New Neighbor

Author's Preface: Everyone in this story is eighteen years old or older. The story is entirely fictional. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidental. Constructive comments are always welcome.

This story follows the relationship between John and Laura, first introduced in "New Neighbors Pt. 01" in which they meet.

Enjoy

New Neighbor Pt. 06 - Thanksgiving at John's

Thanksgiving was on the last possible date, November twenty-eighth. It made for a short holiday season, and people were booked up for parties early.

At the cabin, John told Laura that he wanted to have a big Thanksgiving dinner at his house. Laura thought it was a wonderful idea. He knew it was short notice and that people would have families in town, but he had to try and get around all the obstacles. It was something he really wanted. If it wasn't on Thanksgiving Day, he'd be a little disappointed, but he'd take it. It had been a long time since John had been truly grateful on Thanksgiving. It had been a long time for Laura, too.

This was going to be a semi-formal event. No T-shirts and jeans. John wanted the men in good-looking suits and the women dressed for an evening out at a fancy restaurant. John was taking photographs of the couples.

Laura got on the phone Monday morning. They hoped to have at least fourteen guests and thought there would be more. This wasn't going to be easy on short notice, but John wanted to try.

Ken and Vicky loved the idea of a big dinner and offered to help. They had a lot to be grateful for too this year. They would be at the cabin next week but could help after they got back.

Katie was Laura's first call. She loved parties and planning them. She had been in a funk all fall. She was tired of dating losers. She'd been going out with a guy for a couple of weeks, and she'd like to bring him. "I'll finally have a date at a party," Katie said.

Cynthia and Blaire were thrilled at the invitation. After telling their parents that they were dating, they weren't on the best terms with either of their families. They'd wanted to give the folks another year to calm down.

Blaire told Laura that Ashley had a new boyfriend, and he was going over to her parents for dinner. Laura called August, Ashley's mom, and asked if they could all come to John's. August wasn't in love with the idea of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for just the four of them, so she agreed.

Bridgette and Russell had planned to go to his parent's house in Nevada, but his parents had canceled. They got a good deal on a cruise over Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was hard for Jackie and Ed. Both their parents lived in town along with brothers and sisters and already had two dinner invitations, but they could make an appearance at each house and then come by. They might be late and just have dessert.

Courtney and Rodger were the biggest problems. They were flying to see Courtney's parents in Chicago. They haven't seen the baby yet.

John complained to Ken that they almost got everyone to come. He explained that there was no way Cortney and Rodger could get out of going to Chicago to show the baby to Courtney's parents.

Ken asked, "Could they go on Friday instead?"

"I don't know but it would be really hard to change airplane reservations."

"One of our executives is flying to New York Friday in the company jet and they could drop them off in Chicago Friday morning. They'd need to fly commercial coming back. They wouldn't even need to go through security."

"Your company has a plane? We need to talk about where you work someday."

"They have a couple."

"So, you could take Vicky somewhere on a private jet?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"Don't tell her until you want to leave," John said.

"Maybe we could go somewhere. Oh, by the way, we just hired a new guy, Henry from New York, and he starts the Monday before Thanksgiving. He's divorced and has no family in the area so do you mind if I bring him along?"

"No, that would be great--the more the merrier. I'll have Laura add him to the list. She's going to email invitations, so I'll send his to you."

John called Laura and asked to see if she could call Courtney and Rodger back and ask about Friday. He told her there'd be one more guest.

After a round of conversations with Courtney, her parents, and Laura, they would be at the party with the baby. Courtney and Rodger were excited to be taking a private jet.

They now had nineteen people confirmed.

Once they were all on board, Laura sent out an email with a fancier description and the dress code. People who wanted to could spend the night.

Join Us for Thanksgiving Dinner

Thursday, November 28th

Party from Noon until Whenever

John's House

Dress to impress. John will be taking portraits.

You're welcome to spend the night - We have plenty of room.

John will cook breakfast.

-----

John's housekeeper, Marge, was thrilled about him having a big Thanksgiving party. She always worried that he was lonely. She was so happy when she found the extra toothbrush in his bathroom. She liked Laura.

