Me: I think someone forgot to tell her.
Millie: Tell who what?
Me: Mattie. That she’s too young to notice boys.
Millie leans back just behind Mattie’s back and silently snarls at me. She hardly needs to go to the trouble of hiding it. Her sister can’t take her eyes off my brother.
I give her a grin that might just be a little wicked. Her eyes drop to it and shift just a little to the right. They soften.
Is she looking at my dimple?My smile strengthens. For a moment, I just enjoy watching her watch me.
And then her phone rings.
She looks down, reads the screen, and answers.
“Hey Kath… Yeah?” Millie frowns. “Ohno.That’s terrible.”
This brings Mattie out of her Alex-haze. “What’s wrong?”
Millie holds up a hand to her sister. “No, no, of course… You have to. I totally understand.” She says this and then bites her lip, giving Mattie and Emmett each a quick glance. “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about that for another minute… Take care, Kath. Safe travels... Right… You too. Bye.”
“What’s wrong?” Mattie asks again, sounding worried.
Millie places a hand on her back. “Everything’s fine. That was just my friend Kath.”
“The one you were texting?” Mattie ask.
Millie shoots me a quick glance. “Uh… No. The one at work. The one who invited us for Thanksgiving.”
Emmett tunes in at this, looking up at her. “Are we still going to her house?”
Millie puts her other arm around him. Now she’s essentially holding both her brother and sister. “I’m sorry, buddy, but no,” Millie says, squeezing him to her. “Her mother-in-law broke her ankle, so Kath and her family are going up to Monroe so her mother-in-law doesn’t have to travel with a cast.”
Emmett blinks. “I have a question.”
“What is it, bud?”
“Is it wrong if I’m glad we don’t have to go there for Thanksgiving?”
Millie gives a flustered laugh. “I thought you said it was okay if we went to Kath’s?”
Emmett shrugs, his lips pressing together, but he says nothing.
“What are we going to do now?” Mattie asks, the worry still there in her voice but less acute.
Then Emmett’s eyes widen. “Can we go to Grub Burger instead?”
“We’re not having Grub Burger for Thanksgiving,” Mattie says sharply.
I’m really starting to appreciate the way Millie’s kid sister thinks. They are absolutely not having Grub Burger for Thanksgiving. Not if I can help it.
“We’ll figure it out, guys,” Millie says, rubbing each of their backs.“I’llfigure it out.”
Me: Have Thanksgiving with my family.
I hear her phone, but she takes her time picking it up, easing her touch from her brother and sister first. When Millie reads the message, her eyes bug. She looks up at me and back at her phone.
Millie: We couldn’t. But thank you. That’s very kind.
