Fitting The Pieces (The Riverdale Series Book 3) (21 page)

           
“Maybe we should call the grief
counselor if you’re having a rough time.” He said softly reminding her that
they weren’t alone in their grief for their son. They had been going to grief
counseling for months now and to Joe’s surprise, it helped. There were other
people just like them grieving for a child, whether that child was younger or
older, together they found a way to heal.
    

           
“No, no… I’m fine. It’s just there
are days… you know.” She looked at her husband. “I’ll always miss my son Joe,
especially around the holidays.”

           
“I know, dear. I know.” He said and
pulled out a chair to sit beside her. He looked at the stocking she held in her
hands. “I miss him too.” He said hoarsely as Deb reached out and covered his
hand with hers. They had their days.

December 7

           
Cara was sitting on her couch, most
of her boxes were unpacked and she and Benny had settled into their new home.
He was sitting on the rug chewing on a new rawhide while she attacked a tub of
Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. It was Friday night and she was settling in with her
remote for the night, flicking through the movie channels. She licked the ice
cream off the back of her spoon when her phone rang beside her. She glanced
down sticking the spoon back in the container and saw Luke and Ava’s picture on
her home screen. She smiled and answered the call.

           
“Hello?”

           
“Hi, Cara! It’s me Ava.” She said
excitedly into the phone.

           
“Hey baby. What’s going on?” Cara
said with a smile, digging back into the ice cream.

           
“Daddy said you should open your
door.” Ava said with a giggle.

           
Cara instantly turned her gaze to
her closed door with her curiosity spiked. She unraveled her legs and stood up.
“Why?” She asked inquisitively unable to contain her smile.

           
“She asked why, Dad.” Ava whispered
to Luke.

           
Cara swung open the door with her
free hand, holding her tub of ice cream in the other. A smile spread across her
face when she set her eyes on Ava, who was holding Luke’s phone to her ear,
giggling. She lifted her head and her eyes met Luke’s. He was holding a pizza
box in his hand.

           
“Didn’t think we’d let you miss date
night with us, did you?” He said with a smile.

           
Ava closed the door and ran
underneath Cara’s arm, making a beeline for the dog.

           
“Benny, it’s pizza night!!” She said
as she ran into the apartment. Cara glanced over her shoulder watching Ava
throw herself on the floor while Benny tackled her with kisses. She turned
around and saw Luke eyeing the tub of ice cream she was still holding.

           
She bit her lip and scrunched her
face. “It’s dinner time.”

           
“Then we came just in time.” He said
with a wink. “Save the ice cream for dessert, Baby.”

           
“You called me Baby.” She smiled.

           
“Would you rather Spunky?” He asked
and then was treated to her wrapping her free arm around his neck. She pulled
him down to meet her waiting mouth. Her lips pressed perfectly to his.

           
“You can call me anything you want.”
She said between the kisses she peppered over his smiling mouth.

December 8

           
Luke laid along the length of his
couch with Cara laying over him. He ran his fingers through her hair as she
snored against his chest. He tilted his head up a bit and pressed his lips to
the top of her head.

           
“I’m pretty sure I love you.” He
whispered to the sleeping beauty nestled in the crook of his arm. He laid his
head back against the arm of the couch and stared up at the ceiling wide awake.

December 9

           
“Okay,
I think I’m ready.” Sam said, taking a deep breath as she stared at herself in
the mirror of the dressing room she stood in. It was her final fitting for her
wedding dress and outside behind the curtain, her father paced.

           
“Okay, sweetie, we’re ready.” Deb
said from behind the curtain. She looked over at her husband that was chewing
on a toothpick pacing the dress store. “Joe, you’re going to make her nervous.”

           
“Debra, leave me be.” He said
roughly. After all, it wasn’t every day you saw your only daughter in a wedding
gown. He had been mentally preparing himself for the big day, trying to
convince himself he could walk her down the aisle. He could give her away.
Christ, the thought shattered him. She was just a little girl in his eyes,
alright so maybe she was a woman, and he had to come to terms with that, but
when he looked at her, she was still just the little girl who danced in the
living room to Rave On with him, promising she’d never leave him.

           
In just a few short days he’d walk
her down that short aisle and place her hand in Nick’s watching as the little
girl he read bedtime stories too vowed to love another man for the rest of her
life. He lifted his head as she pulled back the curtain and the woman who stood
before him in a wedding gown, wasn’t a little girl anymore.

           
Deb smiled through her tears as she
watched Sam step out of the dressing room, her eyes focused on her father,
seeking his approval.

           
“Dad?” Sam said as she spun around
in her dress smiling. “What do you think?” She asked when she had made a
complete circle. Her eyes found his and he couldn’t help the tears that slid
down his cheek.

           
“You’re beautiful.” He whispered.
“So incredibly beautiful.”

           
Sam smiled brightly as she watched
her father stare at her in awe.

December 10

           
Cara
climbed onto Luke’s bed.
 
