Home for the Holidays

Alison

Returning to the kitchen, I join Marie at the counter. A knife and cutting board wait for me. Picking up the celery, I get started. Without Dominick in the room, I know it won’t take long for them to start in on me. My sister leans against the counter and grabs a piece of celery, “New neighbor, huh?”

I ignore her as I continue cutting celery. My sister never has been good at taking the hint.

“He’s quite a hunk. I never understood what you saw in Ian.”

“Neither can I,” I reply while still refusing to look up. Something bounces off my head and I finally look up. Ginny arches an eyebrow at me, “Are you pouting?”

“No.” I pick up the celery she threw at me and throw it back at her. She knocks it out of the way and picks up another piece and throws it at me. I step aside so it misses me. Before I can grab more, my mother joins us, “Girls. Really? I think you’re too old to be throwing vegetables at each other.”

“She is pouting over that jackass while her hunk of a neighbor is in the other room. Someone needs to throw vegetables at her.”

“I’m not pouting over Ian. I just don’t want to talk about it, okay?”

“Fine. What’s the story with the neighbor?”

I want to ignore them and go back to the vegetables but notice everyone in the room is paying attention now. I sigh and decide to go with at least part of the truth, “He found me on the steps crying after I saw Ian. He was really sweet to me. Checked on me the next morning and we went to dinner last night. He is just a nice guy that was going to be alone for Thanksgiving.”

“She is lying through her teeth. Not that I blame her, you could bounce a quarter off that ass. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that?”

“Marie!” I pick up a piece of celery and toss it her way.

Female laughter echoes in the kitchen until my mother waves us back to our jobs, “Let’s get dinner ready. I want to eat on time.”

I pick up the knife and return to cutting up the celery. I hear mom sigh before she says, “How much do you like this guy?”

Figuring I won’t get anything more done until I answer her, I say, “So far, a lot. He is really nice, and we have many things in common.”

“You just broke up with Ian.”

“I know, Mom. We’re staying friends for now.”

She nods to me then points at the celery, “That won’t cut itself, you know.”

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I don’t reply and get to work on the celery.

“Oh, and Alison, behave yourself with that one. Men built like Dominick are the reason they came up with bible stories about temptation.”

As Marie drops her knife and laughs, I shake my head and keep cutting up the celery. As I keep working, a smile flits across my face. Temptation indeed.

Dominick

So far, I’m really liking Alison’s relatives. They’ve been kind, at least as kind as a group of men can be when on opposing sides of a football game. I groan as my team’s quarterback is sacked yet again.

“I think you’re backing the wrong pony there, boyo.”

Ignoring Jonathan, I cheer the next minute when my team gets a touchdown. I smile at Ally’s brother while saying, “Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!”

“Boys, boys…lots of game left,” Ed interjects from his laid-back position in his recliner before we can get a good argument going.

“Dinner is ready!”

Hearing the female voice calling from the other room, the TV is turned off to the groan of the rest of the occupants and Ed rises, “Come on boys, time to eat.”

As I stand, Ed eyes me, “You going to be able to keep up in those tight pants?”

I glance down at my dress pants, unsure what he means. “Keep up?”

Jonathan passes me while saying, “Ally should have warned you to wear something with an elastic waistline. Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Ed pats his round belly with one hand and yanks on his suspenders with the other, “How do you think I earned this? Hope you’re prepared.”

He leads the way and I follow them all out of the room while saying, “I still don’t get it.”

Andy takes pity on me, “I learned the hard way. You’re expected to eat a bit of everything put in front of you. Don’t take too much of any one thing, you’ll be eating for the rest of the day.”

“All day?”

“I gained five pounds last year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Took me months to lose it.”

“You’re kidding me?”

As we approach the dining room and I finally see the food-laden table, I hear Andy finish, “I wish. Pace yourself. This is just round one.”

Round one?

I stare at the table unable to believe my eyes. How much food do they think a group this size can eat? Every type of Thanksgiving food imaginable, and some that I would never associate with Thanksgiving, fill every available space not taken up by place settings. Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, gravy, three different vegetables, three fruit salads, and two types of stuffing. Also, ham, cranberries, some kind of cranberry relish, dinner rolls, two casseroles that I don’t know the contents of, and a homemade mac and cheese.

Alison approaches and takes my arm while whispering, “I heard Andy warn you about pacing. That’s good. Don’t stuff yourself. Also, my mom has this thing about assigned seating, at least she sat us together.”

She pushes me away from her while saying, “Look out.”

I glance up at the mistletoe as we pass it, and she takes my arm again and leads me around the table. As we reach our assigned seats, Ally whispers, “Sorry, but she also placed you next to Sophie.”

Oh shit.

