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I
shake my head. “No, and it can’t be Jax, he never uses a doorbell. I’ll be
right back.”

I
leave Brooke working in the kitchen and walk to my front door. When I open it,
Alex and Trevor are standing there with shit-eating grins and a bottle of wine.
I grit my teeth and try to grab a hold of my patience. 
Must be a good host
or Brooke will kick my ass.
Alex hands me a bottle of wine, “Hi, Dylan.
Thanks for having us.” Her sweet and innocent greeting doesn’t fool me at all.

I
stand there a little stunned, “No problem. You guys are a little early,
though.”

Alex
smiles big, “Oh, I know.” She points to her brother, “We were hanging out with
Jax last night, and he suggested we come earlier so you guys can watch football
and drink beer while I help Brooke in the kitchen.”

That
motherfucker. I’m seriously going to kick his ass as soon as he shows up.
So
much for hanging with Brooke and relaxing all day.
Brooke walks in and
looks as confused, and dare I say, disappointed as I do.  “What are you guys
doing here?”

Alex
looks over at her from the front porch, “Freezing our asses off.  You think we
could maybe come in?”

“No,”
I say at the same time that Brooke says, “Of course.”

She
wins.

I
step back and motion for them both to come in, and I close the door, a little
too hard, but they’re crashing our time.  I turn to Brooke to explain, “Jax
invited them to come over early. Isn’t that nice of him?” 

“Uh,
yeah? I guess it is.”

Alex
walks over to Brooke, “Yeah, we are letting Dylan off the hook from having to
spend all day in the kitchen. And I brought wine.”
Like that makes
everything better.

Trevor
takes his coat off and hands it over to me, “Where should I put this?” I know
my face is anything but friendly. I’m pissed off at my time alone with Brooke
being blown the fuck up, but I try my best to hide it and take his coat.

Alex
shrugs out of hers before handing it to me then grabs Brooke’s hand and heads
toward the kitchen. “Let’s go Brooke
.
”

I
take their coats and put them in my room.  When I come back a few seconds
later, Trevor has already made himself comfortable on the couch. Alex and
Brooke are standing in the kitchen.  I decide to go in there to reclaim my spot
as her assistant chef.  “You know, I don’t mind helping in the kitchen.”

Brooke
smiles at me, and Alex shakes her head, “No, you don’t have to. I know how
crazy Brooke can get when she is making a huge feast. Trust me, you’re safer
out there.”

“We
were managing fine before you two showed, so I’m sure I’ll be okay,” I argue.

Trevor
calls from the couch, “Yeah, no shit. Brooke gets insane.”

I
grit my teeth; I hate that he’s known her for years. “Like I said, we were
doing fine.”

Alex
laughs, “I’m sure you were, but trust me the closer to dinner it gets the
scarier this girl gets. Besides you guys can just chill and watch the game. Is
Jax not here yet?”

I
shake my head, “Nope; he’s not.” It pisses me off that the three of them have
devised a fucking plan to keep us apart. 

And
speak of the devil.

Jackson
walks in the back door with a huge fucking grin on his face, “Hey, you guys
made it!”

Alex
gives him a sultry smile, “Of course, we wouldn’t miss it.”

Jax
walks over to Trevor on the couch, and they bump fist like old friends.  Then
he turns to me, “So are you gonna join us or what?”

I
clear my throat and glare at the cocky asshole. He’s definitely proud of
himself, “I was helping Brooke in the kitchen.”

He
nods to Alex, “Yeah, well Alex is relieving you of that duty. So quit being a
pussy and join the men. And grab us some beer.”

My
body stiffens, I can’t believe this shit. I look at Brooke, who’s glaring at
Alex with her forehead all scrunched up, and her lips tightly closed like she’s
holding back whatever it is she wants to say.  She turns and meets my gaze.
“They are kind of right,” She says in resignation.  “You guys have fun.”  She
sounds like a kid whose toy has been taken away.  Good, she’s not happy either.
Alex looks satisfied and takes a seat at the kitchen table.