As soon as Laura called Marge with the number of people coming, she ordered the turkeys and started the preparations. John just gave her his credit card. John had never had a party, much less a big one in this house and she was going to make this a special one. She spent the week before the party getting the house as clean as possible and would yell at John or Laura for leaving things out of place. She found the china and silver and realized there was not nearly enough. She rented twenty place settings. Laura told her there would be nineteen people but got an extra to be safe. She also rented silver serving dishes, trays, and everything else so it would all match.

The dining room was spotless, but the table only sat fourteen, so she rented an additional table and chairs. The dining room needed to be rearranged. It would be tight, but it would work. She ordered tablecloths and napkins for the table.

John and Laura tried to help but she shooed them away. They could make name cards and arrange the seating. This was becoming

her party.

She got two huge turkeys and got as much of the food together as she could before the party.

She took over Laura's kitchen too. She needed the extra oven for the second turkey and her indoor and outdoor refrigerators.

By the time she was done, all the food was prepped. She taped notes to everything that said what time and which oven they should go in. She put out ten kitchen timers.

She begged John to let her come and cook for them, but he thanked her and said she needed to be with her family on Thanksgiving. Even so, she stayed until late Wednesday night making final preparations. Before she left, John insisted on taking her picture.

Ken and Vicky arrived early to help. They brought nice clothes to change into. They started helping Laura decipher Marge's cooking instructions. The turkeys were already in the ovens, so it smelled like Thanksgiving in the house.

People started arriving around noon, dinner was at 7:00. A few people settled in to watch football on TV.

For the first few guests, Bo ran to the door, but he wasn't wild about all these people in his house. He spent most of the day upstairs in his bed pouting. John hadn't even gone for a run today.

Ashley arrived with her new boyfriend, Luke, and her parents. It was nice to meet her parents, Larry, and August.

August said, "It's so nice to meet you, John. We can't thank you enough for helping Ashley with her portfolio."

"She's a special woman," John said.

John took Ashley aside and asked what her parent's rules were about alcohol. She said that wine during dinner was OK.

John said, "And you and Luke will definitely not drink too much tonight." She nodded.

As more of the guests arrived, John started taking couples off to the studio for their portraits. The pictures of the couples wouldn't take long and it was one of the reasons John wanted everyone to dress up.

-----

John was in his studio when Katie arrived. She was by herself and later than expected. She always came early to help. Laura noticed that her makeup was a little messed up and it looked like she might have been crying. She knew that something was very wrong. She went over, put an arm around Katie, and led her out the backdoor and over to her house.

"What's wrong Katie?"

"Nothing."

"Try again."

"I don't want to bother you with this at your party."

Laura just stared at her and waited.

"OK, I had a date with a guy I'd been going out with for a few weeks. I thought he was a nice guy. He called me yesterday and said he couldn't come to the Thanksgiving dinner."

"And?"

"I was upset with him. He knew it was important to me and I kept asking him over and over why he couldn't come. He finally told me that his wife surprised him by coming into town for Thanksgiving."

"I just stared at the phone. I had no idea he was married. He asked if we could get together to talk after his wife was asleep. I told him that I'd have to get his wife's permission first. What kind of person acts that way?"

"He went on and on about how he was going to get separated and how they weren't in love anymore, but I hung up on him. I wish he'd told me in person so I could have slugged him. A black eye might have been hard to explain to his wife."

"Now, I'm at another party by myself." Katie started sobbing and Laura just held her for a long time.

"I can't believe that I went out with him for weeks and didn't know he was married. I slept with him. How could I be that stupid? That poor woman. I feel so guilty for screwing her husband. Do I look like a home wrecker?"

"I just want to meet a nice guy that likes me. Is that too much to hope for?"

Laura said, "Katie, you didn't do anything wrong. That asshole took advantage of your trusting nature. We're going to deal with him, you know that, right? His wife needs to know quietly so that she can arrange to take all his money before she dumps the creep. Russell can give her the name of a ball-busting divorce lawyer. He's going to regret this."

