Percy and Annabeth-Their future

Thankful For You

You could say that autumn had almost passed by the time Thanksgiving came. Snow had sprinkled the ground one or two times, and every leaf was off the trees in our yard. 

The kids all had a few days off, so we were planning to have a nice family Thanksgiving without the whole entire family there.

There were so many reasons I didn't want the entire family there, one being the noise level, and two being I liked to imagine sometimes that I didn't have a bajillion people in my extended family. But it was okay- I knew that Piper and Jason were going to see Piper's dad for Thanksgiving, and Hazel and Frank were in Nantucket with Alexa and Chase. Leo and Calypso were taking their kids to Plymouth Plantation for Thanksgiving. And almost everyone else I didn't mention was working. 

"Sophia, can you grab the potatoes?" I asked. It was almost time to eat- and I was excited. I'd never really cooked Thanksgiving dinner, so it was a real test of my kitchen abilities. 

"They're not here!" Sophia called from the pantry. 

"What do you mean? I think I brought them in..." I tried to think back that far, but it was a blur. Sophia rushed past me to go check the car. 

"Let me look in the car." 

Taylor was perfectly content setting the table to perfection. She had all sorts of fancy utensils we had never used out on the table.  Luke and Rion were watching the NFL game with Percy in the basement, and Lena was making the centerpiece. 

"I found them!" Sophia carried a few pounds worth of potatoes into the kitchen and immediately started to peel. 

Ding Dong!

Oh gods. I was literally praying it wouldn't be who I opened the door to see. 

"Annabeth!" Thalia smiled and hugged me as she walked through the door, a bottle of wine in her right hand. 

"Thalia... what are you doing here?" I followed her to the kitchen where she was tasting Sophia's mashed potatoes. 

"It's Thanksgiving Dinner!" She said, opening the oven to check the turkey. "Mm! That smells good!" 

"I know... I made the turkey, of course it smells good! But what are you doing here? We're having Thanksgiving Dinner? Aren't you supposed to be with Nico somewhere?"

Thalia shook her head, licking her finger, which had pumpkin pie on it. 

"He's at a conference for work. And I would spend it with Paige, but she and Nicolas took Haleigh to Disney for Thanksgiving. "  I nodded, slowly comprehending that my Thalia was not about to leave.

"Where are the boys?" She smiled, hanging her black leather coat up.

"Downstairs, Aunt Thalia!" Lena shouted. 

"Thanks, Lena," She smiled. 

"Mom, is Aunt Thalia really gonna stay for Thanksgiving?" Sophia asked. She seemed excited. 

"I guess so..." I thought out loud. "You better make a few more crescent rolls." 

30 minutes later, just as I was taking out the turkey, and Percy was upstairs to try the mashed potatoes, our doorbell rang agian. And a feeling of dread set into my brain. 

Please just be a delivery, please just be a delivery...

Percy opened the door and almost fell over. 

"Mom? Paul? What are you guys doing here? I thought you were leaving on that cruise today...."

"Oh, no! That's tomorrow. And we wanted to spend some time with our family!" Sally was  64 now, and Paul was 66. But they still lived in the same apartment they had for years.