Blog Post 10/27

October 27, 2020 Lara

Off

Here is the exclusive sneak peek of the first chapter of One Christmas Eve; A Small Town, Second Chance Romance

The small turboprop plane touched down on time, but Everly didn’t rush from her seat the way the other passengers did. She was excited to be home, yes, but in no hurry for the jostling manner in which the rest of the flight members seemed to disembark. Once the plane was nearly empty, Everly stood, stretching her cramped muscles and reaching above her for the bag she’d previously stowed in the overhead compartment.

Years had passed, but Fensworth, Vermont hadn’t changed since she last set eyes on it. The small town was overly decorated for the upcoming holiday: garlands encircling the light poles, festive bows adorning each and every sign post, colorful lights twinkling from the rooftops of all the business along Main Street.

Everly Jones, international traveler, translator for the United Nations and carrier of several Master’s degrees, came from Nowhere, USA. Though she couldn’t help where she was born and raised, of course, she’d always wanted out of such a dreary town. Not that the villagers, as she liked to call them, were dreary; on the contrary, they were perpetually cheerful. They all knew her parents, knew her full name, her birthdate, when she’d lost her first tooth and got her driver’s license. That was what suffocated her; the lack of privacy. Out there in the vast world she moved through, no one knew who she was simply by looking at her. They had to take the time, wait for introductions, allow her to give them her best first impression. Professional but compassionate was how she was known to those she encountered through her position, not as the five-year-old who fell off her bike and scraped her knee in front of Bowman’s Grocery.

From a young age, she craved the idea of travel, of seeing the places most children only gazed longingly at in picture books. Everly knew she wasn’t just making hollow promises when she claimed she’d go there one day. She’d made it happen, had followed her dreams and promises of an exotic life out in the vast world. Having met so many diverse and interesting people was the fulfillment of those dreams.

What—or rather, who—she missed was her parents. Ruth and John might have come from the same small town they chose to remain in, but they didn’t have small hearts or closed minds, as so often happened in stagnant cities. They were pillars of the community, but they didn’t worry nearly as much about what others thought of them as most people in their position. They didn’t put stock in ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ even if they were the Joneses. It hadn’t bothered them for Everly to have a wild phase, to cut and color her hair, to pierce body parts and dress in all black or in bold, mismatched prints. They left her to her own devices when it came to personal choice, and they celebrated every achievement of their only child.

Speaking to them on the phone wasn’t the same as seeing them, holding them in her arms. As she made her way into the boxy terminal screaming small town, she spotted them. “Mom! Dad!”

Half the people in the room turned at her shout, but she didn’t care. There weren’t that many people, at any rate, and her level of enthusiasm had increased at the sight of her parents waiting for her.

John rushed over first, quickly followed by Ruth, until they smothered her in hugs and kisses.

“It’s been so long,” Ruth said.

“Too long, Mom, I know.”

John squeezed her once more before letting go. “My baby is all grown up. Look at you!”

“Dad, you always say that! I haven’t changed in five years, at least.”

“It feels like it.” He hugged her again and Everly made the same vow she typically did; to try to come home more often.

“Thankfully, I took an entire two weeks off, so you have me for a little while.”

Her father pulled her bag off her shoulder, heading in the direction of baggage claim. “That’s fantastic. Brandon was just at the house yesterday, fooling with my stupid computer. I don’t understand how that thing is out to get me, but I swear it is.”

“Dad, that’s such a waste of his skills.” Everly was appalled he still called on her childhood sweetheart to fix his computer issues when the guy had a degree in software development. “He’s not an IT guy.”

“He offered, Evie.”

She refrained from saying anything else. Admittedly, it was a bit of a sore spot for her. There had never come a time when she’d stopped loving him, despite all efforts to the contrary.

Having only one suitcase to retrieve, the trio went on their way after a short bathroom break. The airport, a title the place almost didn’t deserve, was a fifteen minute drive from her parents’ home near the center of town. Everly gazed out the window the entire ride, picking out the familiar houses and silently naming the occupants. She was one of the few who’d bothered to venture out of Fensworth, who’d set out for college in another state and then stayed after her degree was complete. While obtaining her Masters, she’d rented an apartment near the campus, but now she relied on hotels in various cities for shelter.

They drove past the Hardings, spotting Chase and Theo outside working on hanging decorations from the eaves of the porch. Waving, Everly felt the same sense of nostalgia wash over her as usual. Brandon was once the love of her life, but he didn’t want to travel the world. He wanted to remain in the middle of small-town life, never venturing farther than the University of Vermont before coming back and starting up his own company from the basement of his dads’ house. Eventually, he’d bought his own place and worked from home, but it stung to that very day that he’d chosen suburbia over her.

Over the life they’d dreamed about.

The life they’d created in their minds, putting it out there into the universe, talking about it late into the night.

In the end, he was too attached to gingerbread-style homes, snow in the yard, and his fathers to partake in her adventurous lifestyle. From deserts to mountains to savannahs, Everly had seen it all, every corner of the globe. She didn’t want to resent Brandon for his choices, but there it was all the same.

She wished he’d chosen her, but she hadn’t chosen him, either. It was a mutual decision she’d had years to come to terms with, and she reassured herself she had.

But coming back home to the magic of the holiday season, seeing the familiar houses, the town square, and the house they’d first made love in, it became clear she’d only been fooling herself.

Everly Jones was still in love with Brandon Harding and always would be.