Chapter 37 - Thanksgiving Day

Phillip and Jamie jumped on their Mother's bed the next morning and both started talking at once before Amanda was even awake.

"Fellas, calm down. I can't understand you if you both talk at once." Amanda said as she sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Okay but I get to tell her" Phillip said.

"Why do you get to tell her? I want to tell her!" Jamie pleaded.

"It happened to me Wormbrain so I get to tell her." Phillip stated.

"Phillip how many times do I have to tell you not to call your brother names? Now tell me what?" Amanda asked.

Phillip then went into an excited version of what happened to him at the parade. Amanda sat listening to her son's excitement and couldn't help but smile. Lee had made quite an impression on her boy for sure. When he finished, Jamie jumped in said "Mom, the clown was really funny. He totally got Phillip good. I wish you could have been there to see it."

Amanda wrapped both boys into a hug and said "I know sweetheart, I wish I could have been there too. It sounds like you had a good time without me though so that is all that matters. Now how about we get some breakfast?"

Both boys yelled out a war cry and ran down the stairs to see if their Grandmother had finished making breakfast yet. Amanda smiled at her sons and was pleased that Lee had been such a hit with them. If only she could share that she had been there watching. She knew she couldn't though so she quickly got dressed and headed down the stairs after them. Her Mother had spoiled them all with blueberry pancakes and sausages for breakfast. She knew that afterward, they would need to begin Thanksgiving Day preparations so it was good to enjoy a delicious breakfast with her family before things got crazy.

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The rest of the week had in fact been really crazy. After cleaning the entire house from top to bottom, there were remaining decorations to put up along with grocery shopping to be done. On Wednesday she and her Mother spent the day in the kitchen baking all the pies and breads for the next day. They had of course invited Dean and his Mother along with Mr. Witherspoon, Agnes, Edith and several other neighbors who lived alone. Dean had called Amanda on Tuesday to say that his Mother wasn't feeling well and would not be coming to dinner. Amanda wondered if she was avoiding meeting her because she wasn't ready to let her son go. At this point, she had nothing to fear since Amanda hadn't accepted Dean's marriage proposal and wasn't sure if she ever would. She couldn't tell Dean's mother that of course but she had a feeling that if she did, the woman would suddenly have a miraculous recovery.

By the end of the day, the Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie, Pecan Pie and Cherry Pies had all been baked and were safely in the refrigerator. They had also made up sweet rolls and cinnamon rolls, along with corn bread, homemade cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and glazed carrots. The stuffing had been mixed up and was ready to be stuffed into the turkey as soon as they got up in the morning.

By the time everything was prepared and the kitchen was cleaned up, both women were exhausted. Dotty took a hot toddy to her room so she could relax with her latest romantic book. Amanda found herself standing outside her back door looking up at the stars. She wondered what Lee was doing and if he was truly happy spending the holiday alone. She was sure he really wasn't but he would never admit it. She made up her mind that she would prepare a plate for him and deliver it to his apartment. After all, no one should be alone on Thanksgiving or left to feel alone. With that settled, Amanda shivered from the cold November wind and went back inside her warm, cozy home. The kids would expect her to watch the parade so she decided it was time to get to bed so she could get up early.

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The next morning seemed to come too soon and Amanda got up to finish preparing the turkey and get it into the oven. A short time later the rest of the family was up and they came down the stairs yawning. Everyone had cereal for breakfast since dinner would be early. The kids turned the tv on and soon the whole family was sitting close together to watch the parade. When the clowns came on, the boys quickly decided that they were not nearly as funny as the two that had been in the Silver Spring parade. It made Amanda smile to hear the boys still gush about her and Lee. The family enjoyed watching the rest of the parade and then the boys went out to shoot some baskets while Dotty and Amanda finished the dinner preparations. At noontime, Dean came to the house and joined the boys at the basketball hoop. After 20 minutes, he left them to come inside to see if he could help with dinner; knowing that by then it would be well taken care of and he wouldn't have to help. He gave Amanda a quick hug and a peck on the cheek and told her that the house looked great. She smiled and thanked him for the compliment and told him that he looked good too in his blue plaid shirt and new jeans. It still didn't occur to Dean to tell Amanda that she looked good most of the time. He was so socially inept that he forgot most of the time. Amanda was used to it though.

