"We'll be pulling up to the gate in a few minutes. Please remain buckled until we have come to a complete stop, thank you." The intercom buzzed, and I pulled my headphones off my ears.

Grabbing my duffle, I squeeze my way through the aisle and off the airplane. Home again, I easily find my way to the baggage claim, where I spot a couple familiar faces.

"Tracie! Andy!" I wave, excited. They wave back, and bust over there to give my cousins a giant hug.

"How are you, stinker? It's been ages since you've been home!" Tracie cried, her curls crushed against my face.

I spat a few stray ones out.

"I'm doin' great! Gettin' paid to stay at home, ya know?" I mumble from the mane that was her hair.

"Tracie, she's straight up snogging your hair, let 'er go." She did as requested, and I turned to my savior.

"C'mere, Andy," I sang, arms open wide, and he grinned. He stepped into my hug, and then let go. Ruffling my hair, he said,

"It's good to see you, kiddo. We're all happy you're home."

"Yeah," I replied absently, thinking of somewhere else, somewhere with a mangy outdoor cat, and a pair of soulful brown eyes and smile lines,

"It's good to be home."

***

I yawned and stretched, Evelyn's trundle bed screeching obnoxiously. I smacked my lips, running my fingers through my bedhead, and looked over to Evelyn's bed.

Empty.

I sighed, preparing myself to see a crap ton of people and grabbed my toothbrush from its resting place on Evelyn's vanity.

I quietly opened the door, then booked it to the bathroom across the hall. After ridding myself of my dastardly morning breath, I left the travel toothbrush back in my little sister's room and shuffled down the stairs into the living room.

"Mornin', Sam!" Called Dad from the closest armchair.

"Good morning!" Came a couple other much too cheery cries. I blinked and scowled.

In no particular order.

"Morning, Dad. Morning everybody." I called back, as a couple relatives got up to give me a hug.

It was too early for this.

"How was the flight?"

"Decent, no crazy turbulence, but it was stiller longer'n Hades."

He chuckled,

"Your grandpa said the same thing when he first came to visit."

"How is Grandpa? Where is he?" I looked around, not seeing his balding pate anywhere.

"Your mother had him take her to Jenny's. Apparently she forgot the cranberry sauce and she had an extra."

"To Jenny's?"

"Mm-hmm."

"The super nice widow that volunteers at the children's hospital? That Jenny?"

He gave me the side-eye and a bit of a smirk,

"That Jenny."

I rolled my eyes and escaped to the dining room adjacent to the living room, where I found Evelyn, Tracie, Sarah, Rita, and Christie setting up the extended dining room table.

And by "setting up," I mean Tracie and Sarah arguing about the placement of the spoons versus the forks, Rita and Christie talking about something completely different and probably not appropriate for young ears, and Evelyn looking around not knowing what to do.

Evelyn was the first to notice me.

"SAM!" She screamed, and she threw herself at me, gangly limbs and all.

"GEEZ, Evelyn, watch the solar plexus. Coulda taken me out right there," I complain halfheartedly, grin stretching my face as I pat her back.

She nuzzled her face into my chest while my other cousins approached me with open arms as well.

"C'mere." I jibed and they all came in for a group hug.

"It's good to have you home, Samster," stated the ever stoic Christie.

"Yeah, we missed you! Now we can go on our late night breadsticks runs with an actual night owl," Sarah looked around conspiratorially before continuing with a hissed, "A grumpy Tracie just doesn't vibe, ya know?"

"Excuse you!" Tracie smacked Sarah's shoulder, a little harder than necessary, "That was one time!"

Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Puh-leeze. It's happened more than once, and," she held up her index finger to silence Tracie's protests, "I'll have you know that that one time you so emphatically note was necessary for my romantic development."

"They were in their thirties!"

"They were cute!"

The two girls broke into argument, again, as the rest of us made for the kitchen.

"Molly's been helping out since this morning." Christie mentioned as we walked.

"Apparently, since she's engaged, she can help with the real stuff, while the rest of us plebeians clean the house from top to bottom." Announced the melodramatic Rita.

"I can hear you from the living room, Rita. Stop complaining and get to work," mentioned a tall, athletic, dark-haired girl from the kitchen sink. She turned, and I was greeted by the image of my very done-up sister, Molly.

"Sam!" She cried, reaching her arms out for a hug then realizing they were covered in suds.

"Just a minute, hold on," she grabbed a checkered dish cloth then pulled me into a bear hug.

"Welcome home, squirt."

I think I felt my spine snap.

We all set to catching up, Evelyn and I sitting at breakfast stools, Rita and Christie sitting on or leaning against the counter next to me, and Molly got back to work washing the used and discarded cookware. Mom popped in about ten minutes into this, squealed, almost dropped the cranberry sauce, rushed over for a hug.

"You're here! Oh, I'm so glad you made it. How was the flight? Did you get a ride? I know you still haven't gotten any transportation since you got there. Were there any creepers? Did you have to pepper spray anybody?"

I laughed,

"I'm fine, Mom. The flight was great. Andrei dropped me off at the airport no problems."

I stopped.

Then I winced.

I could feel their eyes lock onto me; predators sensing weakness in their prey, sharks smelling blood in the water.

"An--drei?" Mom asked, an eyebrow raised, "Who's Andrei?"

"Ummm, uhhh--" My eyes glanced from side to side, searching for a way out. There was none.

"My, uhh... boyfriend?" I winced at the sound of my own voice that had cracked.

Definitely wasn't going to tell them he'd already proposed.

