"Okay, so that didn't work," said Taylor, as the limo pulled up to the Hanson's California house after dropping Bob and Scott off at their place. "Next in line is Tara Greenberg, the daughter of that record label executive I was telling you about?" Tamara nodded. "Luckily for us, he's coming to see how the record is doing and he will probably be bring Tara along. It'll be the perfect time to try and get her and Scott together."
"You know Taylor, maybe we shouldn't be forcing this on Scott. What if tonight was just a sign that none of this is going to work out?" said Tamara.
"Not going to work out?!" exclaimed Taylor. "Do you WANT to get rid of the guy or not? It's gonna work, believe me."
"Okay, okay," Tamara said. "Sheesh."
"I'm going to bed," Taylor said as he yawned. He gave Tamara a kiss and off to bed he went.
The next morning all the Hanson's were running around the house getting their respectable breakfasts and looking for lost shoes. Diana stopped Taylor as he was about to head out to the El Camino. The rest of the kids were going to stay home with the adults today.
"Just so you know, Steve Greenberg is coming to visit us in two days....he and his daughter, you remember Tara? They'll be staying with us over Thanksgiving...."
Taylor interrupted her. "Really? They'll be staying with us? That's perfect!" he said as he ran out the door.
Diana just shook her head. "Kids these days, I'm tellin ya."
Taylor plopped into the seat next to Tamara. "Good news," he said to her. "Greenberg and that girl of his are coming to stay with us over Thanksgiving...now we can set her up with Scott!"
Tamara looked at him. "You do know what this means, don't you?" Taylor looked confused. "Now you're going to have to invite the Moffatts over for Thanksgiving dinner."
Taylor gasped. He hadn't of thought of it that way.
"Great! So this means Bob's coming over for turkey and potaTOES?!!!" said Zac excitedly. "Hooray!"
Later, during lunch break at the studio, Isaac, Taylor, Tamara and Zac were all eating on a picnic table outside the studio, when the Moffatts wandered over to where they were sitting.
"Mind if we join you?" asked Scott, sitting next to Tamara before anyone could answer.
"Oh sure, go right ahead," said Taylor breezily. "How are you today?"
Scott raised an eyebrow. "Uh, good I guess. That sure was fun last night, wasn't it? Ha! I can't believe you actually wanted to hang out with Dream, Taylor. You sure have bad taste in music."
Taylor growled, but bite back the smart remark he was about to say. "Heh heh, yeah, how about it. Anyway, what are you all doing for Thanksgiving?" he asked, cutting right to the chase.
All four of the Moffatts looked surprised that Taylor hadn't whipped out the machine gun on them yet. "Well, I dunno," said Scott. "Probably just ordering Chinese food or something. Our parents are in Canada. Besides, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving anyway."
"Well," started Taylor, almost choking on the words he was about to say. "Why, uh, why don't you come over to our, uh, house and eat with all of us for Thanksgiving...."
The Moffatts looked at him incrediously. "Wow, you're actually inviting us to your house for Thanksgiving?" said Clint.
"That's amazing!" said Dave.
"Will there be beans?" asked Bob.
"Lots of them!" answered Zac.
"What's the catch?" asked Scott, suspiciously.
"No catch," said Taylor, smiling a little. "Just some good, old fashioned family fun."
"Well....okay!" said Scott, getting up to leave. His brothers followed suit. "See you guys later, bye Tamara," he said, rubbing her shoulder.
Once they were out of earshot, Taylor moaned. "I can't believe I actually did that....man, this is gonna be the worst Thanksgiving ever."
Two days later, the Hanson house was filled with the smell of cooking Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, stuffing, and of course, beans.
"Beans?" asked Diana. "Who eats beans at Thanksgiving?"
"It's a special request from Bob!" exclaimed Zac.
Diana nodded like this was supposed to make sense. She was cooking for 17 people and had no time to question Zac. Luckily, Tamara's mom was there to help but even so, cooking for all nine Hanson's, Tamara and her mom, the four Moffatts and Steve and Tara Greenberg was no easy task. This is why she demanded that all persons under the age of 45 be kept out of the kitchen. That meant that only three people were allowed to step foot inside.
