a long way from home

It was quietly snowing. No one was even in the bake shop. Macy looked through the photos on her phone. Charlie must have had quite a Thanksgiving.

She sighed deeply. It would be lame to tell her, no turkey here. Thanksgiving wasn't something people talked about much in England.

True. She was a little down. Something had been on Dustin's mind, but she didn't no what. Then his roommate Gil showed up, out of nowhere at the pub. He was sloshed and all over the both of them.

She winced hard, realizing now that Gil had wanted the three of them to do something. She couldn't help to feel a bit disgusted. Had she actually heard correctly...three..something..

Dusty told her, Gil was a nutter when he drank. He did manage to get him a taxi.

Honestly, she really didn't know about his life at the Uni. Was she really trying to get there to quickly?

Of course, Chandler and Oz sent her photos too. Those two really hammed it up, on the job. They'd been at work at four in the morning, getting ready for door busters on Black Friday. They were already donned in Santa hats. And happy. So happy. It was good to see them still together.

She didn't hear from Rico, at all. He was off to Lizzie's parents for Thanksgiving. Macy wanted to tell him that was awful soon. But then again, she was feeling she was losing touch with everyone back home.

Just then. she felt his warm breath on the back of her neck. A shiver ran through her.

Maxie.

He was the quiet one, who came in at three in the morning to get the dough rolled out and the pastries ready.

"You, miss you're mates?" He asked, looking over her shoulder.

"I guess." Her bottom lip was in a pout.

"Why is it? I feel... we hold you prisoner here?" He wanted to know as he dug for a cigarette, but then realized there was one behind his ear.

Macy rolled her eyes, at his comment, but she didn't answer. He was going out back to pick up where he left off, on his disgusting habit.

He seldom ever talked to her. She did her job as a cashier. He did his thing and Ste ran interference between Maxie and the world.

She looked over her shoulder at Ste..busy sweeping, cleaning, something. She thought it must have been hard to be Maxie's little brother. There was just something intense about his face, and yet he always smiled about the bakery.

He was much nicer than one might observe.

Finally the door jingled. Ste did his part. He didn't over do it. Explaining it all. Just the bits, folks asked about. Which was the crowd pleaser? Could they make anything special?

She watched. Really, if it hadn't been for Ste, no one would buy Maxie's pastries.