn’t press charges. If he did, he’d have to tell his secret, which I knew he’d never do. I wanted a fresh start so moved halfway across the country to find another job.

I pushed thoughts of Allen out of my mind as I opened the door to the small coffee shop to a blast of hot air and stood in the doorway rubbing my hands.

“Rob?”

I looked to my left to see Jack sitting at a table by the window with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. My morning ‘errand’ made a lot more sense now.

“Hi, Jack.” I headed to the counter and ordered a mocha with whipped cream as well as a ‘to go’ cup of chai latte for Sherrie. I slid into the seat across from Jack.

“How’s Aunt Sheila?” I asked.

His deep, throaty chuckle sent a thrill down my spine. “Wondering how her nephew is. You seem to have made quite an impression.” He looked at me pointedly.

I looked down into my cup as I took a sip. When I set it down, Jack smiled as he leaned forward and wiped my whipped cream mustache with a napkin. I turned bright red and was very grateful to be sitting down so Jack wouldn’t know the effect the brief contact had on me.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“Rob, I want you to know that this wasn’t my idea. I mean… I do want to see you again, but I don’t want to trick you in order to do it.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

He moved his hand like he was going to take mine, but changed his mind and settled back in his chair.

“I don’t understand. I thought we were getting along so well. You told me you wanted to see me, too.”

“I know. And I meant it… I do really like you, Jack. I just don’t know how appropriate it is for me to be dating my boss’ brother.”

He snorted derisively. “That’s just an excuse. What are you afraid of?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve mixed my professional and personal lives before, and it didn’t end well. I’m not sure I can go through that again.” I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently before heading out the door. My heart wrenched with every step I took away from him.

“Good-bye, Jack.”

I glared at Sherrie as I set her latte down on her desk.

“So…how did it go? And please don’t feed me that ‘it’s not appropriate for me to date my boss’ brother’ crap.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You two have been talking.”

“Jack and I are very close. I knew you’d hit it off with him the minute I met you. Please don’t let me stand in the way of what could be a very good thing.”

“So that line about you not wanting any employees to spend Thanksgiving alone?”

“I meant it. I would have invited you, even if Jack wasn’t there. It just happened to be very good timing.”

I looked at her skeptically.

“Honest!” She paused. “He really likes you, you know.”

“I know.”

“He hasn’t dated in ages. Not since –“ Her eyes grew big. “Oh, I shouldn’t have said anything!”

I looked at her curiously.

“It’s not my place to tell. Just trust me when I say that Jack is very special.”

I turned so she couldn’t see the smile on my face.

“I know,” I said softly as I exited her office.

“Does this mean you’ll call him?” she yelled after me.

I pretended that I didn’t hear her.

I felt horrible about rejecting Jack. I was run-down from the lack of sleep and had a mild headache, which I assumed was from stress. It was a good thing I had a big project to work on, because it took my mind off my troubles. I made quite a bit of progress, not really paying attention to the time or the weather.

Sherrie knocked on my door and stepped inside. “Have you been following the weather reports?”

I shook my head. “I’ve been so wrapped up in the Anderson project I haven’t even taken any breaks. Why?”

“Sorry to tell you this, sweetie, but I’m afraid that light snowfall has turned into a full-blown lake effect storm. They just announced a travel ban. I’m afraid we’re stuck here for at least tonight.”

I ran to the front window. The snow was falling horizontally and visibility was zero.

“Damn! Look at it out there! What was I thinking moving out here this time of year?”

Sherrie laughed. “Get used to it, sweetie. It’s called living by the Great Lakes. We get to deal with that lovely phenomenon called ‘lake effect’.”

“We got snow in the Midwest, but nothing like this.”

“C’mon. I have some cans of soup we can heat up for dinner.”

We ate our dinner in the conference room, chatting amicably. I was really enjoying getting to know Sherrie better. I could see a lot of similarities between her and Jack. It wasn’t surprising that they were so close. Thankfully she avoided the topic of her brother.

I decided to take advantage of having the extra time at work and completed more of the Anderson project. Sherrie protested, telling me that it wasn’t necessary, but I wanted to do something to keep my mind occupied. I still had a headache, so I rested my head on my arms to take a brief rest.

It felt like only minutes later when I woke up to Sherrie shaking me. “Wake up, Rob. You can’t be comfortable like that.”