Taylor waited anxiously in the living room. Steve and Tara had not yet arrived yet, and he was a little nervous as to how she would look. He knew that if she was a total dog, Scott would not even look at her. To make matters worse, Tamara looked exceptionally pretty that day, with her hair slightly curled and wearing a cute turquoise dress.
"Dang it, Tamara," said Taylor. "Why do you have to look good today?"
"Oh thanks a lot," huffed Tamara, just as the doorbell rang. "What, you want me to wear a dishrag?"
"Oh you know that's not what I meant," muttered Taylor, as he got up to get the door. "This is probably Steve and Tara."
But it was just the Moffatts, who were carrying a dish with tinfoil wrapped over it.
"Oh, hi," said Taylor, letting them in. "What's that?"
"Angelfood cake," said Scott. "Family recipe."
"Well that was nice!" said Tamara, taking it from him.
Scott smiled at her. "You look very nice, Tamara," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Why thank you!" Tamara grinned, looking pointedly at Taylor. He rolled his eyes and closed the door after them.
Tamara gave the cake to Diana, carefully making sure not to cross the sacred line into the kitchen. Then she joined the rest of the boys in the living room. They were all sprawled across the couches, watching Zac and Bob play each other in Crash Bandicoot racing.
"Well, I'm soooo glad you could come," said Taylor. "Scott- there's someone I want you to meet!"
"Oh really," said Scott, not taking his eyes off of the screen.
"Yeah our A&R guy should be coming over soon...he's bring his daughter, Tara. She's really cute, I think you'd like her."
Scott turned to face him. "Is that so."
Taylor gulped. He prayed to the high heavens that the girl would be an Gisele Bundchen lookalike. "Yeah...she's nice, I bet you two would be perfect together."
"Well, I guess we'll see, won't we?" said Scott.
"Yeah..." said Taylor, as the doorbell rang again.
"GET THE DOOR!" shouted Diana from the kitchen.
"Yeah yeah, Ma," said Taylor as he got up. "Let's all go greet them." All of them got up, except for Zac and Bob, who were still engrossed in the game.
"Can't," said Zac. "Must...get...jewel...."
The rest of the group gathered around the door as Taylor opened it to let them in. Steve Greenberg was standing at the door and grinned.
"Hiya Taylor! Happy Thanksgiving! You remember my daughter, Tara?" Steve stepped out of the way to reveal his daughter, who was standing behind him on the doorstep.
Zac screamed from inside the living room. "Noooooooooo!" he howled. As Taylor looked at Tara Greenberg, he felt like doing the same thing. A thing that must have been about 250 pounds walked in the doorway. Taylor didn't know how he couldn't have seen her at all standing behind Steve. She had short redish orange hair and tons of freckles and was wearing a bright yellow dress that made her look like a fat canary. A pile of zits were scattered across her face and when she grinned, Taylor got a flash of metal. Braces.
"Um, yeah, I remember her," said Taylor. "How's it going?" His shoulders slumped down and he felt defeated.
"Great!" she squawked. Taylor could hear Scott stifle a laugh behind him. "How is everyone!?"
"Oh, fine, fine," said Taylor. "Come on in. My parents are in the kitchen." Steve went off to find the adults and the rest of the kids stood staring at Tara. "Um, let's go back in the living room then," he said, leading them back.
Bob and Zac looked up as they all walked into the room. "I lost," said Zac. "It was really bad, I..." he stopped when he saw Tara standing with them. "Heaven's to Betsy, what is that thing?!"
Taylor's eyes widened. "What, that?" he asked, grabbing one of Zoe's stuffed animals. "You know what that is, it's Mr. Birbs! Our favorite sea monkey!"
Zac just stared at him dumbfoundedly. "Oh hell," said Taylor, throwing Mr. Birbs over his shoulder. "Zac, you remember Tara?"