I
pull Brooke aside and keep my voice quiet, “You know what they are doing
right?”

She
nods, “Yes, of course, and they know we know. It’s obvious and ridiculous, but
let’s just do what they want. It’s Thanksgiving, and we don’t need any drama.”

I
lean closer, “I
was
having a good time.”

“So
was I, but I’m sure you’ll have fun with the guys too.” She pats my chest with
her small hand. “Try to have fun at least.”

She
turns back to the pie she was working on, and I sit down in the living room far
away from Jax because seriously I don’t trust myself to be anywhere near him
right now without kicking his ass.  I sit there and glare while he flips
through channels before landing on the pre-game report again.  Luke joins us
and looks happy to see Trevor. “Hey, man, I didn’t know you would be here this
early.”

I
grumble, “Yeah, Jax was nice enough to invite him and his sister Alex to watch
football before dinner.”

Luke
sits down, “Cool.”

I
stand up, “I’m gonna go, uh, get a beer.”

Jackson
jumps up, “I’ll go with ya.” He turns to Trevor, “Want another one?”

He
nods, “Yeah, thanks.”

Great,
I can’t even go into this kitchen alone. This is getting fucking crazy. The way
we’re drinking could turn this day into a Jerry Springer Thanksgiving Special. 
We head into the kitchen where Alex is sitting at the table drinking a glass of
wine and playing with her phone while Brooke is scowling at the stove.  I
approach her, “Are you sure you don’t need any help?”

She
shakes her head and sighs, “No, I’m okay. Alex is giving me emotional support
like always.” She says sarcastically.

Alex
laughs, “This is how we’ve always done it.”

Then
it’s time to change shit up.

“So
you don’t cook then?”

She
shakes her head, “Hell no, but Brooke’s the best, and we talk and gossip while
she cooks. It’s a great system.” That’s bullshit.  Besides, our system was a
lot better.

I
don’t push it. Jax grabs a few beers and hands me chips and dip.  With one last
look at Brooke, I follow him back to the living room where Trevor and Luke are
talking about his band.

Luke
looks like he is hanging on every fucking word which pisses me off. Great now
I’m jealous of this guy for another reason.
Who the hell have I become?

Jax
hands Trevor his beer and then sits down.  Finally, I join them and ignore them
while they talk.  I wonder what Brooke and Alex are talking about in the
kitchen. My mind snaps back to the conversation in the living room when I hear
Brooke’s name come out of Jax’s mouth, “So Brooke is crazy in the kitchen,
anywhere else she gets crazy?”

Jax’s
eyebrows wag at him implying a sexual innuendo, and I know he’s doing it to
piss me off. Trevor laughs, “Oh, man, the stories I could fucking tell you
about Brooke Porter.”

I
glare over at him, “But you won’t, right? I mean she’s got to be like a little
sister to you, and guys don’t talk shit like that about their sisters.”

He
laughs, “Well, I don’t know if I would say she’s like my sister.  A very
special friend is more like it.  We have known each other a very long time, and
she practically lived at my house.”

I
am seriously going to break my foot off in his ass in about three seconds. 
“Right, but she’s your little sister’s best friend, and she told me she thinks
of you like a brother.”

He
laughs again, like that is the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. “Yeah,
we’re close.  We’ve shared
a lot
over the years. It took no time to get
used to sharing space with her again.”

“Yeah,
she mentioned how you like to invade her space and mess shit up.”

“Yeah,
well, her apartment is small, and there are only two bedrooms and one bathroom,
and I’m not sharing with my sister.  And you know how giving Brooke can be.”

I
don’t like what he’s insinuating, and I am about to say something else when the
rest of the kids walk into the living room. They all greet Jax and Trevor.
Michael sits between them on the couch, and Trevor ruffles his hair, “Well if
it isn’t the spelling bee champ, himself!”

Michael
looks bashful, “I’m not the champ.”

“Second
place is pretty awesome little man. Be proud.”

He
grins, this fucker is winning over all my siblings and my best friend, not to
mention the fact that he gets to share space with Brooke. Not a great feeling.

