Thanksgiving #2
“My turn,” Ari said. “Can I copy my dad? I’m thankful for you being with us, Emy. You’re my best friend and one of my favorite people in the universe, and I’m so glad you came to live with us.”
“Aw, Ari.” I almost teared up at her heartfelt words.
“Okay, I’m gonna go next. I’m thankful for every single person at this table.
You guys all mean a lot to me, and I dunno what I’d do without you.
Thank you for letting me come live with you, Uncle Tom.
And thank you Ari for being my best friend and always putting up with me.
Thanks Sean for being a great friend and always looking out for us, and thank you Aunt Helen for taking me in for as long as you did.
And Dennis,” I turned to him, trying to find words without getting sentimental, “thanks. For everything. You’re the best bind I could’ve asked for.
I mean, I never asked for one, but now I can’t imagine things without you.
” I smiled at his expression. I could tell he wasn’t expecting that at all. “You wanna go next?” I asked him.
“Sure.” He thought for a moment. “Thank you all for letting me join you today. I don’t have a family, so this is nice.”
“Of course.” Uncle Tom smiled at him. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I’ll go,” Sean offered after a few seconds of silence. “I do have a family, but I don’t really get along with them. So thank you all for letting me join, too. I really appreciate it. And thanks Ari for putting up with how annoying I can be.”
“You are annoying,” Ari agreed. He chuckled as Aunt Helen cleared her throat.
“Okay. Disclaimer,” Aunt Helen started, “I’m gonna get emotional, so here goes.
First, I’ll say thank you, Tommy, for being such a great brother when things got so hard for the longest time.
Thank you for looking out for Emy when I couldn’t.
Or chose not to.” Her eyes cast down as her voice began to quiver.
“Ari, thank you for being the wonderful niece that you are. And Emy, thank you for still loving me even though I chose not to help you for so long. It broke my heart yesterday when you thought I wouldn’t miss you or didn’t want you anymore.
You’re always wanted and you always have been.
I’m sorry. Thank you for not hating me.”
“Aunt Helen,” I got up as she started to quietly cry, “why’re you crying?” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her cheek. “I love you. Don’t apologize, it’s okay. You were trying to help my mom.”
“Thank you, Emy.” She kissed my cheek and smiled. She wiped her tears as I returned to my seat. “Sorry everyone. I had to get that off my chest. Anyway, who’s ready to eat?”
“I am!” I took the first bite of the table, followed by a sip of delicious blood.
Everyone followed suit and we all fell into a comfortable silence, only broken every couple of minutes by someone saying how scrumptious the food was. And then Aunt Helen’s phone began to ring. She picked it up and stared at the screen.
“Who is it?” Uncle Tom asked.
“Debbie.”
My stomach twisted into a knot. Was she serious?
“Who’s Debbie?” Sean whispered to Ari.
“Emy’s mom,” she responded quietly.
Dennis heard, too. He shot me a worried glance as Aunt Helen answered the phone.
“Hello?” She waited a few seconds. “I’m good,” she said, her voice somewhat cold. “How’re you?” Several more seconds. A lot of seconds. And then she lowered the phone. “She wants to talk to you,” she told me.
“I don’t want to.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded.
“You haven’t talked to her in four years,” Ari said gently. “Are you sure you don’t want to?” She was right: my mom had called the day of my high school graduation, and that was the last time I’d spoken to her. Needless to say, it hadn’t gone well.
“I don’t wanna talk.”
“Okay.” Aunt Helen put the phone back to her ear. “Debbie? Yeah, she—”
“I changed my mind.” I hopped up in a rush. “I wanna talk to her.” Everyone was watching me worriedly, but I reached for Aunt Helen’s phone regardless. She handed it over and I left the room to sit on the couch. “Hello?”
“Emery.” My mom’s slurred voice came through the phone. She was drunk. “How are you, sweetie?”
“I’m good,” I said carefully. “How’re you, mom? Are you doing okay?”
“Yeah, no, I’m good. I need your phone number. I’m tired of having to go through Helen to talk to you. Can I have your number, sweetie? I wanna get back in contact with you. We should build a relationship.”
“You don’t want that,” I said. I already knew she didn’t mean it.
“Of course I do. Let’s become close like we used to be. Back when I liked you.”
“You don’t want that,” I repeated. “What’re you calling for?”
“To talk to you.” Her voice was growing irritated. “I want your number so I can call you whenever I want.”
“Mom, you’re drunk.”
“No.”
“I can tell when you’re lying and I can tell when you’re drunk. You’re drunk.” I wasn’t trying to have a confrontation, but the damage was done.