"But you're still going to hurt for a long time. Don't let this make you less trusting. There are good guys out there. You'll meet someone."

"I shouldn't have come here today. I'm going to bring everyone down," Katie said.

"This is exactly where you should be today. Surrounded by people that love you. I'm going back over to John's and tell them that you're helping me out over here, while you pull yourself together. I won't say anything about what happened. I'm so glad you came despite that creep. Everyone at the party is your friend." Laura hugged her.

"I'll be OK. I cried all day yesterday. I can deal with this. It was just when I pulled up in front of the house and realized I'd be the only one alone at a party again, it got to me."

"You should have called me yesterday to talk. I'm always here for you and I always will be. Just relax for a few minutes. I'll be back soon."

When Laura came back from her house, Ken's guest, Henry, had just arrived with a bottle of expensive wine in his hand. Ken introduced him to Laura, and she was quite impressed with how tall, fit, and handsome he was. She welcomed him to the party and told him that she was sorry he had no family in town.

She called Vickie over and asked her to show Henry around. She needed Ken's help for a minute.

Laura took Ken aside and said, "You can't ask me questions. In fact, this conversation never took place."

"Tell me everything you know about Henry," she demanded.

"Well, he's coming to work for us as an electronics engineer. He has a master's and a Ph.D. from Stanford. He's incredibly smart."

"I'm not sure exactly what you're asking."

"Personal stuff, marital status, girlfriends, children, friends, does he like dogs."

"I don't think I should tell you about his personal life," Ken said.

"I don't want to, but I can call Vickie over."

"OK. He's divorced and he hates his ex, that's one of the reasons he moved across the country, he has no children, and if he had a girlfriend, he would have brought her tonight. He's been in town for less than a week. I don't know much; I've just met him."

"Do you like him?"

"So far, yes. Has anybody told you that you can be scary?"

"We never talked, right?"

Laura walked over to the main table and switched name cards. Vicky saw her and asked what was going on. Laura told her that Katie was helping at her house.

-----

Back at her house, she told Katie to pull herself together. They were going back over to John's.

Katie went to clean herself up and put on fresh makeup. Laura texted Ken, "Katie will be over in ten minutes to introduce Henry around. No questions."

Laura thought, "This could be a bad idea."

Katie came down from getting ready and said, "Let's go to the party." She looked much more like herself.

They went over to John's and Laura spotted Henry. She took Katie over and introduced them.

"Katie, Henry just moved to California to work at Ken's company. He moved here from New York and has just been here since Monday. Since he has no family in town, could you show him around and keep his glass full?"

"Sure Laura, I'll be glad to." She smiled like she knew that Laura was up to something. Laura just shrugged.

It may not have been the best timing with Katie's recent experience with men, but she seemed to notice how good-looking Henry was.

-----

John wanted pictures of all the couples, suitable for the office or over the fireplace. He couldn't spend as much time as he would like, but he still wanted to find the most flattering poses and lighting he could.

He started with the only married couple there so far, Bridgette and Russell. The pictures came out nice, and he thought it would look good in Russell's law office. He knew that people would comment on Bridgette. She looked fabulous all dressed up.

Next, he shot Cynthia and Blair. They were acting very happy and were fun to shoot. John thought that they were relieved that the group knew that they were a couple now. The slinky, sexy dresses that they had worn looked great. Both of them were models and were easy to direct. His problem with them was toning it down. Together they were just so damn sexy, he wasn't sure he could take a picture of them suitable for an office. In those slinky dresses, they almost looked sexier than when they were naked.

He called in Ashley, Luke, and her parents, Larry and August. He shot Ashley's parents first. He could see where Ashley got her beauty. Her mother was stunning, and her father was a tall, handsome man. He took several shots of them and then for fun, he asked Ashley to take some pictures of her parents.

"Everything is all set up. Look at them through the camera, tell them what to do, and push this button."

John was amazed by how good she was on the photographer's side of the camera. The pictures she posed them in, were the best of the bunch.

