for, liar

Chapter 76

"What is he doing here?" Miles says through gritted teeth.

If this gets physical, I'm burying myself alive in the backyard.

"My dad invited them." I answer.

He hasn't taken his eyes off Ben. His face is the same red as the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Seeing him this angry is horrifying.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Hart." Ben scoffs, tauntingly patting his shoulder as he walks past us to the dining room.

Miles goes to turn but I pull him back towards me by his sleeves. "Miles." I say sternly.

He huffs and lowers his head so his eyes can meet mine.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know they were going to be here. I definitely wouldn't have even come if I knew. I'm going to talk to my dad about it as soon as I can."

"When? After the meal? So I have to sit around a table and endure a couple of hours with my girlfriends ex who just broke my fucking nose a month ago?"

I cover his mouth to hush him. I really can't risk any of my family's nosy asses eavesdropping on us.

"I know, I'm sorry. It won't be that bad. We'll sit far away from him and ignore everything he says. It's okay." I whisper.

"Bree and Miles! We're waiting for y'all!" Dad yells from the dining room.

I take a deep breath and nod. "Let's get this over with. Mom's dinner will be much better, I promise."

I shouldn't be making promises I can't keep. Who knows how tonight is going to go.

I drag Miles by his arm across the living room to the dining room. They extended the already large dinner table out for everyone. Dad, Lily, Mandy, my grandparents, and Ben and his parents have already taken their seats. There's only two seats left open.

"Take a seat you two. I'm starving!" Dad exclaims.

I bite the tip of my tongue and sit down next to Ben, for it being the only available seat left that Miles can't be in or he'll tackle him in the stuffing.

"Now join hands." He says.

What the fuck is he doing?

I huff under my breath and put my hands out on both sides of me. Miles and Ben grab them intensely. My dad smiles and closes his eyes for prayer. Before he can even finish, I yank my hand away from Ben who side-eyes me and sighs.

The first fifteen minutes are awkward silence of everyone digging food out onto their plates. I try not to get too much food because I want to save room for whatever my mom is preparing. Miles has the same idea and leaves a lot of room on his plate.

"Shall we go around and say what we're thankful for this year?" Dad asks.

I would rather not.

"That's a lovely idea, George." Lily says, with a wide smile.

This is so stupid. I wish I could tell him how stupid this was.

"Okay, great. I'll start. I'm thankful that my family is here together, as well as my friends, and on my new promotion."

I didn't know he had gotten a promotion. I haven't spoken to him in a while. I feel guilty for not knowing.

Lily squeezes his shoulder and takes her turn. "I'm thankful for my wonderful family and although my parents are gone now and can't be with us, I still feel their presence. I'm also thankful I didn't manage to screw up this lunch!"

Is she making fun of Natalie or is she actually thankful? I wouldn't put it past her to throw a few jabs at my dad's old college friends.

My grandparents basically give the same thanks about family and the grace of God and all that fun stuff. Mandy gives thanks for her kids and her ex husband finally being cooperative over their shared custody. Natalie says she's thankful for the invitation since her lunch didn't go as planned and Derek says he's thankful for food with actual flavor but swears he was joking when Natalie slaps his arm.

"I'm thankful for a lot of things." Ben begins.

I take a bite of ham and keep my focus away from him. I can feel Miles' eyes on me again.

"I'm thankful for my job and my new car since the other one got totaled. I'm thankful that I finally got to go to the state fair." He grins and I can't tell if that was supposed to be a jab at me. "I'm thankful for the rough patches too. They made me who I am today and I wouldn't change a thing."

How lovely.

"That's very nice, Ben. Bree?" Dad says.

I lift my head up and set my fork down. I hate this tradition more than anything. "I feel the same way as everyone else. Family, friends, pasts, and most importantly...what is yet to come. I know it'll be great."

He looks pleased enough and nods his head towards Miles who is the last to go. He is visibly uncomfortable from having to speak in front of everyone.

"I'm thankful to be here with someone who has been very important to me for six months now. I'm thankful for everything, honestly. More than I can put into words."

I look at him and he's still staring right at me. I flash him a smile that he returns and dad thanks everybody for participating.

The food makes up for the excruciating tension that lingered in the room. I was impressed that everything turned out the way it did. As much as I can't stand Lily, she did a hell of a job.

"Man, the snow is really coming down out there." Derek points out as we're cleaning off the table after dinner.

"Oh, wow. That looks heavy. Did the weatherman call for all of this snow?" Dad asks and walks over to the living room.

He picks up the remote and turns on the weather channel. Sure enough, there's big ass lettering across the screen announcing some fucking snowstorm in our area.

"It can't be that bad." I say, making my way over to the door.

I open it up and a huge gust of wind practically knocks me off my feet. It's coming down too hard to see anything. I push the door shut and lean against it.

"Okay, well that's not good." I mutter.

"Look, I know you want to get to your moms but that is not safe to drive in. You're going to have to wait until it calms down a bit." Dad tells me.

Miles bites down on his lip and takes a seat on the couch. Ben and his father have already turned on football and are watching it with my grandfather.

"She's going to be pissed if I don't make it there." I argue.

"You're not driving in that. End of story."

Revised;