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My shoes scrape against the freshly paved driveway, the old worn paint of our basketball court covered - erased forever. I couldn't wait to go through a growth spurt so that I could join my brothers and their friends in the driveway pickup game after school. Lucky for me, I kept growing long after they stopped, bringing me to be the tallest of the Reeve brothers. My height finally eliminated the "little" brother title, replaced with just younger brother instead. Not only did my shadow overpower them, but so did my charisma, luring people to me like a shiny hook in deep water.
I don't bother knocking when I get to the door, turning the knob and walking into the home I grew up in. Not much has changed in the six months since I moved out, other than my parents now requesting at least a thirty minute warning before we stop by. My best guess is that Dad is trying to convince Mom they should become nudists. Gross.
There is mayhem when I walk through the doorway directly into the kitchen. Mom is behind the island, bent over trying to lift the turkey from the oven while Dad insists on her letting him help. She is a stubborn woman and is making it known that she doesn't need his help. Lucas - my oldest brother - is tossing dinner rolls into a basket, trying his best not to burn his fingertips or drop any onto the floor. His wife, Olivia, sits at one of the stools pulled up to the island, her hand resting softly on her stomach, the evidence of her pregnancy only just beginning to look like a baby bump.
"Pika!" A melodic voice comes from the dining room. Delaney - Colton's high school sweetheart that just came back into our lives - comes running towards me. There isn't much space to get a running start with the number of people crammed into the kitchen, but she still takes the opportunity to crash into me. Her petite body impacts with my towering frame, causing me to sway slightly.
"I thought we agreed I was too old for that nickname now." I play as I wrap my long arms around her. When you have known someone since you were nine, their perception of you is always stuck in a kid version. Even now that I am six feet tall and could bench press her, she insists on ruffling my hair and calling me a ridiculous Pokémon nickname.
"Sorry, I can't help it. You will always be little Pika Reeve." She pulls out of our hug, assuming her position next to Colton, his arm snaking around her waist as he pulls her into him, nuzzling against her neck. I am so fucking glad the two of them worked through their shit and found each other again. Some couples are destined to be together no matter what the world throws at them, and those two are exactly that, even if they needed to be apart for five years to figure it out.
"Looks like I got here at the perfect time," I comment as my parents finally get the turkey out of the oven and onto the island centered in the kitchen. Mom lets out a sigh, giving my dad an accusing glance, tossing the kitchen towel embroidered with a turkey over her shoulder as she makes her way past him to get to me.
Unlike Delaney, she wraps her hands around my midsection, letting her head rest against my chest. She took it rough when I told her I was going to be moving out, the last of her babies fleeing the nest and getting out into the real world. What she doesn't know is that I am barely surviving as an adult. But I can't admit that to her - or my brothers for that matter - because the last thing I need from them is sympathy or judgment.
Mom pulls back from her hug, looking up at me with moisture gathering in the corners of her eyes. I'm not going to lie and say I know what her tears are about. Being the only female in the house surrounded by all us boys, her emotions were often a mystery to all of us. Dad can usually decipher what is going on in her mind, but he is busy checking the turkey is fully cooked.
"What's with the tears, Ma?" I ask, holding the flowers out to her and squeezing her arms in a playful way when she takes them from me.
"It's just so good to have the family together again. It has been a few years since we were all under one roof for Thanksgiving and you know it's my favorite." Lucas and Olivia alternate holidays celebrating with each of their families, so last year they weren't here. Colton hadn't been the same since he and Delaney broke up back in high school, so he made it a point to not come home for the holidays while he was in college. Which just left me - the last of the Reeve brothers - still at home and getting Mom all to myself, including but not limited to her love of all things family gatherings and grand meals. She would never say it to my face, but I know that only having Dad and I around the table for Thanksgiving the past few years wasn't enough. She has always loved a full house, thrived on the excitement and chaos. After all, she raised three boys, she is used to having her hands full.
"It's great to be back here. You have always made me feel so welcome and this place is like a second home to me." Delaney steps forward, placing her hand on my mother's back.