Then he shot Ashley and Luke. It was hard to take a bad picture of Ashley, but Luke seemed a little stiff. John suspected it was because Ashley's parents were there watching him with their daughter. John told her parents that their pictures were finished and told them to get some wine and hors d'oeuvres.

He tried again with Ashley and Luke and made comments like, "Are you sure that you like Ashley?" and "If I were her boyfriend, I'd stand a lot closer to her than that." Luke relaxed and Ashley understood what he was doing and started working with him. At one point, John said to Luke, "Her parents won't see these, why don't you kiss her?" He did and it was a nice shot. More importantly, it got him to loosen up, and the pictures were much better. Luke was finally having fun.

He told Ashley that he wanted to talk to her later. She had great potential as a model but John saw something else in her.

John wanted to shoot Katie and her date next. He hadn't been privy to all the things that had happened to Katie, but when he told her that it was her turn, he could see from her and Laura's expressions that he should move on.

The last people to arrive were Courtney and Roger with the baby. It's amusing to see a roomful of women drop everything and run over to see a baby. John wanted to take their pictures as soon as he could pry them away from the crowd. They had to leave right after dinner to get ready to fly to Chicago the next day.

He asked Laura if she could help for a minute. The pictures of Courtney and Roger were a snap. They were both professionals. John wanted Laura in there to hold the baby when he shot just the two of them together. Anyone could have held the baby, but John wanted to see Laura holding her. She looked so beautiful and nurturing that it took John's breath away.

He shot Courtney and Roger with the baby next and when they were done, he asked a favor.

"Can I take a picture of Laura holding your baby?" They agreed and John had Laura sit in an upholstered chair holding her. She wasn't made up for pictures; her hair wasn't even combed, and she'd been working in the kitchen, but the pictures of her looking down at the baby were full of love.

Laura had a strange look on her face as she gave the baby back to Courtney. It didn't last long but it made an impression on John.

The only pictures left to take were of Vicky and Ken, Laura and himself, and Jackie and Ed if they made it. It was getting close to dinner, so he took a break and helped with the food. He'd shoot those later.

He took candids of the people at the party, the decorations, and the table before the meal. He felt good. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and they looked great dressed up. He had a real feeling of being at home with friends.

After Katie had introduced Henry around for a while, she realized that in addition to being tall and good-looking, he was charming. She liked talking to him, it was easy and pleasant. It was fun being around him.

He didn't like football and they didn't need his help in the kitchen, so he asked Katie if she'd like to go for a walk. A long walk as it turned out. The people at the party noticed they weren't there. They walked around the cul-de-sac, and down the trail in the woods behind John's house. She showed him Laura's backyard with the pool, hot tub, and pool house. They just didn't seem to run out of things to say to each other. They sat on the bed/couch in the pool house. If it had been any other time in her life, she'd be thinking about getting him naked in the hot tub.

"Katie, are you dating anyone?"

"No, not since yesterday. How about you?"

"Not since my divorce a year ago. What do you mean not since yesterday?"

"It's a bit of a story I don't want to think about right now."

"Can I kiss you?" Henry asked.

"Do you have a wife or a girlfriend?"

"No. If I did, I wouldn't ask to kiss you. Can I kiss you?"

"I guess."

He gave her a soft warm kiss. Katie sighed.

"Promise me that you're not married, and you don't have a girlfriend," Katie said.

"I promise."

He kissed her again. It was an excellent kiss, but Katie knew she shouldn't do anything with Henery because she wasn't thinking straight. She'd just been fooled by that married asshole.

But it did feel wonderful when he kissed her. He made her feel warm and wanted.

It was getting dark. Katie took a deep breath and said, "We should go back to the house and see if they need any help."

-----

Katie found Laura and said, "Tell me that I shouldn't go out with Henry."

"Where have you been? We were starting to worry."

"I was on a walk with Henry."

"For three hours?"

"Yes. So, tell me that I shouldn't go out with him."

"Did you like talking with him for three hours?"