"Yes, I think so!" squeaked Zac. "How are you?"
"I'm fine!" she said. "I just can't believe all the Moffatts are here too! When I saw Scott, I almost died!!!!"
Taylor and Tamara both smirked and looked at Scott, who looked horrified.
"Oh Scott," said Tara. "Won't you sit next to me at dinner?"
Scott grabbed Taylor by his collar and drug him out of the room. "Is this your idea of a funny joke?" he hissed.
"It's not exactly what I had in mind," admitted Taylor. "But she's all yours, buddy," he said, patting him on the shoulder. Scott looked like he could have killed him. Just then, Diana called out,
"Dinner! Everyone, in the dining room!" The group of kids all ran eagerly to the kitchen, with Tara following Scott like a lost puppy.
"Oh good Lord, Taylor," said Tamara. "Look what you've done."
"You look REALLY good now," he whispered in her ear. "No competition for you!" He playfully grabbed her around the neck and kissed her.
"Oh good, I was really worried," she said, joking. "Let's go eat."
The table was set up magnificantly, with the food piled in the center. Each place was set with the good China and silver goblets. There was red wine for the adults (Isaac got a sip cause he begged) and sparkling cider for the kids. It was a feast fit for pop superstars.
"Diana, this looks wonderful," said Walker. "Shall we say the blessing?" They all bowed their heads as Walker started the prayer. "Dear heavenly father..."
FAAAAARRRRT.
Everyone looked up in shock. Scott had a disgusted look on his face and Tara was looking sheepishly at her plate. Walker bowed his head again and everyone followed. "Thank you for this wonderful meal that you have provided us with and may...."
There was a shattering of glass and they all looked to see Bob's sparkling cider all over the white, linen table cloth.
"Sorry," he whispered. Walker continued.
"...and may we all remember what you have given us today..."
Jessica, Avery, Mackenzie and Zoe had all gotten into a fit of giggles over something and couldn't stop laughing. Jessica's face turned red until she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
"Jessica, is there a problem?" asked Diana sharply.
"No, Mom," she stifled.
"and thank you for our family and friends..."
It seemed Tara's chair was collapsing under her weight. She tried to stand up before she fell, but instead she grabbed onto the bowl of mashed potatoes, which started to tip off the ednge of the table. Scott frantically tried to grab it, but it was too late. The mashed potatoes landed in Scott's lap.
"YUUUUCK!" he shouted as he stood up. The mashed potatoes were stuck to his pants and the front of his shirt.
"I'm sorry!" cried Tara as she grabbed a napkin to wipe him off.
"No! Watch out!" yelled everyone. She flung around and the bowl of cranberry sauce went flying through the air, landing on Zac's head. His eyes were wide with shock as the sauce began to ooze down his face. Zoe reached out a finger and licked it off.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Tara screeched as she ran over to help Zac. She tripped over the edge of Tamara's chair and the next few seconds were in slow motion.
Tara's 250 pound body went flailing about widly as she tried to maintain her balance, but it was too late. Tamara screamed and leaped out of the way as Tara came toppling down onto the table. The impact was like an atomic bomb exploding. The crash alone broke the table in half and all of Diana's hard labor went sliding down the table and to the floor, landing on top of Tara, who was lying on the floor. Everyone jumped out of the chairs to avoid getting hit with some various food item, but most people were covered with either gravy or stuffing. To Bob's delight, the bowl of beans had landed by him and he promptly grabbed a fork and began munching away. The rest of the group stared at the table and what was left of the Thanksgiving dinner and Tara, covered in every possible entity.
"Amen," said Walker.
Two hours later, Taylor and Tamara sat by the pool eating take-out Chinese. Zac, Isaac, Jessica and Avery were playing in the pool. Scott and the rest of the Moffatts had gone home and Tara was hiding in the bathroom. The adults were still trying to clean up the mess in the living room and Mackenzie and Zoe were taking a nap after running around naked in the Thanksgiving food.
"Two down, one to go," said Taylor, biting down on an eggroll. Tamara just sighed.