Mackenzie

It's Thanksgiving morning, and I am shockingly nervous about seeing Dane's father again, and meeting his step-mom. We arrive at his father's house bright and early, and I take in the very neatly manicured bushes in front of the house. Dane notices me looking at them.

"He's obsessive." Dane tells me. "Has to have them just right."

"Well-- they look nice." I say. Dane chuckles.

"You nervous?"

"As fuck." I mutter.

"Me too." Dane squeezes my hand. "But not because of you."

"What if he doesn't like me?" I ask, as we sit in the car and stare at the front of the house.

"He likes you. I told you what he said about you."

"What if he was lying? To be nice?"

"Mack--" Dane lets out a sigh, clearly trying not to laugh. "My father is many things, but a liar is not one of them."

The door to the house flies open and the man himself is standing there.

"We've been spotted." I observe.

Dane's father gives us a wave and a small smile. Dane and his father have talked on the phone once since Dane called him at the hospital, and from what I gather, it went pretty well. Dane still seems pretty nervous to be here though, since apparently Thanksgivings have been awkward in the past.

"He looks weirdly cheerful." Dane mumbles under his breath as we hop out of the car.

"Good morning!" Dane's father greets us. "Jack." He holds his hand out to me.

"Mackenzie." I shake the offered hand, noting that he has a strong grip that he's apparently not afraid to use on me. I'm not sure exactly what to say, since the last time we met I was yelling at him to care about his son.

"It's nice to meet you." He says.

"Likewise." I manage. Dane's father shakes Dane's hand and then leads us inside. We're bombarded by Henry and Jadyn, who gather me into a group hug that excludes Dane. I hear Dane sigh in resignation, but then he gets the same treatment as Jack introduces me to Dane's step-mother, Mellie.

Mellie is on the shorter side, and quite slim. Unlike Jack, she doesn't seem scared to show that she's happy. She wears a massive grin as she hugs me.

"I'm making breakfast!" Mellie announces to all of us. Jack, Henry, and Dane all groan. "Only joking, Jadyn's making it."

Jadyn retreats into the kitchen as I get a house tour. The last place we visit is Dane's childhood bedroom. There are baseball posters tacked up, and a ton of framed photos of him with baseball players. There's a baseball in an acrylic box on the dresser, and I can see that it was signed. The comforter on the bed is navy, and also has baseballs all over it. Jack retreats, leaving me and Dane alone.

"I'm sensing a theme." I tell Dane.

"Yeah. Younger me really knew how to grow an obsession." Dane grins. "Wait 'til you see the closet, though."

Dane flings open the closet for me. It's a walk in closet, but it's mostly empty, save for a couple of jackets. The door is covered with pictures of DNA and articles that I don't have time to look at very closely. You can't even see the paint on the walls, because there are so many pictures of cells taped up. Mostly close-up pictures of cells, but there are some diagrams as well.

"I--" I'm speechless, so I shut my mouth again.

"My mom was a biologist." Dane says. "That's why I like it so much. She--" He takes a deep beath. "She was born in the US, her parents came here from Mexico when my grandma was seven months pregnant. She was a first-generation college graduate." I glance up at Dane as he blinks rapidly. "Her research was in cancer biology. It was kind of ironic that she died from cancer." He lets out a sad laugh and I reach over so that I can squeeze his hand. "Anyway-- the biology obsession started young, too. It just--" He searches for words. "It made my dad sad, I think."

"That's understandable." I say softly.

"Yeah. Made me sad too." Dane's voice is nearly a whisper. I wrap my arm around him and lean in. "Thanks for being here with me."

"You're welcome."

We stand for several minutes, just staring at pictures of cells. Then Dane flips off the lights and we retreat downstairs for breakfast.

"Sooo--" Henry glances between me and Dane. "How'd he ask you out?"

"I asked him out." I tell Henry.

"Sexist." Jadyn says and prods Henry in the ribs with the butt of his butter knife.

"Okay. How'd you ask him out?" Henry corrects himself, casting an annoyed glance at Jadyn.

"I got really drunk and told him I like him, fell asleep on his futon, and then asked him out in the morning." I say, deciding to leave out most of the details. Jack looks disapproving, but Mellie looks amused. She reaches over and pats me on the arm.

