When I opened my eyes, there was a mug sitting on my bedside table, and next to it was a plate with a croissant on it. I smiled and sat up, looking around for Kat, but she was nowhere to be seen. I took a sip of the coffee but decided to save the pastry for later. I didn’t want to get crumbs all over the bed. I got dressed and went downstairs, where Kat was standing in my oversized t-shirt, resting her weight on the counter and frowning down at an open cookbook.
“I can’t believe you are going to be making all this stuff.” She balked at the list of dishes I would be working on with my mother that day. “This is so much food. And some of it seems really complicated. I wish I could offer to help, but as you know, I don’t—”
“You don’t cook,” I finished the sentence for her, laughing a little. “I know, you’ve told me about a hundred times. Don’t worry about it, I actually enjoy making all this stuff, and my mom will be here to help out.”
“I just feel very… what’s the word? Like a real mooch.”
“You helped out a little,” I assured her. “You put coffee and a pastry out for me, and I couldn’t get started on any of this if I didn’t have caffeine and sustenance.”
“Yeah, well that was nothing. I had the Postmates guy bring it.”
“It was very sweet, nonetheless.” I kissed her on the cheek. “Very romantic, if you ask me.”
She frowned and I felt her body stiffen a little as I slid an arm around her waist. “Well, I didn’t ask you, did I? And it’s not romantic. I was ordering coffee and food for myself anyway, I just decided to tack on an order for you as well. Its basic human decency is what it is.”
I laughed. “Whatever you say.”
She checked the time on the stove. “What time is your mom coming over again?”
“We’ve still got an hour.”
“But what if she comes early?”
“She never comes early.”
“Still,” she said. “I want to get out of here just in case. Oh, and did you talk to Vic yet? I’m worried she’s going to blow our entire secret.”
“She won’t,” I told her. I had invited some people from the office to come over for Thanksgiving, including Kat’s brother and father. Her friend Becca was going to be there with her fiancé as well, and the party rounded out with my mother, me, Vic, Sean, and Sean’s wife. Kat had been nervous about the whole thing, but I was finally able to convince her everything would be fine. The last hiccup was just to make sure Vic didn’t spill the beans, since she would probably recognize Kat from meeting her in the kitchen the morning after a few weeks ago. “She’ll understand why we are keeping it a secret; I just need to explain it the right way. I just wish I knew what to call us.”
“Is fuck buddies not an option?”
I gave her a look.
“Kidding,” she said. “Maybe it’s just best that we lie. Tell her that it was a one-time thing and we cut it off, but we don’t want anyone to know. That would probably be the easiest.”
“Yeah, except, I don’t lie to my kid.”
“Oh really?” I said. “Then what doesshethink you’re doing all weekend while she’s going to her friend’s cabin?”
“Spending a quiet weekend at home,” he said. “Which technically isn’t a lie.”
“Does she know I’m going to be spending it with you?”
I frowned. “No. But that’s a lie by omission and those hardly count.”
“If that’s what you have to tell yourself,” she said. She patted me on the chest. “I’m going to go get dressed and then I’m leaving. You, my friend, have some cooking to get done.” She kissed me lightly on the lips and then hurried upstairs before I had a chance to pull her into a longer embrace.
I watched her skip down the hallway, and wanted to chase after her, but she was right.
I hada lotof food to cook.
* * *
Dinner started at five, but guests began arriving before then. My mom and I had been cooking the whole day, without any help from Vic, who spent the whole time on her phone, talking to her friends about all the things they were going to do while at the cabin that weekend. I got a chance to talk to her right before Dean and Calvin arrived, and the conversation went as well as could be expected. I told her that things were complicated between Kat and I, and that we didn’t want anyone else to know about us before we knew what we really were. It wasn’t the full truth, but it wasn’t a lie either. It was a gray area that I thought I could live with, and Vic seemed to understand.
Once everyone was there, save Becca’s fiancé who she said had something come up at the last minute, I made sure everyone had a full glass of their drink of choice and invited them all into the dining room.
“Wow,” Becca said as we all walked into the other room. “This table setting is stunning.”