reputation

Thanksgiving

November 23, 2017.

Three - Taylor

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time for very few. It wasn't a wonderful time for many people, it certainly wasn't a wonderful time for the Turkeys, but this year it was looking like a wonderful time for Taylor. Her mother was in the kitchen pulling the turkey out of the oven, her father and brother were off picking up some last minute groceries, and she and Emma were sitting on the couch watching the Thanksgiving day parade. Sitting and watching very loosely described the situation. Taylor was lying on top of Emma, kissing her neck and face every so often.

Austin opened the door and fake coughed. "You need to get a room or start paying for my therapy. Better yet, do both."

"Grow up. What are you, five?"

"Old enough to know that I'm never going to forget what I just saw."

"Get out or we'll go to your room."

Emma laughed and hid her face in Taylor's shoulder. Austin made a gagging noise before leaving the living room, accidentally hitting a few of something canned against the wall as he went. Taylor kissed her again and rolled off of the couch to help finish dinner. To her surprise, her mom had everything sitting out on the table. The table was set with burnt orange placemats and white taper candles. Bowls filled with assorted sides surrounded the floral centerpeice in a circular arrangement.

Austin sat down in between their father and mother. Taylor and Emma sat on the other side of the table. Despite just having met Taylor's brother and father this morning, Emma seemed to be comfortable. Seconds and thirds were piled on each of their plates, they ate and talked until everyone was nearly in a food coma. Austin was the first to excuse himself, followed by Scott, leaving the three women alone at the table. Andrea stood up and started collecting the leftover food to put in containers.

"Let me help." Taylor stood up and tried to help her mother, but she was gently shoved back in her seat.

"I've got it, thank you honey. What have you two been up to? I haven't seen you in a while."

"Well, mom, I put out an album. I went outside, that was fun. We went to London, went home, and now we're here." Taylor knew that her mother had wanted more details, all of what she had said was deeply documented on the internet, but she didn't want to go into more details about any of it.

Andrea pressed her lips in a line and shook her head before directing her eyes at Emma. "It's great to see you again, Emma. I keep telling Taylor that the two of you need to come visit more often, but I get it."

"We've been meaning to come by for a long weekend, but things have been insane. It should all be calming down now, though. Are we still on for Christmas in New York?" Emma turned the sink handle to hot and collected the dirty plates from the kitchen table.

"Don't worry about the dishes, honey, I've got it." Andrea took the plates from Emma's hands and placed them in the sink. "We are absolutely still on for Christmas. Do me a favor and try to convince that girlfriend of yours to come see the Rockefellar tree. I've been trying to talk her into it for years, but she always makes up some excuse."

"I'll see what I can do."

Taylor shook her head and wetted a towel to wipe down the table. "I told you that if you wanted to see it then I would go with you."

"I'll hold you to that. Don't worry about cleaning up the rest, I'm going to make your father do it." Andrea pulled them each into a hug and kissed their foreheads. "Goodnight. I love you both."

"I love you too. Thank you for dinner, Andrea."

"I love you too, mom." Taylor gave her mother one final hug before taking Emma's hand and leading her up to the room they had been sleeping in for the past few nights.