Thanksgiving times

 

Deano was quite blue. Although, he couldn't let it show. After all, he was in the midst of stuffing a turkey for Thanksgiving while Caitlin was on the phone with LaLa. 

The fact was Deano couldn't get a hold of Roman and Deano's brother was out in Aspen on a business trip. For the first time, Deano felt like an orphan. Yet, he knew he had a lot to be happy about. They were at Caitlin's Dad's house and Rico just declared he was moving in. There was a lot to celebrate.

"LaLa's got COVID," Caitlin soon informed him. Something had happened at that dinner she went too. She was in the hospital. In spite of being vaccinated, it hit her hard. Caitlin said she could hardly talk and felt awful. "She's coughing up blood."

Deano only nodded and went to help Rico with the potatoes. Caitlin looked at him as if she should be doing something. He told her to open the cans of sweet yams. He tried his best to be in a good mood, but it was hard. It felt as if something was missing. Yes, Roman. 

Later, Mario showed up with Levi and it almost killed Deano. Levi was supposed to be with Roman. Deano got misty-eyed. And Caitlin looked just as sad.

"I wish Megan and Cori were here." She went to pour herself some white wine. She poured a glass for Deano too. He sighed as he took a sip wishing Thanksgivings were like they used to be. Only he really couldn't remember last year's at all. He thought he and Roman fried a turkey. Of course, they both got high and ended up just having burgers and fries from Sonic.

Oh, it was quaint. Megan had her grandparents here and of course, they made the turkey under her grandmother's supervision. She liked sausage in the stuffing. Naturally, Cyrus threw up the stuffing in his plate. You would have thought it was against his religion. 

"I'm sorry," Megan jumped up, trying to make things right. Pixie tended to him as if she might be his nanny but maybe his girlfriend too. They'd made an apple crisp to share. Of course, Megan's grandfather only liked pumpkin pie. 

Her grandparents drank a whole bottle of wine together and chatted about all their Thanksgivings with the folks they apparently knew from around the world.

"And what about you, Cori, what did your folks do?" Her grandmother asked.

"Um, you know, just the usual," He nodded with a smile, but Megan could see Cori didn't really want to talk about holidays. "We ate a lot of Ramen back then."

"Ramen? On Thanksgiving?"

"Well, we had to clean house and my mom didn't want us to mess up the place and she didn't want to cook anything until it was time." Cori shrugged.

"But you did have turkey?" Megan's grandmother looked at him as if she wanted that honest truth. Cori nodded. "And Stove Top, too," Cori added.

"Stove Top?" Now Cori hit a nerve with her grandmother.

It was a good thing to be alone, or so Bea thought she could sleep in on Thanksgiving. But Frankie showed up with a turkey dinner already prepared.

"You made this?" She was shocked to see the turkey sitting in stuffing in an aluminum pan. He brought lots of sides. Even homemade cranberry sauce. "What am I going to owe you this time?"

"Oh, I don't know." His sheepish grin made her laugh more. "A bottle of wine might be nice." 

She didn't have any. Just vodka. So she spiked an Arnold Palmer for him. She told him then about LaLa in the hospital. "And God knows where Roman went off too." She shrugged. Maybe it was better off not knowing.

"Why aren't you with Hope and her family?" She asked as she got the table set.

"I think they might just need a dinner for two," he told her. 

"Yes, that might be best with this sickness still hanging on." She thought small gatherings were best.

She put on a little jazz in the background and they did have a cozy dinner even if there wasn't a fireplace around. After all, it was November in the heartland and it definitely felt as if winter was on its way.

"Tori had a lot to say about you," he said as they were finishing up. "She thought you were a midwife."

Bea laughed softly. "Oh, I've been around plenty of birthing in my time. Long before I ever became a nurse."

"I would have never known that," he said.

"Well, you never asked." She shrugged as she went to put the dishes away and of course, he had to get out the pumpkin cheesecake.

"But I am now," he looked at her as if he was ready to listen.