The woman smiles at up at me as I pull Alison’s seat out for her. Once she is seated, I reluctantly sit down. Sophie reaches over to pat my hand and whispers, “Eat slowly.”

Maybe a loon, but not half bad. I whisper back, “Thanks for the warning. Andy filled me in too.”

I receive a wink, then the table falls silent as Ally’s mom stands next to Ed’s chair and calls for the meal prayer.

“Dear lord. We thank you for the love surrounding our table this day and for all the family here to enjoy it. We ask you, dear lord, to watch out for those no longer with us and thank you for the new friends joining us.”

I look up to find Nancy smiling at me as she finishes, “May he be successful in his endeavors.”

A smattering of laughter starts with the women but silences almost as fast under Nancy’s furious glare. I glance at Ally to find her cheeks a deep red as she stares intently at her plate. Interesting. Makes me wonder what was being discussed in the kitchen.

Nancy finishes the prayer with, “Amen. Thank you all for coming and spending the day with us.”

As she sits down next to Ed, the platters and bowls start to make their way around the table. Taking the hint from Andy and Sophie, I put a small amount of everything on my plate. At the end, I still end up with a plateful of food.

I glance at Ally’s plate and wonder how she managed not to end up with the same amount. Somehow, she only has half a plateful until I notice she barely put a bite’s worth of some things on it. I’ll have to pay more attention to her tactics.

Down at the other end, Ed’s plate is double mine, but I notice Nancy adding spoonfuls of everything to his. The look on his face tells me how much trouble he is in. I pick up my fork and start eating. Oh man, delicious! I glance across the table as Andy lifts his chin to me, takes a single bite, then lowers his fork to the plate and spends a long-time chewing. More tactics. I’m getting the feeling we will be sitting here for a long time. I slow down my eating and receive a nod from Andy.

The conversation begins around the table. Comments on school events, the football game we were watching earlier, and news events. No politics. Another differing theme than my family. More than one family dinner has turned into open warfare over that topic. I participate when called upon, otherwise concentrate on my meal, and listen to the other occupants of the table. A trick I learned from my job. You learn a lot more about people from listening than talking.

Thank God for Andy’s warning as thirty minutes later, I finish my last bite and lower my fork to the plate. I cringe as Nancy calls down from the top of the table, “Dominick, have you had enough? There is plenty more in the kitchen yet.”

It doesn’t take Ally’s pinching my leg for me to shake my head, I’m so full I feel like I could burst. “No, I’m good, thank you.”

Beside me, Sophie declares, “I think I need a bit more of those wonderful cranberries. So delicious.”

I pass along the bowl and turn my attention to Ally, “How do you do this and not gain ten pounds?”

“Some things I barely take enough to taste. We’re not done yet. There’s the dessert course, hors d’oeuvres as we play games, and then the late supper.”

“Late supper?”

“Yes, so take it easy on the rest.”

Sophie grabs my attention by holding the bowl of cranberries next to me, “Dominick, are you sure you don’t want a few more of these wonderful berries?”

I start to answer no, only to gasp when Sophie goes, “Oops,” and the bowl falls out of her hand and into my lap. It almost feels like an out-of-body experience as Ally exclaims in my ear, “Sophie!”

Laughter and exclamations erupt around the table. I ignore it all as I become repulsed when Sophie reaches in for the bowl only to have her hand slapped away. I’m more horrified by becoming utterly turned on as Ally’s fingers brush against me while picking up the bowl. Her dinner napkin covers my embarrassment a minute later until I realize she is using it to scoop up the cranberries.

What the hell? Is she trying to kill me?

Taking the napkin from her, I reply, “I’ve got it.”

I finish scooping the remaining berries out of my lap before any more fingers brush against me and cause me more embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry, Dom!”

Glancing to the side, I find Ally’s face as red as my lap. The question is, which part embarrassed her? Her clumsy aunt or digging berries out of my lap?

“Oh, you poor thing.”

Nancy approaches from the side, “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“I don’t think a rag is going to clean that up,” Sophie is kind enough to point out. Her eyes are dancing with merriment. I could strangle the woman. She glances away from me and to her sister-in-law, “We’ll have to throw his pants in the washing machine.”

“And what? Have him hang out with a towel around his waist for the rest of the day?” Jonathan feels the need to add. His laughing tone leaves me wanting to strangle him, too.

Nancy orders, “Alison, take Dominick upstairs and find him something to wear in the meantime. I think a pair of my yoga pants will fit him. Hurry along and bring those pants back to me before the stains set.”

Around the table there are far too many faces trying to smother laughter. How the hell am I going to live this one down? Robotically, I rise as Alison tugs on my hand. As she leads me out of the room, the howl of laughter behind us fills the hallway. Gritting my teeth, I follow Ally up a set of stairs to the second floor.