Chapter 71

My alarm beeped, and I reached to shut it off before it woke Nicholas up. His arm tightened around me when I tried to get up, but I eventually managed to get out of his grasp.

I took a quick shower and headed downstairs to help Laura with the cooking, not surprised to find her already in the kitchen. The countertop was full of pans and bowls.

"Wow, you've been at it for a while."

She looked up and smiled. "I love Thanksgiving. This will be the first one in a long time that we've had so many people around."

I put some water in the kettle for tea and set it on the stove to heat. "So Nicholas usually spent his holidays alone?"

"Either that or he would take a business trip this time of year." She gave me a sad smile. My heart ached and my gut twisted thinking about him being so lonely. Maybe he'd been even lonelier than me during the holidays. At least I'd had Lory.

Laura and I worked together, dressing the turkey, making side dishes and desserts, and chattering away as the morning fl