Cassie
looks over at me, “Where’s Brooke?”

“In
the kitchen with her friend, Alex.”

She
grins from ear to ear, “Yay!” Then she bounces off to the kitchen.

Gabby
sits on the floor playing with Toby, and we all settle in to watch the first
game of the day.  I sip my beer. This is going to be a long fucking day and not
at all how I had planned it.

 Brooke

I look around the kitchen at everything I've prepared for the
Thanksgiving Feast. I don't think I'm missing anything. Cassie and Michael have
already set the table for me. Now I just have to take everything over to it and
then change.

Alex looks around, "Damn, Brooke! You have outdone
yourself."

I smile, "I hope this can compare somewhat to their mother's
holiday dinners."

She gives my shoulder a quick squeeze, "It's going to blow
them away. I’m going to go tell everyone to wash up.”

I smile as she leaves the kitchen. I’m quite proud of the meal
I’ve prepared and think how fun it would have been if Dylan hadn’t been forced
out. I’m still upset about that, but I’m not going to let it spoil the day.

As if he read my mind, he walks in and casually surveys the room. He
has recently showered and changed into dark, worn jeans and a sexy black button-down
shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.
Damn, is there any look on
this man that isn't sexy?
  "Wow," He says looking at all the
dishes.

I look at him nervously, "Is that a good wow?"

He walks closer, "Yeah. This is incredible, Brooke."

I grin proudly; he looks impressed. "Well, good, everything
is finished so if you want to get the turkey out for me we can start moving the
food to the table."

"No problem. And I'm sorry I couldn't help you with
everything. Sitting in there while you did all the work wasn’t my plan.”

Yeah, that sucked. No doubt a scheme cooked up by Alex to keep us
from spending alone time together. I should have known she would do something
like that. "It’s okay.  I’m glad I could do this. And I hope you had fun
with the guys.”

He shrugs and gives me a minimal answer, "It’s not okay,
Brooke.  I should have been in here.”

I smile kindly at him and then remember I still need to change my
clothes before dinner, “Is it alright if I change in your room?"

He grins devilishly over at me, "Of course. Need any help?”

Oh, yes, my body screams, but my brain wins. “Not this time.  I’ll
be right back.” I tease.

I walk into his simply decorated bedroom and can't help myself. I
look around a little. Okay, I snoop. His king size bed is made perfectly with a
black comforter and black with gray pillow cases. It’s extremely clean and
smells like him. He has a four drawer oak dresser with nothing on top of it. A
fairly large flat screen is fastened to the wall. Two end tables that match his
dresser sit on either side of the bed.

Opening drawers would be wrong, so there’s no way I will do that.
But I do notice the two pictures on top of it next to the alarm clock. The
first one is a family picture, The Monroes. Gabby is a tiny baby in the picture,
so it has to be about six years old making Dylan around 20. He looks younger, a
little less hard than he does now, but still a total badass.  They look like a happy,
carefree family.  I put that picture down and then pick up the other one. It's
only wallet size and slightly worn like that is where it’s kept. It's a very
pretty young woman who is obviously Dylan's biological mother. The resemblance
is strong. He never mentions her, and although I have wanted to bring it up,
something tells me not to.

I put the picture down and quickly change into my dark purple
dress with long lace sleeves. It's slightly sexy, but still kid-appropriate. It
goes down past my knees. I take the tie out of my hair and brush it a little
with my fingers. Okay, simple Thanksgiving dinner. Here it goes.

I walk back into the kitchen and see Dylan has just put the last
dish on the table. "Where's Alex?"

He nods his head toward the living room, "Flirting with Jax.
You look amazing, Brooke."

I smile and smooth down my dress in the front. "Thank you.
Should we call them all in?"

"Sure."

We go into the living room and invite everyone to join us in the
dining room. We all take our seats, Dylan, and Jax at the heads of the table.
Alex sits next to Jackson at one end and signals for me to sit next to her but
I move toward Cassie and sit just to the right of Dylan.

