Thanks

Annika pushed the dried turkey around her plate, avoiding everyone else’s gaze.

Of course, that felt typical for Thanksgiving.

Annika had such fond memories of Thanksgiving, but most of them came from a time before she could detect the frustration that radiated from her parents on days like today.

She didn’t have that problem now.

Her fork nudged the turkey again. In years passed, she would inhale it. It made a good platform for dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy. But this turkey dried her out. It made her regret opening the bottle of red wine.

The rest of the feast smelled delicious. The butter and carbs all swirled together, making her mouth water. She felt pleasantly surprised that hardly any of her cornbread dressing remained. She had offered to take on the dish after finding her grandmother’s recipe.

“Annie, that dressing sure tastes amazing. Just like BoBo used to make,” her dad said between bites.

Her mother’s head snapped at him. Her mother had been in a mood all day. When Annika had shown up to help cook, she could feel the heat at the door. Her mother merely grunted at her when she came in. Sharing the kitchen space had been uncomfortable, to say the least.

Her mother never told her why she was so upset, but Annika knew. Her mom always stressed out preparing the food, but this year she took it to a new level. All because Virginia wasn’t coming home.

Annika had talked to her older sister, Virginia, a month ago. She had tried to get time off from her job at the college, but they wouldn’t let her. She had tried to explain that to their mother, but their mother didn’t seem to understand.

At first, Annika had just thought that Virginia didn’t want to come home because she wanted to stay home with her boyfriend, but in the weeks since, Virginia had told her that her boyfriend was going to his family on the other side of the country. Virginia had been double crushed since she still couldn’t come home. Plus, she had thought that after dating for three years, he would propose, but that hadn’t happened.

Her mother had unleashed all her fury since then. She had tried to find a reason not to go to Thanksgiving, but she knew that she couldn’t abandon her family either.

Her dad took another bite of the dressing, choosing to ignore his wife’s stare. He made a moaning sound, which made Annika’s skin crawl, even though he had meant it as a compliment.

“Your mashed potatoes taste amazing, dear.” He said, more to placate her than anything.

Mom’s eyes narrowed, and Annika could feel the displeasure on the other side of the rectangular table.

“They’re really good, Mom,” Annika said as she spooned another serving of hope onto her plate. The potatoes had cheese, bacon, and chives mixed in—not your typical holiday dish, but still delicious.

Mom cocked an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Annika returned to moving the food around her plate like a toddler.

She couldn’t understand why they still celebrated this day. Did we really need an excuse to be around our family for another day? Another day to spend hours in the kitchen for a meal that would be done in minutes? It just didn’t make sense why she even still returned home for it.

“Anyone heard from Virginia?” her dad asked, but Annika couldn’t fathom why.

Everyone froze. She could hear her mother’s heart thunder across the table. That’s when she noticed the tears puddling in the corners of her mother’s eyes.

Annika’s stomach plummeted, food and all, as she realized that this was the first Thanksgiving they weren’t all there together. Mom had to know it wouldn’t last forever. Eventually, they would grow up, have other families, and not be able to go.

But this was the first one.

Annika searched her nearly empty plate for some way to make things better, but the only thing that she found was dry turkey.

Then her phone vibrated on the table next to her plate. At first, she ignored it, because who would call before texting? But the ringing didn’t stop.

Finally, she flipped the phone over to see a picture of Virginia. For a moment, she felt frozen, unsure whether answering it was the best course of action. Ultimately, she swiped to answer the call.

“Annika!” Virginia shouted.

“Hey, we’re still at the table,” Annika explained.

“Hi, Ginny,” her dad shouted as he realized who was calling. “We miss you!”

Virginia smiled. Annika flipped her phone around so everyone could see. “I miss you too! I’m so sorry I’m not there.”

“It’s okay,” her mom said as if she hadn’t just been on the verge of crying.

“I can’t stay long, but I just wanted to call you first to tell you,” she said and then went silent.

Mom clapped a hand over her mouth while her dad smiled wider than ever. Annika turned the phone around to see what had caused her parents’ reactions. Virginia’s face had been replaced by her left hand. Her ring finger now had something decorating it. A square-cut diamond refracted light onto a silver ring.

Annika couldn’t take her eyes off it. She also couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

“Wha-“ she started.

“Ronnie came back and surprised me. He asked, and I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.”

Ronnie leaned into the screen. His dark curly hair looked like someone had just run their fingers through it.

“Hello, Mom. Thank you again, Sir.” Ronnie said as he leaned back out of the screen.

Mom’s eyes twitched, and they both narrowed at him as she returned to the stare from earlier. Dad looked at her and chuckled.

“I need to go,” Virginia said. “I miss you all so much. I can’t wait to start planning. Mom, I’m going to need so much help.”

With that, she signed off and left Annika with the aftermath. Mom still stared at Dad, her mouth narrowed to a thin line, just like her eyes.

“You knew?” She finally asked.

“He asked me a couple of weeks ago.”

“And you never said anything to me?” She asked, stunned.

“He asked me not to tell anyone. He wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I’m surprised,” Mom said as she dabbed at the corner of her eyes with her napkin. The tears were coming for a different reason than the anger and hurt from before. “I’m not ready.”

That was the most true thing her Mom had told them in years.

All the excitement, frustration, and fear mixed together like the ingredients from the mashed potatoes. Annika didn’t know what to do or say. She couldn’t tell if the pressure still raged or if this would assuage it.

“I’m not ready either. If that boy hurts my daughter, I’m going to “ Dad started, but he got cut off by the sound of Mom’s chair scraping the ground. She raised her hand, but then wrapped it around Dad’s arm. Finally, she leaned her head onto his shoulder.

“I’m thankful,” she said.

“Me too,” Dad said.

“Me too,” Annika said to them.

She stabbed the bit of turkey on her plate and tried to smear as much gravy on it as she could. Then she popped it into her mouth and smiled.

“But this turkey is dry,” she said.

They all laughed. The tension vanished from the room, finally. She felt warm and thankful inside.