Soon the neighbors began arriving and each of them had brought more food. Mr. Witherspoon brought several bottles of wine for the adults and soon everyone was sipping on some of it. The dinner was fabulous and everyone complimented both women on their cooking and baking abilities. They even toasted them. The biggest compliment though was that everyone ate too much and felt like they could barely move. Everyone but Dotty and Amanda settled into the living room to watch the football game that was just starting. Amanda and Dotty packaged the food back up and put it into the refrigerator before joining them. The Detroit Lions were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. Everyone would have preferred to have their beloved Redskins playing but they would root for the Steelers. During half time the ladies went into the kitchen to wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen. Amanda couldn't help but look out her window a few times in hope of seeing Lee but was relieved he didn't show up since it would be hard to sneak away with all her company there. The game didn't go well and the Steelers lost horribly to the Lions with a 45 to 3 score. Everyone was a little bummed until Amanda said it was time for dessert and that seemed to cheer everyone back up. Soon huge plates of pie were being served and everyone sat around happily discussing all the things they were most thankful for. Dean of course said he was thankful to have Amanda in his life while Amanda said she was thankful for her new job and meeting new people. Of course she talked about her pet sitting service not her real job of working for the agency. Dean pouted a bit that she hadn't said she was thankful for him but she squeezed his hand and smiled up at him and soon he forgot that it had bothered him. Dotty said she was thankful that school was back in full swing so that the house didn't get messed up as much as when the boys were home. Phillip said that he was thankful that the Bombers seemed to be finally done with their losing streak and Jamie said he was thankful that he got Mrs. Norris for a teacher and not Mr. Brent who everyone said was mean. The rest went around the room and shared their thoughts and then everyone thanked Amanda and Dotty for opening their home and welcoming them all to Thanksgiving Dinner. It was getting late so everyone began saying their goodbyes and headed home. Dean made no real attempt to leave and Amanda wanted to deliver the plate to Lee so she told him that she was pretty tired and asked if they could call it an early evening. He pouted again for a moment but then agreed that it had been a long day. After a quick hug and kiss, he thanked her again for a lovely day and headed to his car. She watched him drive away and then hurried into the kitchen. She took out a few Tupperware containers and filled them with a little bit of everything. She even filled one with a small piece of each kind of pie since she wasn't sure what his favorite was. Her Mother was in the living room doing one of her crossword puzzles so Amanda yelled out that she would be back in a bit but needed to deliver something to a friend. Dotty was so engrossed in her puzzle that she just said "Okay dear." and Amanda was gone before she realized what had just happened. She shook her head wondering what her daughter was up to now.

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Lee had hoped that the agency would call him in but his phone had remained silent all day. The night before he hadn't bothered with asking anyone out but had gone to Monks where he knew he would be close if the agency needed him and be out among people that he was familiar with. The place was nearly empty so he found himself talking to a barmaid named Colleen. She wasn't at all his type but she was nice and she was friendly and that was all he really wanted at that moment. She had a family at home but had agreed to work that night because she needed the money. Lee enjoyed his dinner and had a couple of drinks until the place was closing. He then threw a $50 tip down for Colleen as he headed out to his car. She was a nice woman and he felt bad that she had to work on the holiday instead of being home with her children. He then went home to his lonely apartment and turned on the TV. He was happy to find a few old movies on that he had always enjoyed and after pouring himself a scotch, he sat down and watched them and tried to drown out his loneliness. Hell maybe he should have gotten a woman over for the night, it would beat being alone. It was too late now though so at 11pm, he shut off the TV and went to bed. As he was trying to fall asleep, he wondered what it would be like to be invited to Amanda's for dinner. He knew he couldn't go but maybe it would be fun to act like a normal person for a change. Thankfully sleep finally came to him and he managed to sleep until 7am. He got up and took a shower and brewed some coffee. He never ate breakfast so instead he turned on the TV and watched the early morning news. As he sat drinking his coffee, the Parade began on the TV. He decided that he might as well watch it. As he sat watching the clowns joking around, he couldn't help but smile at the routine that Amanda and he had done during the parade and thought that their act was much funnier than what he was seeing in this parade. She was definitely different from any woman he had ever met. She had guts and logic and intelligence and she was beautiful. Wait, did he just think that? Yes, Amanda King was beautiful inside and out. He hoped that she was having a good morning with her family.

