Sarah was surveying her as yet-to-be-unpacked new living room when her phone rang.
Joel, she thought, picking up the phone, excited for the welcome distraction.
"Hi!" Sarah smiled into the phone.
"Hey, Sarbear!" Joel's warm voice filled the room. "How's the settling in process going?"
"Ugh. I hate it," Sarah responded, releasing a puff of air, pouting. She'd been in the house for almost three weeks now and had little to show for it.
"What?" Joel, protested, "You do not! When we moved in you were all about the packing and unpacking process. Jesus, half our cabinets are still arranged the way you did 'em."
"I know," she laughed, thinking of her best friend's warm home, 3,000 miles away. "But that was YOUR house. It's different with my stuff."
"Just pretend it's not your house, then. Problem solved."
Sarah rolled her eyes.
"I heard that," Joel scolded.
And Sarah beamed. "I miss you guys."
"Aw, sunshine, we miss you, too! Thanksgiving's not going to be the same without your famous pies. Catherine's still planning on making some, but I said we should just make brownies, because if it's not your pie, it's not worth the calories."
"Nah, she'll do fine!" Sarah retorted, thinking of how she helped coach Catherine in the weeks before she moved, showing her all the tried and true secrets she'd acquired in her five plus years as a professional pastry chef.
"The last few times we made them together, you couldn't even tell who was the head chef in charge."
"Maybe, but you still work magic into your food, I swear it."
"Thanks for the reminder. How's Cath? How's the little guy?"
"They're both good. Oliver's napping now, so she's at the store trying to beat the mad rush. You know how she likes everything to be perfect."
"I can't believe I'm going to miss his first Thanksgiving!" Sara said, looking at the picture of her godchild on the fridge. "Give him a snuggle for me."
"Done and done." Joel said, and Sarah knew she'd be getting some cute snapshots delivered to her phone later. Her best friends knew how hard this transition was going to be, probably better than she did.
"Listen, though," Joel said, "Cath and I were sitting here last night, thinking about you all by yourself in New England, having a lonesome, albeit it idyllic Turkey Day, and we just couldn't stand the thought of you not making pies for anyone."
"Mostly because you want the pies," Sarah teased.
"Mostly." Joel said, laughing, "but also because we know how much you like the holidays. Sooooo, we found you a place to go! You're going to Dougie's."
"Is that like, a wayward kitchen for the down and out?"
"Oh, hush. No, Doug! You remember, from our wedding? C'mon. I KNOW you guys danced together. He remembers you!"
Joel and Catherine's wedding was six years ago, but yes, she did remember Doug. He was a friend of Cath's. Smart, charming, super good looking, and arm candy for one of the bridesmaids, who, like Catherine, had attended college with him.
As Joel's groomswoman, Sarah had heard a lot about "Dougie", from the bridesmaid who got progressively drunker on the limo ride to the reception. So, when she got there, she wanted to meet him for herself, and was not disappointed. Doug was charming, funny, a great dancer, and, unfortunately for her, attached.
"Anyways," Joel said, "turns out he lives a few towns away from you, and he's super excited for you to join his crew for dinner. It's similar to what we do - more friends than family - so it won't be weird for you to join."
Speak for yourself, Sarah thought, as she got up her courage to say yes to this invitation to a mostly-stranger's home.
"He's going to text you directions later this afternoon. And he's expecting you to bring pies."
"Aw, gee thanks."
"Listen, if we aren't going to get to eat them, someone should! Can't break tradition, Sarbear. Just move it around a little."
She knew he was trying to be helpful, but the thought of her first holiday alone made her heart hurt. And then she heard crying in the background.
"Oh, shoot, that's Oli!" Sarah could hear her godson's cries over the phone. "He's up from his nap. Gotta run! Have fun, and let us know how it goes!"
"I will, big love to everyone there!" Sarah said, rushing their goodbye.
"You got it!" Joel said, right before the line went dead.
Sarah looked at her house, a mishmash of boxes and items unpacked. She moved to Massachusetts three weeks ago, the culmination of a decision that had been months in the making. She'd been in California for the past ten years - a bunch of her college crew had stayed on after graduation - and she'd built quite the family of friends over the past decade.
She and Joel had met in college - best friends since sophomore year - and when he met Catherine a few years after graduating, Sarah was thrilled that he had finally found his match. The three of them got along famously, and she was closer to them than she was her blood relatives.
But, a few months ago, she decided she needed a change. The 3 year relationship Sarah'd been in had fizzled out, and the hours she was logging as an acclaimed pastry chef at a posh resort got to be impossible to manage.
When a small, but popular, bakery she had visited on a vacation to her newly adopted sea-side town a few years earlier posted online that the owners were looking to sell, Sarah jumped at the opportunity.
Now that she was here, though, she was feeling slightly foolish. She didn't really know anyone - a few cousins here and there, and some alumni and chefs that she was meaning to connect with - and that combined with the impending holidays made her feel like she'd made a mistake in uprooting herself all because a picturesque storefront she had forgotten she'd liked on Facebook became available for sale.
Sarah shook her head. Snap out of it. Joel's right. This house would have been unpacked last week if it wasn't my own. She started moving boxes and beginning to settle into her new life, taking a deep breath and telling herself that this WAS a good decision. She already had a place to go on Thanksgiving.
~~~~
A few hours later, she was in the bedroom, unpacking her clothes when her phone chirped. A new e-mail, from Doug.
She opened it and read the contents.