"Alright, alright, enough of this emotional crap." Dad chimes in. His words seem harsh until you know that he is secretly about to cry with the outpouring of love to Mom. "Let's skin the turkey and eat way too much before the game comes on. Let's not forget the four F's of a Reeve family Thanksgiving." I can see the relief on my brother's faces with Dad's interruption. We show up starving on Thanksgiving because that's the best part for us - Mom loves having us all here and we all love Mom's cooking. It's a win all around.
"Family, fizgigs, food and football." My brothers and I all say in unison, a party trick rehearsed many times over the course of our lives when Dad would repeat the same sentiment year after year.
"What the heck is a fizgig?" Olivia asks, her voice soft compared to the rumble of our masculine tones reverberating across the room.
"I think Dad always meant it to mean pranks but don't Google it because that's definitely not what it means." Lucas leans in to explain to his wife.
"Did you fuck with the turkey this year? Should I be prepared to fight?" I ask, snapping my jaw to imitate a shark capturing its prey. I have been known to bite if someone comes too close to stealing food from me.
"Ashton Michael Reeve!" My mother scolds, smacking my arm with all her might. "And really boys, it's the first year with two girls at dinner with us. Can't we leave the turkey with its skin intact this year?"
"Mom, why are you robbing us of our American right to peel every greasy, perfectly seasoned piece of skin from the bird that died for our freedom? It's been years since we got to celebrate all together, don't ruin it."
"Ash, that was so many wrong things all in one sentence but I'm going to back you up on this one. Delaney has already seen our savagery and I think it's about time Olivia does too." Colton chimes in, moving next to me and pushing his elbow into my side.
Mom looks between Colton and I, rolling her eyes before giving in.
"Fine, but only because I think I'm starting menopause so my emotions are all out of whack and I need something to keep me from crying more." Mom places the flowers next to the sink behind her before moving back to the island. The turkey is so round that it almost comes up to her chin where it sits in the roasting pan. The skin of the turkey glistens under the recessed lighting of the kitchen, showing off its perfect crispy and well-balanced seasoning caked in it.
I remember watching Mom prepare the turkey growing up and being totally freaked out that she would peel back the skin to hide pats of butter and herbs underneath. I think that might be one of the reasons it's our favorite part of the whole meal. Not the turkey itself, but the skin on it. It's fucking delicious and my brothers and I all gather in closer to the counter in preparation for the skinning. We will have all of the skin peeled off before long.
"Step aside boys, ladies first." Delaney pushes between Colton and I, her small frame somehow blocking our large bodies from the mission in front of us. She encourages Olivia to stand from her place on the stool so that she can get a better angle.
"Play nice, all of you." Mom adds, raising her eyebrows before flashing a smile towards Delaney. Mom was quite the momma bear when Delaney broke Colt's heart back in high school but it's nice to see that even she has begun to forgive the past.
"GO!" Dad yells and our kitchen becomes a battlefield of fingers pinching at the dead bird on the counter. Elbows fly, hitting each other in an effort to get to it first and I'm thankful to be home.
"I still don't get why you won't just post it on the bulletin board. It's a big hospital, the odds of you finding a new roommate that you see daily are pretty slim." Darren attempts to talk sense into me as we find a table in the cafeteria to eat our dinner, if you can call it that since we are eating it at two in the morning. One of the best parts of the shift that I work is that the kitchen opens just for us overnight staff to refuel, which means the food is always fresh.
"We talked about this, living with colleagues is too complicated and I don't need that right now."
"Oh, but living with a colleague’s sister isn't complicated?" He throws back. When I agreed to let Delaney - Darren's sister - move into my apartment, I knew it was risky but I have loved having her as a roommate. She was always clean and smelled like flowers. Of course, now she is planning to move in with her boyfriend Colton at the end of month, which leaves me back at square one with needing to find someone to fill the space.
It's not a money thing. As a registered nurse, I make enough money to pay for my apartment on my own. But without someone else living with me, I might never come home. I have a tendency to make my job my whole personality, leaving little room for a social life or any kind of healthy sleep schedule. At least with a roommate, I feel more obligation to come home and make sure my stuff hasn't been stolen or something.