At lunchtime, he found that there was still a frozen pizza left in his freezer from when Alexi was there so he threw it in his oven and had it for lunch along with a beer. Soon the football game came on and he settled down for what he hoped would be a good game. Unfortunately the Steelers couldn't seem to get out of their own tracks and lost horribly to the Lions. Lee shut the TV off with disgust and picked up a magazine and began looking through it. What the hell was wrong with him? He usually was fine on Thanksgiving Day by himself. He never lacked for anything to do and he had never sat and wondered how others were celebrating the holiday but today he couldn't seem to find anything to make him happy and as the day dragged on, he found himself pretty miserable. He didn't even have anyone he could call. If he called Billy, he would get lectured about how Jeannie, like always, had invited him to dinner and he had turned her down. If he called Francine, well that would just be weird. He certainly couldn't call Amanda. This day had become one of the worse Thanksgivings he had ever endured. As it became closer to dinner time, he wondered what he could eat but he didn't really have anything else in the house. He really didn't feel much like eating anyway. Maybe he would go out and take the Porsche for a drive. He wasn't sure he could do that without it finding its way to Arlington though. As he sat there stewing, suddenly his doorbell rang. Now who in the world could be there to see him today of all days? Lee got up and opened the door and there stood Amanda.

"NOW I know you said you didn't want me to but I've gotta tell you Lee that no one should be alone on Thanksgiving and no one should go without a Thanksgiving meal so I just brought you a few things. Can I come in?" Amanda asked.

"Oh Sure, sure" Lee said as he opened the door wider so she could enter his apartment. She quickly went to his kitchen and moved stuff aside so she could put the bag of food on his kitchen table. She then began unloading the sack and called out each item as she did so. "So here is some turkey and dressing and this is homemade cranberry sauce that my mother made and this is green bean casserole and these are glazed carrots and this is sweet potato. I wasn't sure what you liked for bread so I bought you some of each and the same with the pie. I'm sure there has to be something there you like." As she turned around she couldn't believe the huge grin on Lee's face.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing."

"No, really, what?" she insisted.

"You! You are amazing Amanda King. I can't believe you brought me all of this."

"Well when you told me that you were going to be all alone on Thanksgiving Day, I said to myself that no one should be alone. Of course I couldn't invite you to my house so this is the best I could do."

"And you left your family to come here?" Lee asked.

"Oh we already had our dinner and counted our blessings. I needed to come here before you had something else for dinner. I hope you like everything." Amanda had put the items that needed to be heated onto a tray that she had brought and stuck them into Lee's oven while she prepared the rest of the meal for him. She took the warmed items out of the oven and put them on the table with the rest of the food.

"Well come on, sit down and eat before everything gets cold." Amanda insisted.

Lee sat down and began helping himself to one of the best meals he had had in a long time. Meanwhile Amanda began getting ready to leave. "No, please don't leave yet. Stay and keep me company." Lee said.

"Okay." Amanda agreed. They then sat and talked about the weather and the Steelers losing and then their talk went to their clowning around at the parade. They both laughed at the memory of how much fun it had been even during such a stressful time. Lee was soon stuffed full of Amanda's food and didn't have room for pie but promised he would enjoy it later.

As Amanda began repacking all her empty dishes into the bag, Lee grabbed her hands and turned her to look at him.

"Amanda, I just wanted to thank you for today. I don't know if I have ever had anyone do something so nice for me before. I really do appreciate it." He said sincerely.

Amanda smiled her big smile and said "I was happy to do it. I was worried that I was going to come here and find that you had company and be embarrassed about bothering you."

"No, no company and you didn't bother me at all."

"Well I guess I better be going. My family will wonder where I am. Hopefully I'll see you soon." Amanda said as she lifted the bag and headed for the door.

"Yeah, thanks again" Lee opened the door and watched Amanda leave. As he rubbed his very full stomach, he realized that he had his own blessing this year. One moment in time at a train station seemed to change his whole world and it seemed to be for the better. He went back into his living room and turned on the TV. He felt a little less lonely for some reason. Maybe he didn't really enjoy being a lone wolf so much after all.

TBC