While I prepared the food, hours went by in a blur. I vaguely remember Ace and Aiden heading up the stairs to shower and change. It wasn’t until around three thirty that Ace came into the kitchen and insisted that he and Aiden do the table settings while I got cleaned up.
I happily let them take over the rest of the work. By four o’clock, the first couple to arrive were Gabriel and Lena.
At times, I still couldn’t believe that Gabriel was engaged to Lena Clarkson. I was a big fan of all of her music. But her latest album,All of Me, was by far my favorite. Being in a room with the two of them for all of five minutes, anyone with a pulse could sense the love they shared. She’d obviously written her album about Gabriel.
Next to show up was Reese with a dish of her special sausage stuffing.
“It smells delicious,” I said, taking it from her. “Come on.” I led her to the dining area.
The long wooden table with matching chairs on either side sat in front of the bay window. It gave a picture-perfect view of the backyard and the surrounding wooded area that lined the community.
“Is there anything you need help with?” Reese asked.
I shook my head. “No way would I invite you over and then put you to work.” I brought her to the living room. “Let me introduce you to everyone.” By then, Micah and Jodi had arrived with Lonzie.
Joel wasn’t too far behind them. When he walked through the door, Ace glared at him and then across the room at me. I shook my head, warning him not to make a scene.
He hadn’t spoken to Joel in weeks. Every time I brought it up, he would change the subject.
“Oh my,” Reese said, almost breathless, with a hand pressed to her chest. “I saw your husband that day when he came into the office. I hope this doesn’t sound too disrespectful, but I instantly thought he wasfine.A little scary, but fine.”
I laughed awkwardly. “We, uh, were working through some things then,” I told her of the day he’d stormed into Brightside.
“And he has two brothers and a father who are all as gorgeous as he is,” she whispered.
I tossed my head back and laughed. “You get used to it after a while.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like I could get anyone who looks like them to look twice at me, anyway.” She waved her hand in the air. “But I can admire from a distance.”
“Don’t say that.” I frowned. “You’re beautiful, Reese.”
“I know. I know. You’re supposed to say that because we’re friends. It’s okay. I know my lane.”
I started to ask why she felt that way, but Jodi called my name and I got distracted. Reese went into the living room and started playing with Lonzie and Aiden.
A few young, enlisted Airmen from the base squadron came over, since they didn’t have any family in the area and couldn’t travel home for the holiday. It was a full house, and it wasn’t until Ace made the first cut into the turkey and we all started passing dishes around the table that I realized how much I longed for this.
As a kid, it was mostly just my mom and me for the holidays. We rarely had money to travel back to Texas where my grandparents lived. After my grandfather died, my grandma would sometimes visit.
When my mother died and I moved in with my grandmother, she occasionally had a few friends of hers over for the holidays, but she was someone who mostly kept to herself.
Holidays with her always felt cold and stiff. The few times I remember enjoying Thanksgiving as a teen were when Ace and I started dating, and he invited me over to spend it with his family. I always arrived late, though, because I didn’t want to leave my grandmother by herself for too long.
Even when Ace told me his mother said my grandmother could come, she refused to go with me. She continued to believe that Ace was using me for a good time and that, she said, she would not be a part of it.
Those people don’t want us,she’d told me over and over.
After dinner, a few people left, but most of the family remained. I headed into the kitchen with a few plates to throw away to find Joel in there, standing at the sink.
“You are not in here washing dishes,” I said, going over and turning the water off.
“These dishes need to soak if you have any hope of getting all that grease and shit off,” he said, going to turn on the water again.
“Aht.” I swatted his hand.
He gave me a skeptical look and I laughed. “Leave it,” I insisted. “We have a dishwasher for that, and if it needs to be handwashed, there’s tomorrow.” I glanced back over my shoulder.
“Did you talk to Ace?” I asked.
