26Robert's "Kara's Story, sect. 20" for 1/13/25 5.
Section 20
Deck The Store with Boughs of Holly
On Friday morning my alarm went off at its usual time as if I had to be at work. I was tempted to slam my hand down on the snooze button so I could sleep in, but I knew it would require multiple slams if I wanted to sleep in for an extended period. Instead, I got up and put a robe on. I walked to the kitchen where I hit the start button on the coffee maker. I made a mental note to get a K-cup brewer. I wasn't a huge coffee drinker, so it rarely made sense to make even half a carafe of coffee. While waiting for the pot to do its thing, I checked the bread bin and saw I was out of bagels. During all that, Janice walked in.
"Morning, Kara," she greeted me.
"Morning, Janice. Is there anything special I can make you for breakfast?"
"Dad is expecting me for breakfast," she replied.
"Let me get dressed and I'll walk you over," I said the bare beginnings of a plan percolating in my head. "I want to talk to him, otherwise I'd let you just walk over."
After getting dressed I walked Janice over.
"Morning Kara," Tim greeted me. "What brings you over?"
I quickly explained about how I had invited Jada Mohre and Alexa Fowler over to meet Janice, but it was before John had invited me to Madison's grandparents for their Thanksgiving."
"Kara, just leave a note on your door telling the girls to come over here. I'll be around all day as it is. Oh, and thanks for making those arrangements. I was a little concerned about it."
Once home, I poured some coffee into a travel mug, wrote the note, and grabbed a more formal outfit to change into later before climbing into my car.
John, would you and Madison prefer bagels or donuts for breakfast?
I was just reaching a traffic light when my phone pinged.
We're good, why did you want to know?
I'm heading over to help decorate the store.
I wasn't expecting it, but I could use the help.
Right then the light turned so I had to put my phone down. With all the Black Friday traffic, it took me more time to make the drive to the store.
Should I wait outside the store entrance or the door to your apartment?
John replied to the store, so I walked over to it. Just as I reached it John was unlocking it.
"The staff isn't scheduled to start arriving until 10:30," John explained. "There are two trees to decorate, garland to hang around various doorframes, small fake poinsettias, and holly to place around.
I chose to start with the tree in the children's area. It wasn't huge, maybe six feet tall, but the way the tips of the branches looked snow-covered just made it look that much more real.
"Hi Ms. Suttner," Madison said as she was carrying over a few boxes. "Did my dad recruit you for the decorating team?"
"I volunteered actually," I replied as I removed the angel for the tree. from one of the boxes. For some reason, my family when I was growing up liked to put the angel on top first. What stood out about the angel's face was it had a very Chinese look to it. I couldn't resist looking from the angel to Madison.
"Oops, that was meant for the apartment tree," Madison said. As she looked away, a tear starting to flow down her face.
"What's wrong Madison?" I asked her.
"Dad had that angel made after my mom died," Madison said.
"I take it the face was meant to be your mom," I said.
Madison nodded. I put the angel back in the box and set it aside.
"Why don't you see if you can find whatever box has whatever usually goes on top of this tree?
Madison went up front to ask John where the box was. She soon returned.
"Dad is getting it from his office," she replied.
John soon returned with a box holding a very nice four-pointed star. It made me think of the North Star shining down the night Jesus was born. I opened the package and placed the star on top of the tree. There was some ribbon as well which I carefully wove among the branches. I couldn't resist chuckling when I saw how all the various ornaments had elements from children's literature on them. As we worked, Madison told me stories of Christmases past that she remembered. While I could have shared a couple of my own, I decided to save them for a different time. I thought that Janice should be on hand when I share them.
After we finished the tree in the children's area, we went up front and helped John finish the tree near the registers. All that was left was garland around the various doors and distributing the plants and a few other things. Just as we finished, Ashley, one of the cashiers, was walking up from the back room.
"Things are looking good," she said.
"Kara, if you want to take off for a bit you can," John said. "We probably won't leave for Madison's grandparents until around 2."
"I might run out for a few minutes and do some shopping," I said. "I'm back here though so I can get ready for tonight."
Before I knew it, I was turning into Lowes. I don't come here very often, so I wasn't fully sure where the Christmas Trees would be. Studying the outside, I decided to park more towards the gardening side. I found myself overwhelmed by all the trees they had. I even had to rack my brain to recall how high the ceiling was where I would put it. I was not about to buy a tree and have it end up too tall for the space. In the end, I chose a seven-and-a-half-foot tall artificial blue spruce that was pre-lit.