There was silence, then the entire kitchen burst into screams.

"WHAT?!"

"When did this happen?!"

"Lil' Miss Samster got herself a boy toy!"

Sarah and Tracie popped their curly heads into the doorway.

"What happened? Who died?"

"SAMANTHA GOT A BOYFRIEND!" They all cried.

The kitchen promptly devolved into chaos, where questions--rhetorical and not--were thrown at me, and I did my best to answer them, though it was a bit overwhelming. Once the questions devolved into planning baby names, I groaned and rested my head in my hands. Now forgotten, I slipped off the bar stool and out the kitchen door to the back porch.

Sighing, I rest myself against the closed back door and rub my hands over my face.

"Good morning, there, Sammy. Fancy seeing you here." A chuckle from my left startled me into a jump.

"Grandpa!" I hurried to give him a hug, then sat down beside him on the bench.

"How's my favorite grandchild, hm? Maine treatin' you alright?"

I nodded.

"Yeah, it's really nice. Work is good, I get a lot of hours to work at home, which is nice. I'm friends with Sally, the diner owner I told you about?"

He bobbed his head,

"I remember her. Bright girl; minds her own business, but has some good advice."

I turned to look at him, eyebrows furrowed and eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What advice can a thirty-some-odd girl give to a crotchety old man like you?"

He barked out a laugh.

"Nothing big, my girl. She just helped me see it was time to retire."

"Oh. Really?"

He nodded, eyes closed and eyebrows raised.

"Really really."

"Whoa."

I thought about it for a second.

"So Sally's kind of the reason I even went to Maine, isn't she?"

"She sure is."

We sat in silence for a bit, gazing out at the Arizona landscape; the red tables of the gods almost orange in the early afternoon sun.

"So I heard the yellin' in there." Grandpa said after a while.

"Yeah."

I'm sure he did.

"Is that boy nice to you?"

I didn't even have to think about it.

"The nicest."

"Good."

And that's all we said to each other.

It could have been a half hour later when Molly poked her head out the door.

"Sam, you should get ready. Dinner will be done in about an hour."

"'Kay, Mom."

I groaned as I stood up, palms pushing against my knees.

"Need a hand?" I held out my hand, palm up, to Grandpa. He took it, grimacing.

"These old bones of mine don't work like they used to."

"You can keep 'em."

He scoffed, but straightened up and went inside ahead of me.

I went up to my room to run a brush through my hair and change into something decent for Thanksgiving dinner. While I was up there, I checked my phone sitting on the charger. One text from Andrei Smirnov.

Good morning, Sammy. I miss you. The text read. It arrived around 7 am, Arizona time. Which meant he'd sent it around 9 am Maine time.

Shoot, it was almost one, here.

I hurriedly sent,

Forgot my phone in my sister's room, sorry. Good morning!

The reply was almost immediate.

How is your family?

Good. Huggy as ever, tho 😔

Have you eaten yet?

Got up too late to eat breakfast, but we're gonna do thanksgiving in a bit. I'm starving!

Do you have time for a call?

I was about to reply with a "yup," when I heard the yell for dinner.

Dinner's starting, but I'll tell you when I'm done

Ok

A little unnerved by the one word response, I went through a couple responses I could give.

Shaking my head, I shoved the phone in my pocket, and dashed downstairs.

Thanksgiving dinner was as rambunctious as ever.

Molly's fiance, James, arrived minutes before dinner started 'cause of traffic, so that set us back ten or so. They'd been dating for a little under two years, so it was mostly asking about the proposal and all that.

Auntie Hannah and her two kids, Christie and Rita, tried to keep the peace, as usual. When Tracie and Sarah would get just a little too down a rabbit hole in their conversation, one of them would distract them with another topic.

Uncle Ron, Aunt Lea, and Sarah were definitely the ones to bring controversial topics to the dinner table. Aunt Lea not so much, but Sarah sure did take after her dad.

Uncle Walter, Aunt Jenny--not to be confused with the Jenny down the street--and their kids Andy and Tracie embodied polar opposites of the introversion spectrum. Uncle Walter and Tracie were the two loudest at the table, occasionally engaging people all the way at the other end, while Aunt Jenny and Andy quietly conversed with the people sitting close to them.

And my family: Grandpa, Dad, and Mom; my older sister, Molly; her fiance, James; and my little sister, Evelyn. Mom was outgoing as ever, the social butterfly of the family. Molly followed in her footsteps, but she was a little more reserved about it. Evelyn was exactly like Mom, chatting my ear off about everything that had happened at school that year: who liked who, who had to walk laps at recess, who made the secret handshake not-so-secret anymore, the works. Dad and Grandpa, on the other hand, talked quietly with me and Andy mostly--the lone boy cousin.

Poor Andy, to feel so outnumbered.

Not.

The kid was quiet, but he grew up with Tracie, so he knew how to handle himself.

After dinner was over, we all shuffled groggily to the living room for our post pig-out naps. All the couches taken, and Evelyn going back up to her room to play, I headed for the backyard again. Sitting on the bench, I take out my phone and text,

Done! What's up?

Not wanting to wait around for his text, I pull up some puzzles and work through those. After about twenty minutes, I got a little worried.

Did he lose his phone? Was he awake? It was only two here, but it was four back in Maine.

Maybe he's having dinner?

At four? What, are you nuts?

I sent another text,

You busy?

I went back to the puzzles, but flinched at every game notification that popped up. After about twenty more minutes of this, I texted,

Call me when you're free! I'll keep my phone on me

And I went back inside to eat pie with my family.