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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 1:49:19 GMT
Growing up there was a certain expectation of what Thanksgiving was supposed to be. It seemed like everything on television and on movies showed a big happy family surrounding a long table overflowing with food. The family shared what they were thankful for, watched football, and celebrated all that it meant to be together on a holiday. For a long time, Brandon Finn's family had attempted that same normality, with the family coming together over dinner to share in the warmth of the holiday together. As he got older, his father's work schedule had become more and more hectic, leading to a sense of uncertainty over whether or not he would even be around for Thanksgiving. Eventually, his mother just stopped making plans to visit the family, figuring that it would be enough to just have the three of them together. But when his father still hadn't shown, Brandon had made it part of his routine to just skip the holiday altogether. There was a reason why Thanksgiving was the busiest bar night of the year. In fact, he wasn't entirely uncertain that he wasn't solely responsible for it being such a busy night.
But things were proving to be different with Amber in his life now. And especially now that they were going to be having a baby soon, she was proving that she was hoping for a certain lifestyle as they continued to grow their own family together. He had been teasing when he said that Amber had been using this as practice for their future domestic life together, but he wasn't sure how much of a joke it actually was. She had been planning this day now for a little while and he had tried to provide support in whatever way that he could, but the truth was he wasn't sure how much help he would be. Considering the fact that his Thanksgivings traditionally included partying and hitting up the best that the city had to offer in terms of nightlife, staying home for a Thanksgiving gathering seemed weird. Besides, he certainly didn't have the skills to cook anything that was actually edible. And as much as loved Amber, he wasn't sure that she knew what she was doing either. Which is why he had enlisted Cooper's help in creating a backup plan in the first place, though he certainly would never admit that to her.
Daring to enter the kitchen, he smiled at her. "How's it going? Need help with anything?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 2:29:46 GMT
Amber had never really understood family holidays. She saw what they were supposed to be, depicted in television and film. She even would sometimes pop in to her friends' homes growing up and see what they were actually all about. She loved department store windows during holidays, because of their perfectly prepared scenes of what it should have been. She thought, perhaps, if her parents hadn't felt a certain way about her that maybe their holidays would have been better. It was why she was so determined to get everything right during her first holiday with Brandon. Especially now that they had a child on the way she thought it was important to figure out how to do these things correctly so that their child never doubted how much they cared or wanted to be near them the way she had growing up.
Of course, that was going miserably. The stuffing was done, and she'd even made it without using the kind you just added water to. And she'd prepared mashed sweet potatoes baked with a marshmallow topping. She had dessert down - that was always the part she was best at. Everything was going well until she opened the oven and realized that the turkey wasn't coming along as she expected. It had taken only a few minutes Googling on her phone to realize what had gone wrong.
When Brandon walked in, she frowned a bit. "Well, I mean..." she glanced away and sighed. "I think the turkey should probably ready by tomorrow. I screwed up," she added sadly.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 3:05:45 GMT
It had quickly been apparent that today was different than just any other day. Aside from the fact that it was a holiday and that the kitchen had been used more today than it had in the entire time that he had lived in the Penthouse, there was just a sense of normality that seemed to be settling in over them. He couldn't help but start thinking of what their holidays would have been like in the future, thinking that they were going to be the ones hosting large holiday gathering for their families once their child was born. Brandon wasn't sure entirely how he felt about that though he did have to admit that if the future continued to consist of Amber wearing a cute little apron while she cooked meals, he supposed that it was certainly something that he could get used to.
He smiled sadly at her, "I'm sure it'll be okay. It's probably not that bad," he offered. Though he really didn't know anything about cooking, and he really didn't know anything about making sure that a turkey was cooked properly.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 3:26:57 GMT
Amber frowned, running her hands through her hair. "It's pretty bad," she told him. "I researched everything. I made the stuffing from scratch, I used real marshmallows on the sweet potatoes and the vegetables are perfect. I made two kinds of pie and cookies." Frowning, Amber shook her head, "But I didn't thaw the turkey. It's still basically frozen. And technically, that's the most important part of Thanksgiving."