He was sprawled
across the bed, his hands tucked under his head as he slept. She leaned over
him and brushed the fallen strands of hair away from his face and dipped her
head pressing her lips against his. Her fingers dug into the white T-shirt that
he wore as she felt him return her kiss. He moaned slightly as her tongue ran
along the seam of his mouth seeking entry. His lips parted and she slipped her
tongue inside. She wrapped her arms around him as he took hold of her hips and
flipped her over onto her back. He pulled back slightly and stared at her with
a sleepy look. As groggy as he was though he was completely turned on. The
evidence was pressed against her leg.

           
“Morning,” she purred as she stared
at his mouth.

           
“Let it be noted, I’m all for you
waking me up with your mouth.” He said in his gruff tone, which she now
understood had nothing to do with Luke being tired and was more commonly
ignited when he was turned on.

           
“Yeah, you like it when I use my
mouth?” She asked as she licked her lips, feeling playful.

           
“You’re dipping into dangerous
waters, Spunky.” He warned as his eyes darkened.

           
“As much as I’d like to give you my
mouth… Ava’s downstairs waiting patiently.” She said, leaning forward and
placing a quick kiss to his mouth. “You need to get up we have plans.”

           
He groaned and let his hands roam
down the length of her body. He gripped her hips and pulled them to him as he
buried his face in her neck and let his mouth leave a trail of open mouthed
kisses.

           
“Luke…” She said weakly.

           
“What plans?” He murmured against
her collarbone.

           
“We are picking out a Christmas
tree.” She said, giving him a slight push. “Come on we have to get a move on,
before all the good ones are gone!” She said and slipped out of the hold he had
on her.

           
Luke dropped his head to the pillow
with a groan. He learned a lot in the last month. A man didn’t combust from
blue balls. They just were a painful fucking thing. Oh, and Cara loved Christmas.
She really loved Christmas.

December 11
  

           
Cara
smiled at the little framed sonogram photo that stood in front of Jake’s
headstone and placed the little fresh Christmas tree she had bought beside it.
She ran her fingertips along his name as she always did.

           
“Hi my love. It’s almost Christmas…
the first Christmas without you. Luke, Ava and I went to the Christmas tree lot
yesterday. We got the biggest Spruce they had.” She laughed. “Your brother, he
sucks with a saw, by the way. I don’t think I have ever heard him curse as much
as he did trying to saw down that tree. You would’ve got a kick out of it.” Her
laugh turned to a sad smile, thinking of all he was missing. “Anyway, we
managed to get it back to his house and started decorating it. Luke had a very
sad collection of ornaments so we ran back out and loaded a cart full. We put a
white dove on top of the tree, right under the star, and we told Ava it
symbolized you and that you would be watching over us Christmas morning.” She
paused. “I don’t need a white dove to know you’re always with me. I know you
are and I know you know that I’m opening my heart again. The last time I was
here I asked you to look after Luke. I told you he deserves to smile and I
wanted you to know that he smiles a lot now and the kind of smiles that reach
all the way up to his eyes. When he smiles at me he does it not only with his
mouth but with his eyes. It’s genuine and every time he smiles a part of me
wonders if it was you who sent us to one another. I wonder if you sent Luke to
me, so that I would be the one to make him smile.” She blew out a deep breath.
“I like to think you did and that you’re just as happy he’s smiling as I am.”
She sighed. “I never thought Luke could be my second chance, Jake.”

           
A snowflake fell onto her nose and
then another and another after that. She lifted her head and watched as the
skies opened and snow flurries fell all around her. She opened her palm and
watched them fall into her hand. Once a few had landed in the palm of her hand,
she closed her fist and brought it over her heart. She looked back at Jake’s
head stone and smiled.

           
“Thank you…” She whispered.

December
12
  

           
Luke stared at
the envelope in his hand, not understanding why he couldn’t bring himself to
open it. Instead of leaving it tucked away in the corner of his mirror, he now
carried it in his pocket. Hoping to find the courage at any point to open it
and not have an excuse not to. If he carried it with him at all times whenever
the mood struck him, he had it, but that moment hadn’t come yet. He folded the
envelope and slipped it back into his pocket. He stood up and made his way
across the wooden dance floor. Six lessons down and he now knew how to roll his
hips. He shook his head, still not believing he allowed his sister to sign him
up for Salsa dancing lessons.

December
13

           
“Aunt Sam open this one next!!” Ava
said as she handed her a small box wrapped in white.

           
Sam adjusted the sash that lay
across her chest and read “Bride-To-Be” and took the present that her niece handed
her. “There’s no card.”

           
Cara lifted her head and watched as
she tore at the paper and opened the small square box. She thought back to the
day, not long after Jake had passed, when she came across a box that held
journals and mementoes that he had been collecting throughout the course of his
illness. He had left behind a list of specific instructions for whoever found
the box. The little box that Sam was opening was to be given to her on or
before her wedding day. It had been wrapped in white and Cara had never opened
it. So she was just as curious as Sam, to see what it was.

           
Sam gasped as she looked down at the
closed box that had writing on it. A handwriting that was so familiar that she
hadn’t expected to ever see again. Tears slid down her face as she read the
note.

           
“Sam, pin this to your bouquet on
your wedding day. Tell Pop I wanted to help him give our girl away on her
special day. All my love, Jake.”