Life was pretty uneventful for the group for a while after that. After a couple of weeks, her conversations with Evie went back to being effortless, and neither of them brought up what happened between them in Ben's office. Mal asked Evie if she had any holiday plans, and the girl shared that she was waiting for Doug to ask her to join him with his parents like last year. Mal told her that she was always welcome to spend time with them.
While making her way back from the museum, Mal noticed a few places she remembered from New Year's Eve and wondered how the James's had been doing since they saw them months ago. With that in mind, she tried to remember her way to their house, and to her luck, Mrs. James was getting out of the house. Mal quick her pace, and soon she was walking next to the woman and saying hello; Mrs James was shocked to see her but quickly recovered and hugged her.
"I was walking around here, wondering how you are doing?" Mrs. James smiled at Mal and thanked her for thinking of them and told her that she was on her way to the grocery store, and asked her if she wanted to join her. They talked all the way there, which wasn't far, and the woman asked Mal to call her Alysa; she shared how they had lived in the same area for several decades and told her stories about their neighbors and how amazing the entire community had changed over the years. On their way back, Mal asked Alysa why, if they loved their house and the neighborhood they decided to put their house on the market.
"Well, we loved this city, but we are getting old, and even though I love Seattle the weather isn't exactly the best." Mal laughed at how Alysa's way of saying that the city wasn't exactly the best place to live if you love the sun. "So, we talked about moving to another place with better weather for a while, so last year we put the house on the market but didn't manage to sell it, so we took it out. We were going to do a few small renovations and put it back, but then we started talking, and we realized we should probably have a clear idea of where we would like to live in case it sells fast this time."
Mal nodded, sharing how beautiful she thought the house was and assured Alysa that it would sell quickly, so it was a great idea for them to have a clear idea of where they would like to move. When they made their way back, Alysa asked Mal to join her for some tea, and they got into the house where Sean was waiting for his wife.
After everything was ready, the three of them sat down, and Alysa asked her about Ben and Mal's relationship. "I know I shouldn't pry, but you two look like you understand each other on a deeper level. I don't want to be rude, but the girl we saw with him last year was not like you, she seemed annoying."
That made Mal smile, and she shared their story of how they met and were friends for years; how they were now a couple, and even went on to share how she hoped they would continue to build a future together. Alysa smiled at her the entire time and shared a knowing look with Sean, who was also smiling at the girl. "You two should come for dinner this weekend. Do you think you'll have time?"
"Sure, I'll tell Ben and we can bring the food, or maybe you guys could come visit us at our apartment so you can see it." The couple agreed, and the conversation changed to what places they had looking into as their new home, Mal promised to help them look at different data so they could make an informed decision about the places. She even suggested they spend a week or a weekend in each city to understand how their day-to-day would be at their top choices better.
Time flew by, and soon enough Ben was calling her asking her if she was ok, because it was close to nine and nobody had heard from her. Mal told him that she was visiting Sean and Alysa which only confused the boy more until she explained who she was talking about. "I'll go pick you up, ok?"
Mal agreed, and when he was there they finalized their plans for the weekend. Ben would pick the couple up after lunch and bring them back so they didn't have to worry about finding a place to park near their apartment. On their way home, Mal shared everything they talked about and how she would help them with information about potential places they could move outside of Seattle, and the excitement in her voice made the boy smile. The next day at the museum she shared with Oliver her new mission and her friend promised to help her with some data about the place he used to live with and suggested to Mal that she could ask her friends for recommendations.
Saturday came, and Mal showed them the information she had managed to gather until that point, and they talked about the different places they liked from there. They had a great time with the couple, and Mal asked them if they wanted to join them and a group of friends for Thanksgiving, and both of them were more than happy to agree to join, and they also agreed to have lunch next Sunday to continue talking about the places they'll like Mal to search for them.
"So we are having Thanksgiving with friends?" Ben asked after coming back from dropping the couple, and Mal looked sheepishly at him and nodded. "Ok, should I ask someone to come, or did you already do it?"
"I sent a text yesterday afternoon so everyone can bring something." Ben nodded and smiled at her. "We need to go shopping for that too, maybe next Saturday? So we are ready, and we don't have to go out that day for last minute things." The boy agreed and went out to take the trash out while sending a text to his group chat with Azis, Jay, Carlos, and Ryder asking them if any of them was planning to tell him they were all spending thanksgiving with him.