OK, tree bought. I went back to the store and Madison buzzed me into the stairway to their apartment. I took a shower and got myself put together properly. At a quarter of two, we climbed into their car and drove to a small two-story house a few blocks from the Golden City Dragon. It was in an area that was unofficially looked at as Chinatown.
As we walked in, I saw Doug Jr. standing around. Doug Sr. was sitting with an older man who turned out to be Madison's grandfather. An older woman walked out before I could take a seat.
"So, you must be Chun's new woman," She greeted me. "You let me know when wedding is."
"I've only known them since September, we've not even had a chance to discuss anything long-term like marriage," I remarked while finding a seat on a couch, John deciding to sit next to me.
"Right now, Mother Zhan, Kara and I are still testing the waters," John replied.
"You say that now Chun, but I know the real truth," Madison's grandmother said.
"Mom, go easy on Kara, she just walked in," Lena said as she joined everyone. "Kara, it's nice to see you in a less formal setting."
"Likewise, Lena," I said. "How is the baby coming along?"
"He or she is already keeping me up and there is still a good two and a half months to go before the baby is born," Lena replied. "Have you seen that one family much? The one you were with the last time I saw you at The Dragon?"
"I saw them yesterday when I had Thanksgiving dinner at a colleague's house."
"Blondie appears to be a keeper," Lena's mom said. "Don't let her get away."
I tried not to feel insulted by the way she referred to me. The thing was It felt like how I imagine Brenda's family would feel if someone used the N-word to refer to them.
"I'm hoping she won't get away Mother Zhan, but we'll see," John replied. "As Kara mentioned we've not known each other long so it's too early to discuss anything long-term."
"How did you two meet as it is?" Lena's dad asked us.
I gave a Cliff Notes type summary of how we met including Lena's part by slipping me the one note that led to me meeting John. In some ways meeting Lena's family has changed so much about my life in just a couple of months. Of course, it helped some that the Morgans came back into my life.
"Kara, is it? What kind of family goals do you have?" Lena's dad asked me.
"I'd have to say that my first goal is to figure out what I want in a family. Among the people in my life," I paused to look towards John and Madison since I had lost track of where she was during the initial conversation. "I think I have the basic components for a family in my life already. It's just figuring out where and how they fit together at this time and go from there."
"An admirable way of looking at things," Mr. Zhan replied to my response.
"If someday I'm in a position to have a son, it might be interesting to find out but if not...," I said while looking toward where Doug Jr. was standing.
"I'm guessing you have a daughter," Lena's dad said.
"I gave birth to a daughter before placing her for adoption," I replied. "I was recently reunited with her."
"Kara's daughter is a good kid," John added. "The adoptive family was among the guests at yesterday's dinner."
"Was your daughter among the people at your table when I saw you at the Dragon that one night?" Lena asked me.
"In fact, she was," I replied.
After a while, Lena and her mom went back into the kitchen, so I continued to chat with the men. After a couple of minutes, Madison moved over and sat between me and her dad. Soon after that, Lena brought in a few munchies. I watched her ruffle her son's hair a little before returning to the kitchen.
"So, Kara, have you started decorating for Christmas yet?" Doug Sr. asked me as I helped myself to a few nuts.
"While I've bought a tree, I haven't put it up yet, and I need to buy some more ornaments for it. I haven't decided yet when I'll put it up, maybe Sunday so I'll have time tomorrow to shop for ornaments."
"My wife and I rarely acknowledged or celebrated Christmas, but both Lena and Sue always looked forward to it since their friend's families always celebrated it," Lena's father commented.
"How old was Sue in relation to Lena?" I asked him.
"She was twenty months older than Lena," he replied. " Lena was close to her sister. I think that's why John always trusted Lena with Madison after Sue died."
"Consider this, Doug, someone had to take care of Madison when I had obligations with the reserves," John said.
"One thing I do when it comes to my own schedule is I try and respect the weekends Doug and Lena have Madison and not make plans on my end that involve her," I added.
"Kara, I doubt you have to do that. Lena and I easily recognize how important you are to John and Madison," Doug Sr. said. "The baby is due mid-February and John's normal reserve weekend is right around that time."
Could Doug be hinting at something in the way he mentioned the baby? Might be worth waiting until closer to then see what happens.
I continued to talk with Madison and the men over the next hour when Lena came in and her father got up and walked into the kitchen.
