Saturday 7 June 2014

Saturday, June 07, 2014 -

Flying High

by Leigh Smith
Published: May 15, 2014
Words: 30,854
Category: romance
Orientation: M/F
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OPENING EXTRACT
Jill planned to spend Thanksgiving weekend at a ski lodge instead of the usual jaunt to her parent's house. She just didn't know how to tell her mother. I'm a grown woman, it shouldn't be this hard, she thought to herself. It's not that she didn't love her parents and siblings and their families, she did. She was a sucker for her nieces and nephews, it was just that she couldn't stand the thought of spending another holiday with her family asking about the details of her life - when all they really wanted to know about was her love life, or lack of it.

Ever since Jill had broken her engagement over four years ago to that two-timing Billy Mitchell, her mom was all over her like white on rice, saying that she wasn't getting any younger. To be honest, Jill was a little jealous. She was the oldest of three girls and her two siblings were already married with children of their own.

Her sister Jan had married her college sweetheart, Mark Stewart. They were a stereotypical American family. Mark was a junior partner in a law firm and Jan was a stay at home mom. They had a house in the suburbs, three children - a boy James and twin girls, Beth and Jane, and a dog and a cat. Jan was the matchmaker and always had some associate of Mark's she wanted Jill to meet. Every once in a while, Jill would give in and accept a date with Jan's latest find and so far it hadn't turned out well. Luckily for Jill, Jan had recently backed off the quest to fix her up with someone.

Her other sister, Jackie, was married to Matthew J. Caldwell III. Matt was the CFO of Caldwell Industries, his family's firm. They lived in a massive house in Naperville with their son Matthew J. Caldwell IV (Matty) and their daughter Stacey. According to the plan Jackie had laid out for her life, she would have another child sometime next year and heaven forbid if anything went against plan. They too had a dog, cat, horses, and lord knows what else. Jackie was so straight she squeaked, and Matt's family was as uptight and straight laced as they came. Jackie fit right in with the Caldwell's and not so well with Jill who was a free thinker and inevitably got into a heated discussion with Matt about the injustice of some situation. He would go off in a huff, and Jackie would be upset with her sister for arguing with him.

Everyone would be at Jill's parents for Thanksgiving and her presence was expected. She just wasn't up to it this year. She wanted to do something different. And besides, she would have to face all of them again at Christmas.

Jill had procrastinated long enough and decided she couldn't wait any longer to call her mother. She picked up the phone and dialed. Mom was a force of nature and would not take the news that one of her chicks would not be around for Thanksgiving without a fight.