"I love it." Jadyn exclaims. "Dane, how do we feel about this?"

Dane glances up from his French toast and berries. "We feel excellent." Dane tells him. "Doesn't really get better than the girl you like telling you that she likes you." I blush. "Saves a lot of potential embarrassment."

"Way to have guts." Henry tells me. "I respect that in a person." I decide not to make a comment about how it was the alcohol that had guts and not me.

There's an extended silence where we all are eating. Well, all of us except for Dane. I watch out of the corner of my eye as Dane pushes his breakfast around his plate and I lay a hand on his knee. "I've been looking for biology internships." Dane blurts out. He looks at his father, who looks more than a little bit surprised.

"I think that's great." Mellie says. "Have you found anything good?"

So Dane tells her, and we fall naturally into discussion again. As the day progresses, I find myself feeling more and more comfortable with Dane's family. I help Jadyn with food preparation as Jack makes the turkey. Dane and Henry play chess at the kitchen counter.

When we sit down to eat, Jack takes a look around at all of us. "I'm thankful that you're all here with us today." We all look at him. I can tell Dane is holding his breath. "Mackenzie, thank you for helping Jadyn cook, and more importantly, thank you for making my son happy. I'm thankful that he has someone like you in his life." I blush, but manage to smile at him. "Dane, thank you for being here with us today and sharing news about your internship. I'm thankful that your arm is healing well and that you've found someone as great as Mackenzie." I blush even brighter. Dane reaches out under the table and holds my hand. "Henry, thank you for being a great step-son and brother to Dane. I appreciate everything you've done for us. Jadyn, thank you as always for cooking and saving us from another one of Mellie's disaster." I watch as he winces from what I assume is Mellie kicking him under the table. "Mellie, thank you for being my beautiful wife. I love you."

"I love you too, sweetie." She says. "Sorry I kicked you." Jadyn snorts and I have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

"Let's eat."

We begin our meal and Henry begins a long dramatic story about the time Mellie broke an oven by dropping a pie into the bottom of it. The rest of dinner is filled with funny family stories, and then we retreat into the living room. Dane and I share the love seat, and he wraps his arm around me. His father turns on the football game, and before long they all doze off.

"Hey, you wanna go for a walk?" Dane asks. I look around at his sleeping family and nod. We pull on our jackets, and creep out of the house. The door shuts quietly behind us, with a light click. "There's a small lake nearby." Dane says, and takes my hand.

We walk quietly for a couple of minutes. I listen to the birds, and enjoy the cool air on my face. Jack and Mellie's house is really warm after using the oven all day.

"Are you having fun?" Dane breaks the silence first. We reach the trail by the small lake and take a right.

"Yeah." I look at him in surprise. "I am. This is nice."

"I wasn't sure--" He shakes his head. "With them questioning you and stuff."

"No, they're fine." I promise.

"I--" He stops talking again. I squeeze his hand reassuringly. "I like having you here. It's nice to see you all together."

"I like being here." I pull him to a stop. He gives me a questioning look, but I wrap my arms around him, and brush my lips over his. He presses into me, kissing me back. The next words come out before I can stop them. "I love you." I whisper, as our faces hover inches apart. His eyes are still closed, but they fly open with those words.

"I love you, Mackenzie." He says seriously.

"That's good. This would have been really awkward otherwise." He pulls back slightly as he bursts out laughing. I smile as he loops his arm around my waist and we continue walking.

"I'll always be thankful for that day in the library. When I met you." Dane says.

"Yeah?"

"And for the line drive." Dane adds. "For teaching me what's really important."

"I--"

"I'm serious, Mack." He stops walking again. "I know it was a rough week or two. But I needed that so that I could realize how important you are." I gaze into his deep brown eyes. He looks intense, and like he's on the verge of tears. "I love you." He caresses my face and wipes his thumb over my cheek. "A lot."

"I know." I murmur. "I know you do."

He nods once, with a sense of finality. "That's good. That's really good." His face breaks into a smile.

We start walking again, and all I can think about is how thankful I am to have Dane by my side.