| One Thanksgiving |
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*One Thanksgiving*
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Sheridan surveyed the kitchen and sighed. It was only six am. No one in his or her right mind (or left mind for that matter) should be up at this ungodly hour to be cooking dinner! But Sheridan wasn’t stupid; she knew this wasn’t going to be easy. After all, she had NEVER cooked Thanksgiving dinner before, but Pilar hadn’t been feeling well and somehow her mouth spoke before her head kicked in and she was stuck cooking dinner for about twenty guests… Twenty! She couldn’t even make dinner for three and she was cooking for twenty! Like that was going to happen anytime in this decade! Grace usually helped Pilar, but she had called to say she wouldn’t be over until noon, which meant most of the food should be started by then. Theresa had promised to come by, but Sheridan was afraid after what that girl had done to the kitchen in her home. She groaned. This just wasn’t fair. The kitchen door swung open and her fiancé entered the kitchen, wiping the sleep from his eyes. What was he doing up? “Sher?” “What?” she mumbled, starting the coffee pot. She knew that was going to be the next thing he asked for. “Why aren’t you in bed?” “If you haven’t noticed, I have a meal for twenty to prepare,” she grumbled. “I have the VCR set to tape the parade since that’s the tradition.” “Thanks,” he looked at her. “So if you’re cooking, how…” He noticed the turkey on the counter. At least it was defrosted. “Sheridan, the turkey will cook faster in the oven,” “Shut up,” she muttered. “I know how to cook, all right? But I’ve never done anything so big before. This is why you and Colin get spaghetti so often, I can make spaghetti!” He laughed. “I offered to help you…” “Why? So you can say that your fiancée can’t even make turkey on her own? Come on, I’m not incompetent. This can’t be as hard as it looks!” He chuckled, remembering the cookie incident. “I don’t know about that. It can be…” “SHUT UP!” She glared at him. “Get out of my kitchen. Get out now! I’m going to do this without you…” “Sher!” he was shocked by her outburst. “JUST GO!” she pushed him out, shutting the door behind him. She was going to do this and without his stupid help. “It’s only a turkey!” His laughter came from the other room. “ARG!” Nikki looked over at her husband, caressing her stomach. Did she want to wake him? Not really, but she was starving. She sighed. Being pregnant was a pain in the butt, but so were six am cravings. Besides, it was his fault that she got this way. Sure, she wasn’t completely innocent in this matter, but she didn’t exactly have the parts to do this alone. She chuckled. Oh well things sucked if you were the man. “Noah…Noah…” Noah groaned, not again. This woman really had to have her internal alarm clock reset! “Nikki, it’s only,” one bleary eye looked at the clock. “Six am. Go back to sleep…” “I know what time it is, but I’m hungry. Noah, come on, please,” she begged. “Nikki, we’ll eat when we’re awake, in like an hour or three,” he rolled over, covering his head with a pillow. Nikki started to cry, big crocodile tears rolling down her cheeks. “But Noah…you’re daughter wants something to eat…please?” He groaned, not the tears. Anything but the tears! And mentioning the baby! That was a cheap shot! She knew he would do anything to make his daughter happy. Hell at a normal hour of the day he would do anything to make *Nikki* happy! “All right,” he got up. “What do you want to eat?” he asked, pulling on his robe and sliding into his slippers. “Peanut butter and bananas,” she smiled. “On white bread toast.” At least it was normal… “With catsup.” “Ewww, all right, stop there,” he started to leave the room, his stomach churning. “Don’t forget the pickles!!!” she giggled. God she loved that man. “Mommy?” Colin stuck his little head into the kitchen, looking back and forth for his mother. “Mommy?” No answer. But there was a HUGE mess on the cabinet, which probably meant she was in the pantry. He walked in and looked around further, tiptoeing over to the sink. She had left the cookies in the jar there. “Hold it right there, Colin Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald.” Colin’s hand froze midair. “Hi mommy,” he spun. “I was umm…” “Yea, I know what you were doing,” she crossed her arms. “Did daddy send you in here to check on me?” Colin smirked. So she didn’t know what he was doing. “Yup, he did. He said