“You know what, you little bitch? Yeah, fine. I’m drunk,” her voice rose significantly, “and I take it back, I don’t wanna talk to you.
I don’t want anything to do with you. I miss you every once in a while, you know that?
But then I talk to you and remember you don’t deserve a mom because you’ve always been an ungrateful brat who got Ray locked up and turned Tommy against me. You made my own brother hate me—”
“I didn’t do anything to make him hate you.”
“You’re the reason Ray is in jail,” she slurred. “Yeah, that’s you. That’s all you,” her voice was cruel and singsong. “We had to move so much because of you, you little fucking snitch—”
“No, we always moved because of you, remember? You being an abusive”—I caught myself before a word I’d regret—“woman,” I forced a different word out, “who neglected me to the point where people noticed—”
“Not sure why I called you. Sometimes I forget I never wanted you. But I always remember when I hear your voice.” She laughed as I fought back tears. “Thanks for reminding me. I guess you are good for something, huh? I can never—”
I hung up and dropped the phone, then stood and went back to the table. “I’m all done,” I said nonchalantly.
“Are you okay?” Aunt Helen asked.
“Mhm,” my voice broke. I picked up my fork to continue eating but my eyes blurred over. I dropped my fork and left the room as I started to cry.
“I’ll be back.” Ari’s footsteps followed mine.
“It’s Thanksgiving. I can’t do this today.” I plopped on the couch, covering my mouth to quiet the flow of tears.
“It’s not your fault.” Ari sat beside me on the couch, rubbing my back in circles.
“She has issues, you know that. You can’t put that on yourself.
” I was shaking my head while she talked.
“Look at me.” She grabbed my cheeks. I did my best not to while she wrestled my head.
And then we both started laughing. “There’s nothing wrong with you, okay?
I’m sorry I talked you into answering. I should’ve known it was a bad idea.
Your parents are pieces of shit, but that has nothing to do with you.
They don’t matter. Don’t let anything that woman says get to you.
You’re an amazing person and everyone who matters loves you. ”
“You think?” I asked. I could hear Sean talking with Aunt Helen and Uncle Tom in the other room, but Dennis was silent. I glanced in their direction but Ari turned my face to back hers.
“Don’t worry. I’m pretty sure he adores you by now,” she said. “Don’t let this ruin your day. Promise?” She held a pinky out and I reluctantly took it.
We each kissed the other end. I finally smiled and wiped my cheeks. She took Aunt Helen’s phone in one hand and my hand in the other, then led the way back to the dining room. She gave the phone to its rightful owner and sat beside Sean.
“Is everything okay?” Uncle Tom asked.
I nodded and went back to my delicious meal. Soon, the conversation with my mom was mostly forgotten. Everyone ate and talked—mostly Aunt Helen and Uncle Tom because they were extremely loud and talkative together—until the food was nearly gone.
“Dessert.” I set my utensils down. “Where’s dessert? I want dessert.”
“First, I have presents for you girls. Sorry I didn’t get you guys anything,” Aunt Helen told Dennis and Sean. “I didn’t know I’d have the honor of meeting my nieces’ binds so early.” She went to fetch the presents while Uncle Tom left to put pies in the oven.
“Why are you being so quiet today?” I asked Dennis. He shrugged.
“He gets shy around parents. And I guess aunts and uncles,” Sean said, causing Ari to giggle.
“Seriously? You get shy?” I broke out in a smile when he shrugged again. “I didn’t know you have normal emotions.” It was adorable.
“Okay,” Aunt Helen returned with both hands behind her back, “close your eyes and put your hands out.” I did as she said and a bundle of fabric was placed in my hands. “Open.”
Ari and I held up our gifts, then gasped in unison. Mine was a caped supervillain shirt and I was in love.
“I love it!” Ari squealed, marveling her new shirt.
“I love mine too! Thank you, thank you!”
We both hugged Aunt Helen, then traded to examine each other’s gifts. Hers was a magenta blouse that said ‘Do I love cetaceans? Dolphinitely!’ I cocked my head and thought so hard, but I couldn’t make sense of it.
“This is perfect for you,” Ari said, handing mine back.
“I don’t get yours.” I gave hers back, hoping she would explain.
“Cetaceans are a category of aquatic mammals that include dolphins. And it says dolphinitely instead of definitely.”
“I get it.” I laughed as it connected. That was pretty funny. “We have to change. I finally have a cape.”
I took off for the stairs with Ari on my heels. I changed into my caped shirt and black shorts to go with it. When I left my room Ari was still changing, so I ran to the stairs without her.