I lifted my head and groaned. My headache had intensified, and my stomach was roiling. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I rinsed my mouth out with some water and made my way back to my office shakily.

“Are you ok? You don’t look so good.”

I didn’t feel so good.

“I feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck.”

“C’mon. You can take the couch in my office.” She guided me into her office and I collapsed on the couch. She felt my forehead and couldn’t hide the look of alarm on her face. “You’re burning up.”

I curled up, shivering. Sherrie put her coat over me and pulled the garbage can closer in case I needed to throw up again. She left and returned moments later with cool, wet paper towels. She placed them on my forehead, but it didn’t help much.

I spent the night in a fever-induced haze, tossing and turning, and occasionally emptying my stomach. Sherrie tried to get me to drink broth she strained from one of the cans of soup, but I threw it up almost as soon as I drank it. She placed baggies of snow along my face to try and bring the fever down, but I was shivering so violently they wouldn’t stay in place.

The next thing I was aware of was a pair of strong arms lifting me and a deep voice telling me that everything will be OK. I was taken outside and strapped onto something, but then the fever took over and I lapsed back into oblivion.

The steady beeping was quite annoying. I frowned as I opened my eyes. It took me a while to realize that I wasn’t in my house. I tried lifting my hand, but something was weighing it down. I looked to the right of the bed and saw Jack sleeping in a chair next to me. He was holding my hand and it finally dawned on me that I was in a hospital.

Jack looked haggard, but beautiful. His auburn hair had fallen across his eyes and he was sporting several days’ worth of sexy scruff. He stirred and opened his eyes, looking directly into mine. I smiled. “Hey.”

He sat upright and was at my side in an instant, caressing my face. I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “You’re awake.”

“Am I? It feels like a dream to me,” I muttered.

He laughed that wonderful deep, throaty laugh. “It’s not a dream. You gave us quite a scare.” He paused. “I know you said you weren’t interested, but...” his voiced hitched, “I can’t lose you, too.”

“What happened?” I croaked. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton.

“You’ve been very sick.” Jack poured some water into a cup and helped me sit up so I could take a few sips.

“Thanks. That’s much better. What did you mean, ‘you can’t lose me too’?” I asked.

He looked away, and his entire body tensed. I was sorry I asked when he looked at me with an expression full of pain.

“The last time I was in a hospital was when Mike was diagnosed. His only symptom was a lump he found on his neck. He said he felt fine. He said—“ Jack sat back heavily in the chair and wiped away the tears that now fell down his cheeks. “I still don’t understand how one minute someone can be perfectly healthy, then the next they’re being told they have weeks to live.” He snorted. “Not even years…weeks! He had stage four lymphatic cancer. It had already spread throughout his body. He died a month later.”

So that’s what Sherrie meant when she said that Jack hadn’t dated in a while. I felt horrible. “I’m so sorry. How awful it must have been.”

“Yeah. We went on vacation while he was still feeling good. It was the most amazing experience of my life. I couldn’t believe how much we were able to express to each other during that time. He went into hospice care shortly after we returned. I took care of him in our house until…” he swallowed, “until he passed. That was two years ago.”

I held out my hand and Jack took it. It felt right.

A knock on the door drew both our attention as a doctor entered the room. “Glad to see you awake.”

I smiled wanly. “Thanks. So what happened to me?”

“You can thank your boyfriend. He saved your life. If he hadn’t brought you here when he did, you would have succumbed to the flu.”

I raised my eyebrow at Jack and he looked away.

“He’s just a friend,” Jack said, avoiding my gaze.

The doctor glanced at our entwined hands and chuckled. “Sorry…not buying it.” He took my vitals and gave me a thorough check up, pronouncing me on the road to recovery.

“So I owe you my life, huh? I guess you’ll do anything to get me to go out with you.”

Jack laughed and squeezed my hand. “I’m just glad you’re OK.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. I was exhausted, but had to know how I got to the hospital.

“Tell me how you got me here.”

“He was amazing. A true knight in shining armor, only with a snowmobile, not a horse.”

I opened my eyes to a smiling Sherrie.

“I’m so glad you’re finally awake, hun,” she said. “You were so sick and I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do, so I called Jack. It took him close to three hours, but he managed to get to the office on his snowmobile. We strapped you in front of him and he got you here just in time.” Her voice hitched. “He’s a hero.”

I smiled and squeezed his hand. “My boyfriend, the hero…” I mumbled as I drifted into sleep.