West & Vega: The Untold Jori

Thankscissoring

"Vega? What the hell are you doing here?"

It's not that I wasn't happy to see her so much as I was pissed off that she was there. She stood outside the door with a suitcase behind her and what looked like a homemade pumpkin pie in her hands. She wore a breathtaking smile that made me forget I was pissed off at her for being there in the first place.

"Your dad invited me," she said.

"Oh. Wasn't that nice of him."

"I brought pie."

She presented it to me. I didn't move. I didn't take it. I just stood there, in her way.

After a moment, she lowered her arms. "Um...can I come in?"

I sighed. "I guess. Just wait here for a minute."

I turned away and stormed off toward the kitchen. My dad was pulling the turkey out of the oven. To say his place smelled amazing would be a gross understatement. I hated holidays and family and family holidays, but I was seriously jonesing for some stuffed bird corpse right about then. It may have softened my initial anger at Tori's unexpected arrival.

"Dad, why did you invite Tori?" I asked sharply.

He stuck the thermometer into the bird. "I thought you might like someone besides Debbie and me to eat with," he said. "Her parents went to South Beach for the holiday. I also thought it might be easier on you if she were here, so you didn't have to pick her up before leaving for the airport later. Is there a problem?"

Damn him, he even had a great reason.

"No, not...not really. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all. It caught me off-guard. But I guess it makes sense."

He read the thermometer and smiled. "Perfect." He looked to me...no, looked at me, as if he were struggling to understand my frustration. "So I should have let you know first. All right. I apologize. I won't do that again."

The sincerity in his voice was overwhelming. I felt my eyes getting damp. Shit, Jade, keep it together. "Thanks," I said. "And it was thoughtful of you to invite her. I appreciate that."

He smiled almost imperceptibly. "Debbie, the bird is ready!" he called. I left the kitchen so he and Debbie could finish up their work.

I had been surprised when my dad had suggested an actual family Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time he'd called the three of us a "family" since I'd moved in. I wasn't entirely sold on Debbie yet, but she seemed to be helping him make positive changes when it came to our relationship. A piece at a time, he was becoming a real dad.

I expected it all to fail, to go up in smoke. I mean, everything always does, right? Maybe he'd wake up one morning after drinking and just forget all the progress he made.

Okay, I might have been projecting my own insecurities a bit.

I found Tori sitting on the couch, holding her pie in her lap. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. "Give me that," I said. I handed it off to Debbie as she rushed down the hall to help my dad, then sat in a recliner chair opposite Tori. I kept my eyes on my phone, but I could feel Tori's were on me.

I hadn't talked to her since I dropped her off Saturday morning. She had texted me to see about hanging out a few times during the week, but I always kept the answers brief and made up an excuse. I wasn't ready to see her. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to. I'd gone over my conversation with Liz a dozen times since that evening, and I wasn't any closer to understanding if Tori was the one I was ready to go to war with myself over.