I suspected undercover work for Martha but I knew what it was like to face a Thanksgiving alone and the lengths you’d go to avoid that so I’d let her make that play and, when I asked, Fern told me she felt the more the merrier.

Brock did not feel the same way and nonverbally let this be known (another time he looked at me like I was crazy) but he didn’t say word one.

Also in the room was a tall, blond man with light blue eyes who was smiling at me like a madman (my correct guess, Austin), a stocky, salt and pepper, close-cropped but obviously still frizzy-haired man (another correct guess, Fritz), a tall, dark-haired girl who was for some reason in late November wearing short-shorts and a thin drapey t-shirt over a camisole (and that reason might be because she was young, she was gorgeous, she had great legs and I was with her, if you had them, flaunt them) who had to be Kellie (Jill and Fritz’s youngest) and the girl hugging Brock who had to be Kalie. Lastly, a breathtakingly handsome man who, with his tall, lean, powerful, fit body, thick, dark hair but, strangely, since no one else had them, hazel eyes, had to be Levi and hovering visibly nervously at Levi’s side was a young woman (another correct guess, in her late twenties) with a fabulous figure, blonde hair in a pixie cut that suited her very pretty features and a carefully selected outfit that said she wanted to impress but not show off, Levi’s latest squeeze.

Jill introduced me to Fritz as Kellie went in for her snuggle with her uncle (and also got stick from him for “disappearing into thin air”, his words). Laura introduced me to Austin who smiled warmly at me while giving me an equally warm hand squeeze. Elvira muttered,

“Yo bitch,” at me to which everyone chuckled even though they all had just met her that day.

Then Levi came forward with his girl and I watched him as he did it.

Oh man.

Suffice it to say, one look at him I knew he trusted me a fair sight less than Cob did.

He clapped his brother’s arm while shaking his hand, kissed my cheek, stepped back and introduced his girl as Lenore before he launched in.

“Tess, been hearin’ a lot about you.”

“I’ll bet,” I replied.

“You been hearin’ a lot which makes me wonder why we haven’t seen you a lot,” Brock put in and Levi’s eyes went to his brother.

“Been busy,” he muttered.

“Not too busy to hear a lot about Tess,” Brock remarked and Levi decided to ignore that and he looked back at me.

“Got tight with Slim quick,” he noted.

“Levi,” Fern said in a warning tone.

“Oh boy,” Elvira said to the potatoes in an undertone.

“Not exactly,” Brock said in a rumbling tone and Levi looked back to his brother.

“Yeah, heard about that too.”

I tensed at Brock’s side; Brock felt it and his arm came around my shoulders.


“It’s Thanksgiving, I got my boys, I got my family and I got my woman. What I don’t wanna get is pissed off,” Brock said low and Levi held his eyes.

Standoff and I didn’t think this was good. Levi was questioning his brother’s judgment and it might be for protective reasons but Brock was the kind of man who wouldn’t appreciate that. Brock had also both said and demonstrated that he intended to protect me and a full frontal assault to test me within ten minutes of arriving for Thanksgiving, if Levi didn’t back down, was not going to go down well.

It was time to institute damage control and I did it by looking to Lenore who was studying Levi with both concern and bafflement.

I took her in and then said, “Lenore, I really like your boots.”

Her body jerked and her eyes came to me. Then she whispered, “Uh… thanks. I was, uh…” her eyes shifted to Levi then back to me, “thinking the same thing about yours. And that’s a really nice sweater.”

“I have a friend who works at Neiman’s,” I told her and now I did for with Elvira came Gwen, Tracy and Cam and Tracy was generous with her discount. My sweater cost a whack but, as all girls knew, I needed the perfect sweater for Thanksgiving dinner with Brock and his family so, like the nightie, I’d splurged. And, unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing I bought.

I really needed to sell more cupcakes.

“Employee discount,” Elvira muttered over her potatoes.

Lenore gave another searching glance to Levi then, to me, “Cool.”

I studied her and it hit me. She liked Levi like, a lot. He was with his family and she was just his latest piece. But to her, this was important. To her, this was meeting his family and she was reading this as a hopeful occasion when, with the way Levi was behaving with her, it was not. She was noting this and therefore understandably confused. And, with the way Levi was behaving, in the not-too-distant future, she was going to be heartbroken.

I looked back at Levi to see him opening his mouth to say something but Fern got there first.

