“Hey Uncle Slim,” I heard and I looked up to see a very pretty, dark, curly-to-frizzy haired girl who was dressed like she was at a costume party and she was a 60’s hippie (without headband or funky sunglasses but the rest… all there) come forward and give Brock a hug.

“She lives,” Brock teased, hugging her back and I scanned the room.

Those I knew were there including Elvira who was standing at the sink peeling potatoes liked she’d been to Thanksgiving at Brock’s Mom’s house every year since she was born.

Yes, I said Elvira.

Although it was me who “asked” her (in quotes because she mostly invited herself), I wasn’t entirely sure why she was there. I’d since had cosmos with her and the girls (twice) and she was not afraid of texting or phoning to tell you anything that was on her mind (frequently), I still didn’t know her very well. What I did know was that she was currently in some drama with her sister and they weren’t speaking, she detested (with a passion) her brother’s new “skanky ‘ho” of a girlfriend and, wisely (I thought) to escape this discord her parents had chosen Thanksgiving to vacation in Hawaii. Therefore, Elvira was at odds for a Thanksgiving meal and although she had tons of friends, she latched onto me.

I suspected undercover work for Martha but I knew what it was like to face a Thanksgiving alone and the lengths you’d go to avoid that so I’d let her make that play and, when I asked, Fern told me she felt the more the merrier.

Brock did not feel the same way and nonverbally let this be known (another time he looked at me like I was crazy) but he didn’t say word one.

Also in the room was a tall, blond man with light blue eyes who was smiling at me like a madman (my correct guess, Austin), a stocky, salt and pepper, close-cropped but obviously still frizzy-haired man (another correct guess, Fritz), a tall, dark-haired girl who was for some reason in late November wearing short-shorts and a thin drapey t-shirt over a camisole (and that reason might be because she was young, she was gorgeous, she had great legs and I was with her, if you had them, flaunt them) who had to be Kellie (Jill and Fritz’s youngest) and the girl hugging Brock who had to be Kalie. Lastly, a breathtakingly handsome man who, with his tall, lean, powerful, fit body, thick, dark hair but, strangely, since no one else had them, hazel eyes, had to be Levi and hovering visibly nervously at Levi’s side was a young woman (another correct guess, in her late twenties) with a fabulous figure, blonde hair in a pixie cut that suited her very pretty features and a carefully selected outfit that said she wanted to impress but not show off, Levi’s latest squeeze.

Jill introduced me to Fritz as Kellie went in for her snuggle with her uncle (and also got stick from him for “disappearing into thin air”, his words). Laura introduced me to Austin who smiled warmly at me while giving me an equally warm hand squeeze. Elvira muttered,

“Yo bitch,” at me to which everyone chuckled even though they all had just met her that day.

Then Levi came forward with his girl and I watched him as he did it.

Oh man.

Suffice it to say, one look at him I knew he trusted me a fair sight less than Cob did.

He clapped his brother’s arm while shaking his hand, kissed my cheek, stepped back and introduced his girl as Lenore before he launched in.

“Tess, been hearin’ a lot about you.”

“I’ll bet,” I replied.

“You been hearin’ a lot which makes me wonder why we haven’t seen you a lot,” Brock put in and Levi’s eyes went to his brother.

“Been busy,” he muttered.

“Not too busy to hear a lot about Tess,” Brock remarked and Levi decided to ignore that and he looked back at me.

“Got tight with Slim quick,” he noted.

“Levi,” Fern said in a warning tone.

“Oh boy,” Elvira said to the potatoes in an undertone.

“Not exactly,” Brock said in a rumbling tone and Levi looked back to his brother.

“Yeah, heard about that too.”

I tensed at Brock’s side; Brock felt it and his arm came around my shoulders.

“It’s Thanksgiving, I got my boys, I got my family and I got my woman. What I don’t wanna get is pissed off,” Brock said low and Levi held his eyes.

Standoff and I didn’t think this was good. Levi was questioning his brother’s judgment and it might be for protective reasons but Brock was the kind of man who wouldn’t appreciate that. Brock had also both said and demonstrated that he intended to protect me and a full frontal assault to test me within ten minutes of arriving for Thanksgiving, if Levi didn’t back down, was not going to go down well.

It was time to institute damage control and I did it by looking to Lenore who was studying Levi with both concern and bafflement.

I took her in and then said, “Lenore, I really like your boots.”

Her body jerked and her eyes came to me. Then she whispered, “Uh… thanks. I was, uh…” her eyes shifted to Levi then back to me, “thinking the same thing about yours. And that’s a really nice sweater.”

“I have a friend who works at Neiman’s,” I told her and now I did for with Elvira came Gwen, Tracy and Cam and Tracy was generous with her discount. My sweater cost a whack but, as all girls knew, I needed the perfect sweater for Thanksgiving dinner with Brock and his family so, like the nightie, I’d splurged. And, unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing I bought.

I really needed to sell more cupcakes.

“Employee discount,” Elvira muttered over her potatoes.

Lenore gave another searching glance to Levi then, to me, “Cool.”

I studied her and it hit me. She liked Levi like, a lot. He was with his family and she was just his latest piece. But to her, this was important. To her, this was meeting his family and she was reading this as a hopeful occasion when, with the way Levi was behaving with her, it was not. She was noting this and therefore understandably confused. And, with the way Levi was behaving, in the not-too-distant future, she was going to be heartbroken.

I looked back at Levi to see him opening his mouth to say something but Fern got there first.

“Men, out, you’re underfoot, you have no intention of helping and if you tried, you’d mess it up. Go turn on a TV somewhere. Take those crackers and cheeseball with you. And the bowls of nuts. And the chips and dip.”