that you were making a mess and wanted me to check and see how bad it was,” he shook his head. “Gonna yell at him?” “Nope,” Sheridan walked over to the counter and looked at the recipe cards. “Feel like helping me make some Thanksgiving things?” Colin looked around. The turkey was in the over, but the ingredients for pies were out. He may only be five but he knew that this was a disaster waiting to happen. “I dunno, Mommy. Looks…like girl stuff.” Sheridan sighed. Just wonderful! Her son didn’t want to help either. “All right, Colin, scoot so I can finish cooking.” “But Mommy, I want some breakfast,” he whined. She had been out this for nearly two hours. Couldn’t they eat yet? “Oh, baby…” “Not a baby,” he interrupted, crossing his arms across his chest and casting her a look. She had to laugh; he had mastered her glare perfectly! “Ok, I’m sorry, Colin, but I forgot. Will cereal do?” “Can I picnic in front of the TV?” he asked, looking at her with wide puppy eyes. “Sure, go ask dad to set up your table…” “YES!!!!” he ran from the room. She laughed, looking back at the pies. “Ok, now this can’t be so hard. I only have to open the box…right? Right.” She quickly removed the pies from their boxes. Ok, so this was the easy way out but if they seriously thought she could bake anything more than M&M cookies… Well then they were seriously delusional. Checking the temperature for the pies, she realized it had to be much higher than the turkey. “Well, that means if I put them in at this temperature, they should just take a little longer,” she smiled, shoving the pies into the oven on the rack under the turkey. “There. Now, onto the veggies!” Luis looked at Colin. “What is she doing in there?” he asked, spreading the blanket out and setting up Colin’s indoor picnic. “Making a mess,” his son replied with a shrug. “Daddy, what else does she do in the kitchen?” “Good point,” Luis chuckled, ruffling his son’s hair. “You know who’s coming over today?” “Who?” he asked excitedly. “Aunt Ashley and her mom…” “And Uncle Jules??? Huh?? Will Uncle Jules be here?” he clapped his hands in delight. Luis laughed, remembering Julian at Colin’s birthday. It had been hysterical to see him wearing a birthday hat. It had been so damn funny and everyone had gotten pictures of it. “Yea, he’ll be here today.” “YES! I love Aunt Ivy all over Mr. Sam,” Colin plopped down and started munching on his cereal and quoting the adults he had heard talking. “Miss Grace is so obvious…” “Oblivious.” “That too,” he giggled. Luis laughed. “Your cousin Nikki is coming too.” “Better hide the food so I get some,” Colin pulled his cereal bowl closer. “She eats everything…” “She’s pregnant…” “No she’s fat,” Colin shoveled a spoon full into his mouth. “Very fat.” Luis chuckled. This kid was too much. “Is Aunt Theresa and Uncle Ethan coming?” he asked. “Yup.” Colin muttered something under his breath. Luis swore it sounded like ‘Great, hide the breakables and bring out the tissues.’ He shook his head and laughed. His sister and brother-in-law were pretty scary sometimes. It was dangerous to be around them on a good day… And if she got pregnant the world had better watch out! “Daddy?” “Yea kiddo?” “Can you move now?” he asked, shooing his father away. “My cartoons are on.” “Oh, right,” Luis returned to the couch, laughing. “Sorry.” “No problem,” he stopped talking, watching his shows again. Sheridan checked her watch. She had showered and changed, gotten Colin ready and set the table and still it seemed as if nothing was done. The veggies were ready to be cooked, but she decided to wait until the turkey was almost done. She checked her watch. The thirty-pound bird was supposed to take six hours and it was almost that time now, so she removed the bird. She needed to check the pies. When she opened the over door she shuttered… Something smelled rancid… “Ewww,” she held her nose. “What is that smell?” she removed the turkey. “Ok, whatever it is can’t be the turkey, right?” she noticed a piece of plastic hanging out of the turkey’s butt. “What the…” She pulled and out came a bag of… “EWWW THE HEART?” Sheridan threw it into the sink. “How disgusting! People really eat that?” she wiped her hands on a nearby towel, and then shoved the stuffing back into the turkey. “We can let this cook a little longer I guess…” she shoved it back in the oven, nearly dropping it due to its weight. She looked at the pies. “Man those seem so…undone.” She shrugged, closing the over door. People were due to