Laura had offered to help in the kitchen and had been tasked with peeling the potatoes. Ace on the other hand remained on the couch smoking. His Uncle Ned had joined him, smoking cigars whilst he continued to listen to his records. Ace's father sat away from them, drinking scotch and staring at the wall.
When Laura had finished chopping the potatoes into even pieces, peeling and slicing the carrots and cutting the green beans Grace shooed her out of the kitchen.
"You've done enough dear, why don't you go sit down."
After filling up two glasses of water she began to walk back to the couch. She was distracted by her new surroundings and accidentally ran into Ace's father.
"I'm so sorry," she said as she moved to balance the two glasses, managing not to spill much.
He gave her a strange look and went back to staring at the wall. She walked over to Ace who had missed the whole thing and handed him his glass of water.
"Thanks doll," he said, reclining back into his chair and patting the seat next to him.
Dinner rolled around and Laura found herself seated between Joe and Janice with Ace directly across from her, sitting next to his mother and Harry. As Janice pulled her chair under the table she deliberately shoved Laura.
"Oh sorry," she said sarcastically. "Ow," she said as Ace kicked her.
The rest of the dinner went fairly smoothly and like every other year Laura was thankful for her mother still being around to take care of her.
"What happened to your father?" Janice asked when the table was being cleared, "is he in prison or something?"
"Janice," her mother scolded her.
"He's dead," Laura said softly, "he died in the war."
"You poor thing," Helen said, still glaring at her daughter, who for the moment realised she had gone too far.
"You're a real bitch, you know that," Ace hissed as soon as his aunt was out of earshot. He stood up and went to stand next to Laura who looked like she was about to cry.
"Come on," he said, "we're leaving."
It was not unusual for Ace to leave Thanksgiving early but he'd never had a reason to before. Laura stood up and thanked Helen and Ned for having her to their dinner, the former still apologising for her daughters rudeness. Ace said a quick goodbye to his Ma and pulled Laura out of the room.
They dressed quickly and were soon on their way back to her house. Laura was feeling the sadness well up in her stomach as her throat went dry and tears began to prickle in her eyes. She began to sniff softly as they began running down her face.
As soon as he noticed she was crying Ace pulled his car over to the side of the road.
"She's lucky I didn't smack her teeth out," Ace said as he put his arm around her.
"I don't know why I'm crying," she sobbed, "I don't even remember him."
"Don't worry about it," he said. He waited for her to say something else but she just kept crying. He started driving again, figuring she would be fine. Eventually she wore herself out and stared out the window. The scenery blurring to white as she squinted her eyes.
Ace made it back to her house and carried her inside.
"What are you doing?" she giggled as he scooped her up.
"Cheering you up," he said.
He put her down when they got inside.
"God I hate winter," he said lighting a cigarette.
"It's not winter just yet," Laura reminded him.
"It may as well be," he said staring into the never ending blanket of snow.
"I don't mind winter," Laura said snuggling against him.
"I guess it does have some advantages," he said kissing her.
They spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the full advantages of an empty house.
The sun rose high on Friday, bringing with it the return of Caroline. She made a roast dinner that night and staged a mini Thanksgiving as an apology to Laura.
"Much better than what I had to eat yesterday," she said, "powder and glue."
Laura pulled a face, "Mom I'm eating."
"Sorry honey, how was dinner with Ace's family?"
"It was fine," Laura replied dismissively, she had been dancing around the topic all day.
"Did something happen?" Caroline asked, not fooled for a second.
"Ace's cousin was a little put off by my being there, that's all."
"Well that's her own problem I guess. Did you make your pie?" she asked.
"Yes," Laura said much more enthusiastically, "everyone seemed to like it."
"I think I missed that most of all," Caroline sighed, the pumpkin pie was her favourite.
"I should have made another one," Laura said, not realising that Caroline had missed out on Thanksgiving completely.
"Maybe tomorrow," Caroline agreed.
Laura went back to eating her meal. She had wanted to bring up the girl asking about her father and how confused she was at how upset she had been but she didn't dare. Her mother had loved her father, she didn't need to be reminded that he wasn't here anymore.