The mocking started seconds after his message was delivered and didn't stop until the next day. When he made it clear that it was all fun and jokes until someone try to eat the last piece of pecan pie, and then the fights started. Ryder thought it was a joke but soon realized this group took Pecan pies seriously, so he made a mental note to bring two even though Mal hadn't assigned it to him.
Ryder was excited to join the group for Thanksgiving, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to introduce the entirety of the group to Maya. The girl had met the majority of them, but this would be the first big celebration since he moved to Seattle and he wanted everything to be perfect for them. His life since moving to the city had changed considerably; Ryder love his job, and saw the potential to grow in the company. Also, after years of wondering what would be like to date Maya they were finally official and even though things weren't exactly as he imagined them, he thought they were still getting to know each other and things could work out in the end.
With that in mind that Monday at the office he asked the group if he could do anything to help and explained that he really wanted Maya to enjoin herself, so Ben told him that maybe they could go out in couples that Friday, so she would get to know them more.
Maya agreed to go out with the couple, and on Friday the four couples went out for drinks, and at first things didn't go as planned. The girl seemed uncomfortable, and even though the girls managed to find some common ground, everyone knew that the girl wasn't having a great time. When Ryder announced that they were leaving an hour after theory arrived nobody said a thing but wondered if the couple was going to join them for thanksgiving seeing that the girl didn't seem to have the best time with them.
The next day Ben was coming from lunch when he heard Ryder talking on the phone. "I understand, but you promised we would spend it together, Maya. I understand you don't know my friends a lot but. Ok, I understand. We'll talk later."
Ben cleared his throat, and Ryder turned with a resignated look on his face asking the boy if he heard his conversation. "Enough to know that you are not joining us for Thanksgiving."
"Oh, I'm going but Maya is not coming. A group of her friends asked her to join them on a ski trip, and she wasn't sure how to tell me about it because she had decided to join them." Ben nodded, and Ryder told him that he wasn't happy about her backing out of their plans which was happening a lot lately. They talked for a while and then went back to work. That afternoon, Ryder returned to the boy's apartment and told Mal about Maya and the girl suggested to the boy that he needed to be open about his feelings.
Once again, days were packed with last minute tasks that needed to be done for everyone, and on Thanksgiving, all their friends came to join the celebration at Mal's and Ben's place. The James's were the focus of most of the celebration with their stories, and everyone had a great time. Mal took pictures of everyone and posted several little videos of the celebration, and Evie called her telling her that everything looked amazing and that if she was wondering if they were planning to stay in Seattle for Christmas or maybe they could join her in New York.
Mal promised to think about it, but she already had decided that they were staying in Seattle and have a celebration with the friends that weren't planning to go home plus Ben's parents who were flying in for the end of the year celebrations. The girl was excited to spend Christmas with Ben and start some traditions; her mind started wondering what their life would be like in the future when they start a family of their own. She decided to invite Alysa and Sean and made a point to visit the couple, who shared with her that they were about ready to put their house on the market again, meaning this would be their last celebration there.
"How about you all come here to celebrate with us?" Alysa said, but Mal felt bad to impose because she wanted to cook the turkey and didn't want to bother the couple and transporting the food made her nervous. Still, the couple insisted, and in the end, Mal agreed and thanked them for offering their house to them. Mal made a list of the people that were going to come to the celebration and the things they would need for it so they could see everything before telling the group where the celebration would be this time. The couple read all the information Mal brought them the next day and congratulated her on being so organized, and once again assured the girl that they were happy to have the celebration in the house.
After that, Mal told the group about the change of location and asked some of them to bring things for the celebration. Ryder asked Mal to go out to lunch and shared with her that he talked with Maya, and the girl wasn't very receptive to his opinions. "Since we started dating, I've realized that we are not as compatible as I thought we would be. I had this idea of her and me and what I hope we could be, but now that we've tried I'm not sure about it, and to be completely honest I feel better. I was thinking the last couple of weeks, and I want to try but I don't feel the need to force the situation to make it work. We could be friends, and I would be alright with it, which is kind of disappointing in some way, right?"
Mal understood her friend, but once again told him that communicating was the best way to see if the relationship would work in the end. Ryder agree and asked the girl how things were going on her end, and he noticed how happy she looked. "I keep thinking about how our life will be in the future. I know it is weird we haven't lived together for even one year, but my mind keeps creating these scenarios where we are a family."
"Is going to happen, Mal, and I'm going to be their favorite uncle. Don't tell Jay or Carlos cause I know they are going to try to fight me for it, but I'm going to win." That made the girl laugh and assured him she was on his team, but they should keep that between them.