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“Just checking out the world.” I tell him.
“Anything interesting happening out there?”
“Just that we probably need to get new rain gutters soon.” I look to him.
“I’ll look into it. Maybe someone will have some Black Friday sale or something tomorrow.”
“When are your parents getting here?” I ask.
“They’ll be here in about an hour.” He tells me.
I love his parents. When Denise and I lived together, they had ordered us a meal kit that would come to our house. After our first Thanksgiving together, they bought Dean and I, for Christmas, cooking classes for six weeks. I’m assuming poking fun at Dean, but we really learned a lot from the classes.
We took last year off of Thanksgiving and went to his parents’ house, but this year we are attempting to give hosting the holiday another go. Dean woke me up in what felt like the middle of the night when he prepped the turkey and put it in the oven. All so, I could see that he took out the bag of gizzards this time.
Everyone arrives at the same time, clogging up the entryway into our home. Chatter about the last Thanksgiving, laughter, and plenty of hugs fills the house along with the delicious aroma of Turkey.
I’m sitting with Maddie and Denise when there’s a knock on our door. I look over to Dean, who stands up from the couch.
“Did you invite anyone from work?” I ask.
“Not that I can remember. Denise, your boyfriend couldn’t come, right?” he asks with her shaking her head.
He opens the door and then a moment later, he looks at me.
“Kaley, Mads, I think it’s for you.” He steps away and my parents walk in cautiously.
They look around, noticing the small gathering that we have going. We’re a small group, but a cheerful group.
My sister and I both stand up and grab one another’s hands at the sight of them.
“Oh, hello there.” Dean’s mom stands up, ready to be the welcoming party for our new guests as she steps forward.
I see Dean, standing just behind my parents, giving her the sign to not move any further. She stops, then turns her head to look over at Maddie and me.
“Maybe you guys should, go and talk in the other room? You know, for privacy?” Dean says shutting the door.
My dad looks back at him and smiles.
Maddie and I step forward and lead the way with our parents trailing behind us to our enclosed patio in the backyard.
I motion for them to take a seat at the small table as we sit across from them on the patio couch.
“Madison. Kaley. You both look well and healthy.” Dad says.
We say nothing. They both look horrible. There are bags under their eyes and it looks like they’ve aged poorly in the past few years.
They look around the space.
“Your home is quite nice.” My mother says. “I like it a lot better than the apartment that you were living in.”
“Thank you. I have family to get back to. You made it perfectly clear that you wanted nothing to do with me the last time you were here. What are you guys doing here?” I ask.
“We made a monumental mistake, and we came here to make amends and to apologize, please just give us a little of your time, then we will leave.” Dad says.
“What’s changed your mind?” I ask.
“We lost both of our daughters and after speaking with our spiritual advisors, we know that we have done wrong by the both of you.”
