The Illumination of Ginger

By Nicole Falls

Ginger Holliday is entering into a season of change, but refusing to let go of the old ways without a fight. Her stubborn insistence on clinging to the way things used to be results in a hodgepodge of emotional revelations--some good, some bad...all necessary.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Publishing
• Release date: Dec 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094433165

Nicole Falls

Nicole Falls is a contemporary Black romance writer who has taken entirely too long to complete her first project. She’s also a ceramic mug and lapel pin enthusiast who cannot function without her AirPods constantly blaring music. When Nicole isn’t writing, she spends her time trolling her friends and family while drinking coffee and/or cocktails or checking off yet another of these great United States visited in her quest to see some land! She currently resides in the suburbs of Chicago.

Book preview

-1-

"I thought the whole point of Mommy coming to town was for relaxation and seeing her babies and grands, not being put to work in the kitchen, Noelle," I said, laughing.

I didn’t ask Ma to cook, she volunteered to help out. And so, did Lolo and Juju, Noelle groused, But if you’re not gonna be helpful, you can go and sit in the family room watching football with everyone else.

Our mother and Noelle’s future in-laws had come into town a few days ago. The parents, along with the rest of my sisters, our significant others, and my girls were all gathered at Noelle and Juniper’s place. It was the first Thanksgiving that Noelle was actually hosting. Apparently, she seemed to be coming down with a little amnesia because when I offered my help several times over the past few months she claimed she had this. The day of, however, she was on the cusp of a meltdown and I, for one, found it hilarious. If she didn’t need my help then, I certainly wasn’t going to offer it now.

I stayed on my perch at the breakfast bar overlooking the kitchen.

Nah, I’m good right here, I replied, smirking then taking a sip from the spiked cider that Jay had poured everyone but Lolo generous servings of when we arrived.

Juniper and Valora both barely concealed their amusement as they snickered silently across the kitchen from where Noelle was struggling with mixing the cornbread dressing. Juju was pouring a sweet potato mixture into a couple of pie crusts as Valora looked on. Mama stirred the greens one more time before walking up to Noelle, gently nudging her with her hip to step aside as she tried to take over, but Noelle refused.

I got it, mama. Why don’t you go over there with Miss High and Mighty and get her out of here?

If you’d admit that you bit off more than you could chew, I’d gladly leave you alone, sister dear. It ain’t as easy as I’ve made it look all these years, huh? I couldn’t resist a final dig.

Every year we all usually gathered at mine and Josh’s house, since Lolo would burn water and Juju wasn’t good for more than the occasional dessert when she felt like it. Noelle had a passable command of the kitchen, but she’d never been the one to host more than a couple people at a time. I was a little put out when my mother called me to back up Noelle’s plea to host the Thanksgiving holiday this year, moving Christmas celebrations to my house. Thanksgiving was my holiday, everyone knew that. I didn’t care that Noelle was getting married soon and wanted to practice becoming Sally Homemaker. I’d already perfected the holiday hosting thing, from preparation weeks in advance down to day of specialization of drinks and dishes that I knew all of my family enjoyed.

Yo what is wrong with you, Geeg? Juju said after sliding her pies into the over and dusting her hands off on the half apron she wore, You would think that you’d be glad to have a holiday off for once.

Actually, you’d be super wrong if you thought that, baby sister, I thought to myself. This whole day sucked. I wasn’t used to being idle and the thought of sitting around making small talk with Noelle’s in-laws or pretending to care about any of the sports that the guys were watching wasn’t appealing to me in any way. I thrived on the hustle and bustle of the day, barely sitting down during dinner as I moved about ensuring everything went off without a hitch.

Ginger, please, my mother pleaded, Can you not today?

Of course, she jumped to take Noelle’s side. She always did. Though Mommy claimed not to have favorites, she showed time and time again that the eldest and youngest were just that.

"Ginger, can you not? I grumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes, Fine...I’ll leave. You might wanna check on whatever’s causing the oven to smoke, though."

I left them to it and walked into the family room where I noted my husband missing amongst the folks sprawled about the furniture.

JordieBug, where’s your daddy? I asked my youngest daughter who sat off to herself playing on her tablet.

She shrugged and I posed the same question to her sister. I was met with more nothingness from that one so I hunted down my cell phone and placed a call to Josh. The phone rang and rang into voicemail, so I sent a text. No response, so I called once again and nothing. Just when I was about to go off, the front door opened and Josh walked in smiling.

Where were you? I asked, quickly walking up on him.

I had to run a quick errand?

On Thanksgiving?

Yeah…

Where?

Why does it matter?

Because I wanna know.

I just…Rich needed me to come by and take a look at something, so I ran over there real quick.

Rich was one of Josh’s superiors at work.

Really babe? Work on a holiday? I replied, annoyed.

I know, I know, Josh replied, draping his arms over my shoulders and pulling me into an embrace, You know I gotta play the game while this promotion is on the table though.

That doesn’t mean I have to like it though, I replied back.

Fair enough, but it happened. We’re done. And I’m back. Why aren’t you in the kitchen?

I’ve been banned, I giggled.

Uh oh, sounds like you and NoNo got into it. I thought you were trying on being supportive?

It didn’t fit, I shrugged.

Josh chuckled, shaking his head at me, You gotta learn to sit back and enjoy it when somebody is trying to do something for you, babe.

Not sure how taking over my holiday is doing something for me, but y’all got it, I said, I just…I need a minute. I’ll be back.

I snagged my coat off of the rack near the door and took off down the short porch. I needed to recalibrate with some fresh air. Lately it seemed like more and more the things I held near and dear to me were slipping from my grasp. My girls were growing up and becoming increasingly more independent. Josh and I were in a rut, bound by routines tied to our girls or his job that rarely allowed for us to have our own time and this Thanksgiving mess was the final straw. I just wanted things to go back to normal, when I was secure and steady in my place in this world, my family, and life in general. It seemed like everything had been turned upside down and I just wanted it to be righted again.

-&-

Babe, who is C. Michaels? I asked Josh as he walked into the kitchen.

It was about a week after Thanksgiving and I was updating the family calendar we maintained to keep track of his, mine, and the kids’ schedules in advance of the upcoming week. It was a recent addition to our refrigerator since I had recently gotten back into the working world. My baby sister Juniper hired