I put on a triumphant smile and meet Alex’s scowling face. “I’m
going to sit beside Cass.”

She continues to scowl at me but can't say anything. I’m subtly
letting her know that she can’t call all the shots. I take my seat and meet
Dylan’s smug face.

We are all about to dig in when Gabby starts crying. She's on the
other side of Cassie, so I get up and kneel beside her chair.  "Sweetie,
what's wrong?"

She just shakes her head, still crying then gets up heading to her
room.  I look to Dylan, who is already out of his seat and going after her. I
look at Cassie, "Do you have any idea what happened?"

Cassie looks at the table, "No, everything looks
perfect." She snaps her fingers, "That's it!"

I wait for her answer, and I can feel all eyes on us at that
moment. She turns to Luke, "What was it that mom used to make for Gabby, especially?"

A slow grin spreads across Luke's face, "Oh yeah, I totally
forgot." He looks at me, "Gabby hates pie, so my mom always made her
this fruit and Jell-O thing that Gabby loves."

Michaels pipes in, "Oh yeah, Gabby's Spectacular Gelatin
Dessert."

I look over the large table; there are two pumpkin pies and one
apple pie for dessert, but that was all I made. Damn, I wish I would have known
about this before. I look at Cassie, "Any chance there is a recipe?"

She nods and gets up to walk with me into the kitchen. She grabs
an old cookbook, "I brought this with me when we moved. It was my
mom's."

I smile as she flips through it until she stops at a hand written
recipe with "Gabby's Spectacular Gelatin Dessert" at the top. I skim
the ingredients making note that we have the fruit and other ingredients in the
kitchen. “Okay, you can eat."

She shakes her head, "No, I want to help.”

I smile at her, "Okay, I'll be right back. I’m going to tell
Dylan the plan. Can you gather all of the ingredients?"

She gets to work, and I go down the hall where Dylan is standing
outside the door to Gabby’s room. His head is leaning against the wall, and he
looks up when he hears me, "She locked the door. Maybe I need to take the
locks off of these damn doors."

I move to him and slip my arm around him. "We think it's the
dessert."

He turns to me with his brow creased, "What?"

"Apparently Gabby hates pie and Sylvia used to make a special
dessert just for her. Don't worry I'm on it."

"You really think that's what’s wrong?"

I give him a hopeful look.  "No of course not, but looking at
the desserts seems to have triggered her getting upset. And if it will help
her, then I’m going to make it for her. She's six that is probably a very
prominent memory of her mother."

I knock softly on the door, "Gabby, I'm so sorry I didn’t
know, but we are making something very special for you.
I will bring you a plate of food and leave it outside the door. I
know you want to be alone right now, and I understand that. If you feel like company,
please let us know, if not I will bring you dessert soon."

There is no answer which is what I expected. We go back to the
dining room where no one has started eating.  I tell Dylan to carve the turkey
and for everyone to begin eating.  Then I head back to the kitchen to begin
helping Cassie. After getting everything for the dessert ready for the icebox
to start chilling we go back to the table where everyone is eating quietly.

Before I sit down, I prepare a plate for Gabby.  Knowing it’s safe
from Toby I place it on the floor outside her room and knock. “Gabby, I have a
plate of food out here for you.  Your dessert will be ready when you finish
eating. Or if you want you can come back to the table.”  I get no answer, so I
return to the dining room. I prepare my plate and begin eating.

Michael looks unsure over at Dylan, "We are gonna eat without
Gabby?"

He nods, "Yeah, she has her plate. I think she needs some
space."

Everyone eats quietly for a few minutes, and it is Trevor who
finally breaks the silence, "Wow, Brooke this is so good. You've done it
again."

Alex agrees, "I swear your cooking skills just keep
improving."

Cassie looks in their direction, "You guys have known Brooke
for a long time, huh?"

They both nod their heads. And Cassie prods further, "How
long have you guys been spending Thanksgiving together?"

Alex looks like she is counting in her head, "Geez, how long
has it been? Fifteen years?"

