MICHAEL
I can't decide if this trip has been a success or a complete disaster. Kate has been acting weird for the past few days, and she barely speaks to her father at Thanksgiving dinner. She's been weird towards me too, but she lets me rest my hand on her knee under the table, and I take that as a good sign.
Kate offers me a grim smile when I offer to help with the dishes, and the two of us carry them to the kitchen together. I wait for her to initiate conversation, but she doesn't. We set up a silent cleanup system: I wash, she dries.
Once the very last plate is spotless and dry, Kate surprises me by wrapping her arms firmly around my waist and burying her face in my chest.
Well I guess she isn't mad at me.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I murmur softly. Kate just shakes her head against my chest, holding me tighter. I reciprocate, tightening my arms around her and swaying her back and forth.
"Can we leave tomorrow?" She whispers.
"Of course we can. Yeah. Of course. Are you okay?" She nods, but she is trying to conceal the tears in her eyes when she pulls away from me.
...
Thanksgiving at the Williams household is not much of an event. I find myself almost longing for the warm interior of my parents' home, despite the recent tension between us. Kate's aunts do both get roaring drunk, and her cousin Britt ends up hauling their drunk asses to bed.
It is barely past nine o'clock, but everyone else retires to their rooms and I am left alone on the couch. Despite Kate's nightmares, I haven't been allowed to sleep in the same bed as her. Honestly, it feels like we're kids at camp or some shit; you'd think they were required by law to keep us a certain distance from each other while we sleep. If only they knew that I practically live at Kate's apartment on normal days.
I adjust the lighting in the living room, turning everything off except for the lamp next to the couch. The second I pull the blanket back from the couch, the dog comes running into the room and jumps up on it. I swear she just sits around and waits for people to sit on the couch, just so that she can get there first. It's happened every night, but I don't have the heart to move her.
"Hey Ellie," I laugh, scratching behind her ears. "Did you have a good Thanksgiving?" She lets out a little whine and I laugh again. "Me too. It's a little weird here." Ellie's tongue lolls out of her mouth and she rolls onto her back, prompting me to rub her belly. "It's not so bad I guess," I muse. "They don't like me, though. But I guess I can't blame them."
"Don't worry about them." The voice sounds from the dark shadows of the kitchen and I nearly jump out of my skin. The light flickers on and I see Britt standing there, dressed in a large night shirt and shorts. She must be freezing. "Sorry," she says with an apologetic smile. "I forgot you were up here. It's a hazard of a full house."
"Oh... I- it's fine." This is awkward.
Britt sits down on the couch opposite me, which is thankfully almost all the way across the room. Okay... now this is even more awkward.
"Michael, I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but if you do... I'm a better listener than the dog." She gives me a kind smile.
"Um. Talk about what?" I stutter.
"Well anything, really. Raymond, I'm sure. I mean, Kate's dad," she corrects herself. "Listen. He just wants what's best for Kate, he always has. The problem is, he's never known what's best for her. Kate has always known what's best for herself, and if she chose you, then you're the answer. Don't worry about Ray. He'll come around."