arrive soon and she couldn’t wait to prove she could cook. Sitting at the table, she began to daydream about how everyone would tell her that her food was the greatest they had ever had and how Luis would have to own up to the bet they had going… Winner was the other person’s slave for a week… “One week of pure bliss,” she sighed, closing her eyes and picturing the many way she would use her slave… She didn’t realize it but she fell asleep… And she wouldn’t have woken had the most ungodly smell arose from the oven. “The turkey!” she gasped, darting up and running to the oven. Large pillows of black smoke rising from the now open door. “Oh no!” she used all her strength to remove the bird from the oven. It was charcoaled! “Oh man,” she sighed. “Sheridan what did you do?” she asked herself, looking at her watch. She had been asleep for nearly an hour! “Nice Sher, perfect…you ruined the bird.” She removed the pies from the over and was surprised when she cut…rather attempted to cut…into them. “FROZEN???” “Sheridan, is everything all right in there, angel?” Oh no! Luis couldn’t come in here now,” she ran to the kitchen door and popped her head out. “Just fine, why don’t you take Colin outside and play catch? The others should be here soon.” “All right…are you sure?” “Positive…scat!” she smiled and darted back into the kitchen. “All right, Crane, think. Your fiancé, his family and his friends are all expecting a PERFECT meal and you have three frozen pies and a burnt turkey that probably tastes like plastic on the inside because you managed to miss a bag of gizzards,” she shuddered. “What would a Crane do?” She laughed. “We wouldn’t have cooked in the first place. Minor set back…” Grabbing her phone book, she found the number she needed. “When all else fails…cheat,” she dialed the number. “Hello Emeril. It’s Sheridan. I heard you’re in Maine for the holiday and I have a huge favor…” Luis and the now congregated group of friends all settled inside. He couldn’t believe so many people were over for thanksgiving. He laughed. Ashley and Colin had escaped to his room to play video games, lucky kids! Ivy was sitting *very* close to Sam, leaning as close to him as possible. Grace was chatting with the blond, totally ignoring the way the other woman was flirting. Julian had already hit the liquor cabinet and was now talking to Kay, who was laughing hysterically at something. His brother, Miguel, had his arm wrapped tightly around Kay, protecting her from the big bad Crane. In another corner, Hank sat chatting with Misty. Nikki was whining that she was starving, which wasn’t really possible, but Noah was trying his best to placate her. Luis had a feeling Sheridan was going to be eighty times worse when she was pregnant. The rest were all milling about, chatting and laughing and Luis had just one question… What was his fiancée doing in the kitchen? Sheridan smiled and fixed the garnish on the turkey. Fortunately, she knew Emeril always made way too much food and he just happened to make enough for her little party (this is a story, pretend it could happen lol) Sheridan grinned. Time to eat! Stepping out into the living room she said, “If everyone wants to take a seat, dinner is ready.” “Really?” Luis looked at her skeptically. “And we’ll all live?” “You might not,” she mumbled. “I heard that, Sheridan,” Theresa smiled. “Just for his comment we should go to the Thanksgiving sales tomorrow and leave him with the kids…” “Oh, I’ll come!” Misty laughed. “That way he has more kids than Colin and Ethan,” she laughed. So did the other women. “I think it sounds like a great idea,” she replied, walking to Luis and kissing his cheek. “Your first job as my slave…but in the meantime, help me carry out the food.” He sighed, following her and lifting the huge turkey from the counter. “Sheridan, this is perfect.” “I know,” she shrugged, carrying some of the food into the kitchen. It took four trips but finally all the food was on the table and everyone was eating. Sheridan knew they would love it, but she almost laughed when Little Colin said it tasted like something made at a restaurant. How close to the truth THAT was! And so went Sheridan’s first and last Thanksgiving cooking. Pilar took back over from there; even though she had a feeling Sheridan hadn’t really made the food. It was wonderful though, because Luis did watch the kids the next day while she went shopping. But that’s another story entirely…
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