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long. "Yeah, we met at
the beginning of fourth grade when they moved across the street from my
grandmother and me. Alex and I became inseparable, and we all spent
Thanksgiving together that year.  It became a tradition every year after that.”

Michael’s eyes grow wide, "You guys have had Thanksgiving
dinner together for that long?"

I laugh, "Well, yeah.  Christmas too. We were just like a big
family. Alex and Trevor called my grandma, grandma, and her parents are like my
parents, and I call them mom and dad.”

Trevor chuckles in his seat, "I remember shy little Brooke
well. You hardly said a word whenever I was around.”

Cassie laughs, "You were shy?"

Alex takes a sip of wine and addresses Cassie, "Oh yeah, she
was. And if you think she's tiny now you should have seen her then. Scrawny and
flat as a board."

I don't look over at Dylan, but my face is on fire. I'm going to
kill them, and if I could reach them with my legs, I would sure as hell kick
them both in the shins.

Alex’s comment gets laughs from all three of the kids present at
the table, and then Alex continues. I might have to take away her wine.
"Sorry, but then she turned 13 and got boobs.  It wasn’t long after that
she became a total badass."

Trevor laughs, "That's for damn sure. You definitely turned
into a wild child."

Jax zones in on me, "Oh yeah? You were wild?"

If Trevor mentions anything about our night together, I swear I
will kill him. Before I can say a word, Dylan interjects, "Okay, seriously
we don't all need to gang up on Brooke here. We all have things in our past
that I'm sure we'd like to change.” He turns to me, "Just ask Jax about
the tattoo on the back of his right shoulder."

He grins over at me and ignores Jackson flipping him off from the
other end of the table. I laugh, "Well great, now I want to know what it
is."

Jax shakes him, "You better not, man."

Dylan laughs, "Damn, I can't, but it's good."

Alex gives Jax her best flirty smile. 'Will you show it to me,
Jackson?"

He winks at her, "Maybe sometime, sweetheart."

We all laugh, and it's a nice break from the event at the
beginning of dinner although I can't get Gabby out of my head. I watch the
clock waiting for the one hour to be up for her dessert.

Everyone finishes dinner, and I stand and start clearing the
table. Trevor also stands, "I'll help ya with that Brooke."

Dylan stands too, "No, that's okay. I'll help her, you go
ahead and grab dessert with everyone else."

Trevor continues to gather plates, "Nope, you eat.  Brooke
and I have done this before.  I’ve been eating your food and drinking your beer
all day, so I should do this.”

Dylan also continues to help clear the table and heads to the
kitchen sink.  Trevor and I arrive right behind him. Dylan places his hand on
the middle of my back, sending a tingle down my spine. "Brooke, you’ve
done enough work today. Just keep me company while I clean up.”

I see Trevor’s eyes on Dylan's hand, "You're welcome, thank
you for letting me use this incredible kitchen."

Trevor walks closer to us, and Dylan very slowly removes his hand,
"This is an amazing kitchen, Dylan. It's not what I would picture a guy
like you having."

I notice Dylan's body tense. Uh oh. "A guy like me? What do
you mean by that exactly?"

Trevor doesn't pull back, although he probably should, "I
mean it's all domestic and shit.  Just seems fancy."

"Yeah well it came with the house."

"Yeah, it matches the house. I mean I just don’t see someone
like you being all domesticated in a house like this. I like traveling too much
and would hate settling down.”

"Yeah, well you can't do that when you are raising four kids.
I had to settle down, so I bought the big fancy house."

Trevor is just being an ass now, "Man, I couldn't settle like
that. It's admirable of you, but how long before you get bored with your life
in the burbs. Course, if I were you, I’d find me a little hottie to help raise
them.”

They have both
inched dangerously
close to each other during this little pissing match, and I'm just praying this
doesn't turn into an all-out brawl. Dylan grits his teeth, "Yeah I'm sure
you would, so does that mean you're about ready to stop leeching off of Brooke
and your sister and move to your next stop."