“Men, out, you’re underfoot, you have no intention of helping and if you tried, you’d mess it up. Go turn on a TV somewhere. Take those crackers and cheeseball with you. And the bowls of nuts. And the chips and dip.”

Elvira looked over her shoulder at me then with her head she gestured to the kitchen table which was covered in bowls and plates filled with pre-Thanksgiving nibbles that might defeat the purpose of Thanksgiving. Then she gave me an approving look that said Fern was not Ada and this clear plus was to be reported to Martha at her earliest opportunity.

“Tess! These pies are just beautiful! ” Laura exclaimed and I looked to her.

She was right. My pies were gorgeous. I’d gone all out. The pumpkin ones had a border of egg-washed pumpkin cutouts I’d stamped out of pie crust and I’d even rolled out then arranged curly miniature vines that I’d attached to the pumpkin stems. The apple one had an apple cutout border. The maple buttermilk, maple leaves. And with the pecan, I’d painstakingly fashioned a decorative pie edge that was experimental but came out looking great.

It wasn’t just cakes that deserved to be pretty.

“Jesus, fuck me, flashback,” Levi muttered under his breath, eyeing the unveiled pies on his mother’s kitchen counter then he looked to Brock. “Olivia used to make you cinnamon nut muffins. Granted, they didn’t look that good or taste good but she did it.”

The air in the room went static as Laura snapped, “Levi!” Austin said low, “Dude, uncool,” Fritz muttered under his breath, “Jesus,” Elvira muttered under hers, “Oh boy,”

Kellie and Kalie whispered in unison, “Ohmigod,” Brock’s body went solid and Fern whirled on her son.


“Tell me you did not just say that,” she demanded and Lenore slid closer to her man who was not her man.

“Am I wrong?” Levi asked his mother.

“What you’re wrong about is thinking you’re too old to get a slap across the mouth from your mother,” Fern shot back.

“Outside,” Brock growled and everyone looked to him but Brock only had eyes for his brother.

“Seriously?” Levi asked.

“Now,” Brock rumbled and, again, within ten minutes of arrival, it was time for damage control and I got close to him, curling my hands on his arm and tugging.

“Leave it,” I whispered and his flashing, mercury eyes tipped down to me.

“Tess –”

I shook my head and gave his arm a squeeze. “The options available, have a brother who doesn’t give a shit or have a brother who does. You’re pissed now, honey, so you don’t get, with those options, you lucked out.”

Brock’s jaw got hard and I looked to Levi.

“I get it, your brother was fucked over, you care about him and you’re cautious. Thank you for being that way.”

Levi blinked at me.

I let Brock go and moved to Fern asking, “Now what can I do?”

Fern didn’t answer because she was committed to the act of glaring at her youngest son so Jill said, “You can help me lay the tables, Tess.”

I ignored the family tension and followed Jill’s lead setting the table.

On the way from dining table back to kitchen, I ran into Fritz, smiled at him but suddenly found my hand clasped in his and he got close.

When he did, he whispered, “Good play, Tess. This crew is tough to crack, twenty years and I gave them my two girls and sometimes, they get together, honest to God, I still feel like an outsider. But me and Austin, honey, we’ll have your back.”

Then before I could say a word, he squeezed my hand and headed to the door that I guessed led to the basement.

I watched even after he disappeared and I did it feeling a whole lot better.

This again lasted ten minutes. In that ten minutes, the good news was, Jill and I set the tables (plural because there were folding ones set up in the living room for the overspill), the men disappeared to watch TV, Fern got the sweet potato casserole in the oven, Laura and Elvira tackled the mountain of potatoes and they were on the stove, Kalie and Kellie had arranged my plethora of desserts on the side table in the dining room and were currently arranging my bouquet of flowers in a vase and Fern, Jill and Laura clearly had a good deal of experience with Levi loving them and leaving them and were inclusive and gentle with Lenore even though it was probably the last time they would see her.

The bad news was, after ten minutes of relative harmony, Ellie came in shrieking,

“Grandpa’s here! ”

The air in the room got thick as everyone in the room froze; Elvira and Lenore doing it just because they felt the vibe and had no idea that Ellie’s delighted shriek heralded Armageddon.

Then Elvira muttered a premonitory, “Oo lawdy, I’m thinkin’ family drama is far from over.”