She has always loved jigsaw puzzles

as far back as he can remember

she gets at least one a year

and leaves it on the kitchen table until it's done

she gets the 1000 piece puzzles now

her latest one is of lighthouses

 

They talk a lot on the phone

he started college this year

she loves to hear about his day

anything, everything he does

it doesn't matter what they talk about

because all she really wants to hear

 

is his voice

 

"I've been working on this thing since August"

he can tell she's really irritated

"1000 pieces, and I can't find the last damn piece"

he tries not to let her hear him chuckle

she has no idea how funny she is when she gets mad

it's November and after all the time she's put into it

she's sitting there on the other end of the phone

totally pissed because one piece is missing

"And it's right in the center where it's glaringly obvious"

 

When he walked in the door, he could smell the pumpkin pie

it was great to be home for Thanksgiving

he almost fell over when he came in the door

because she ran through the kitchen

and threw herself at him, laughing

and crying, and he spun her around

 

She's so happy he's home for a few days

he's going to help her put up the Christmas tree

just like they've been doing for years over the Thanksgiving holiday

she's also hoping she can talk him into steam cleaning the carpet

and replacing the balcony screen door

"And if I'm lucky, maybe he'll find that damn puzzle piece"

 

"Tomorrow I'm getting the turkey in early so we can eat by noon"

Any time was fine with him, as long as he can be here

"I'll make you a sandwich while you put your stuff away"

He walked past the kitchen table towards his room

With his bag slung across his shoulder

And glanced at the jigsaw puzzle

"That's great" he thought to himself as he noticed

 

The center piece isn't missing anymore