"He had to carve the turkey. Kara, you'll find my family has their own flair on things," Lena said as she flopped down onto the chair her father had just vacated. "I am so glad to be off my feet."
I thought back to when I was pregnant with Janice, and I was a little better than Lena was on Thanksgiving but then Janice was born in March compared to mid-February assuming the baby wasn't early, which sometimes with later pregnancies it is.
A gong then went off. Everyone started getting up and going into the kitchen.
When I arrived in the kitchen behind everyone else, I grabbed a plate from the stack and began serving some rice from its cooker, turkey, cranberry sauce which wasn't a favorite, stuffing, and a few vegetables. A small tray with different sauces was at the end. I skipped the sauces not being fully sure what was what.
Once I was in the dining room I sat down between John and Madison. By each place setting was a set of chopsticks along with normal silverware. Lena and her family were across from us with Lena's parents on each end. Naturally, I chose to use silverware. Things were rather quiet during dinner except for the tapping of chopsticks and clinking of silverware. While I wasn't totally surprised to find rice served instead of mashed potatoes it didn't bother me at all.
Once dinner was over, everyone moved back to the family room for lack of a better idea as to what it was. We sat and talked for a little while before John and I decided to head home. I was glad that Lena's parents didn't offer me any leftovers since I hadn't had a chance to eat my leftovers from the night before.
"Your in-laws are something else," I commented on the way home.
"Yeah, they take a little getting used to," John said as he pulled into the parking lot by the bookstore and their apartment.
"Kara, thanks for helping out today even though you didn't have to," John said before I walked the short distance from his car to mine.
"John, it was enjoyable helping you," I said. "Maybe I'll take a quick look at the store before I leave. I hadn't had a chance to see the results of our work in full."
John and Madison followed me in, and my mouth dropped. I felt that the work we did this morning before the store opened was a lot, but his staff had added tons of extra garland over some of the shelves and even had a couple of Christmas displays up. John was quiet so it was hard to gauge his reaction. Madison headed for the corner where the back stairs were, so I followed her up. While up there I grabbed what I'd left there earlier and said goodnight to Madison before going back down to the store and saying goodnight to John.
When I got home, I saw that it was hopping at Tim's, so I wrestled the tree from my car. It surprised me a little when I saw the box stayed level. I turned and saw Jacob holding the back end up.
"Just so you know things went well for Janice with Lexa and Jada," Jacob said. "Their parents walked over with them so they could meet all of us."
"That's good to know Jacob," I said.
Jacob helped me carry the tree in. Once we had set it down, a single look at my counter where my travel mug was still sitting told me that I had forgotten to grab my coffee before I left this morning. I walked over and poured it out before dumping out the remainder. If Starbucks wasn't so expensive I could probably just go there. I walked over to Tim's.
"Kara, how did your day go?" Tim asked me as I walked in. I could see Janice off to one side with reddish-brown-haired Alexa Fowler, and Jada Mohre, a black girl. Further looking around told me Jada's sister Aaliyah who was the twins' age was also over as was Alexa's older sister Vanessa.
"It went well actually," I said before going over my day.
"Kara, will you be able to be on hand when Janice starts at her new school on Monday?" Tim asked me.
"Crud, I would but Hannah and I have an important meeting with Ken Maitland and Mark Sullivan at 9," I replied. "Otherwise, believe me, I'd take the whole morning off so I could be there for Janice."
I stayed for a half hour or so chatting with Tim, Shanna Fowler, and Kathy Mohre before the two families had to go home to do dinner and any lingering homework from the short school week.
"Tomorrow, if everything goes well, I hope to go into Ikea to look at either bunk beds for Janice and Lexi's room or temporary screens so I can close off a section of the living room for Janice. With luck, they'll have whatever I choose in stock and by next weekend she can move over here," Tim said once everyone had left and it was just him, the twins, Janice, and me.
Tim ordered pizza for dinner. I only took one small slice since I was still mostly full from dinner. Afterward, Janice and I walked back to my side, and I showed her the tree in its box.
"I'm thinking after I get back from church on Sunday, the two of us and Madison can decorate it. I'll contact John tomorrow and see if it's ok."
"Hopefully either Lexa or Jada will be in my class. I just wish Gabby was still in my class," Janice said.
"Hey now Janice, there is always middle school next year. I would be surprised if your earlier elementary school and your new one don't feed into the same middle school, in which case you might have her in a few classes with you."
It wasn't long before first Janice and soon after myself were climbing into bed.