Crossing her arms in front of her, she glanced at the time on the stove and realized just how quickly their guests would be arriving. "Great, well," she muttered. "It took a record breaking amount of time for me to ruin our first holiday together." Shaking her head, she wiped her hands on a dish cloth and shook her head. In Amber's head, ruining their Thanksgiving dinner meant more than just one meal with a few of their friends.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 4:12:34 GMT
Brandon smiled at her, "It sounds to me like you have a lot to be proud of. And it's not the most important part of Thanksgiving, Amber." He would never have said it to her, but when it really came down to it, he wasn't sure that there was necessarily an important part of Thanksgiving. He would have been happy to have stayed in with her and ordered dinner and just avoided everything that made this day such a cliche. But it had seemed important to Amber that they had their first holiday be something special, something other than just another night at home.
"You didn't ruin anything," he said to her, "And I'm sure everything will be fine."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 4:39:16 GMT
Cassidy wasn't thrilled about spending the holiday in New York City. She'd never missed a holiday with her family, really. The only reason that she was there was because something had come up at work and now she'd been stuck there - missing all of the weird Miller family traditions she'd come to love. She plastered a smile on, however, when she ran into Cooper, Madison, and Melanie downstairs at the Penthouse and listened with polite nodding as Melanie chattered away at them, like toddlers tended to do. It just reminded her of the nieces and nephews she wasn't seeing though and made her sad.
Cooper was actually pretty happy about spending the holiday with his friends. It was better than spending it with his mother, who was a little cold towards Melanie and had never really been the warm homemaker he'd wanted her to be. In fact, he didn't like bringing Melanie around his own mother that often, because he thought it was bad enough Melanie's own mother wasn't around - the last thing she needed was his own confusing her even more. He had been the one to knock on the door, his other hand on the small of Maddy's back. "I'm glad you came with us." When Amber opened the door for them, Cooper was pleasantly surprised that the Penthouse smelled incredible. Maybe Amber had outdone herself. "Amber," he greeted her. "Everything smells great."
Amber bit her lip and looked up at Brandon before shaking her head. "There's been a bit of a hitch in the plan."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 5:12:47 GMT
Maddy had come to have a certain expectation of the holidays. She figured that it was because she had been spoiled while growing up because holidays had always meant big family gatherings where everyone talked about everything they had done since the last time they had seen each other. And considering the fact that her family liked to meet on every major holiday that they could possibly think of, there was never much to really update them on. Especially in the last few years when she hadn't had much of a personal life to update them on, and they quite frankly had expressed that they didn't understand exactly what her job entailed. So when Cooper had invited her to have Thanksgiving with a small group, she had happily accepted, reasoning that her family would survive one holiday without forced conversation. She smiled at him before they stepped into the Penthouse, thanking him again for the invitation. She wasn't really sure how this whole thing was going to go, to be honest. She smiled brightly at Amber, "Thank you so much for inviting us."
Brandon shook his head, "Amber, it's really not a big deal."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 5:25:33 GMT
Amber bit her lip and looked at everyone. "Well, I made a mistake and we have everything we need except for the turkey, which is still pretty frozen."
Cassidy didn't mean to let her own expression fall or her mood sour. Deep down, she knew first hand how much pressure Amber was putting on herself for the holiday and she admired it. But she also was preoccupied with her own sadness at not having been able to go back to Wisconsin. She sighed and looked at Amber, shaking her head, "I told you we could have just ordered one or something."
Cooper glanced around at everyone else, before shrugging his shoulder. "Just the turkey? That's really not the worst thing, Amber. It could be a lot worse. I can have a turkey here in fifteen minutes."
"On Thanksgiving?" Cassidy asked incredulously.
"When Brandon told me Amber was cooking, I knew it was a big deal to prepare a meal like this for the first time, so I had the restaurant at the hotel prepare...plan B."
Melanie poked her head around from behind her father and grinned brightly at everyone in the room, especially when her eyes settled on Brandon and Amber. She liked Amber because the blonde liked to do her hair and teach her games. She was quite smitten with Brandon. She wasn't sure why no one seemed super happy. But she'd brought crayons and toys in her backpack and had her favorite dress on, so she thought they'd better cheer up soon.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 5:45:00 GMT
Brandon had reached a point where he didn't know what else he could possibly say to Amber to make her realize that things weren't nearly as bad as she thought that they were. He looked over at Cooper at his offer to get a turkey over here and he was suddenly so appreciative of the fact that they had planned for a backup plan, just in case. He didn't want Amber to feel like her first Thanksgiving with him was ruined over something that truly wasn't a big deal. "See? Crisis averted," he offered. "Just let us know what you need and we can help out."
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 5:51:12 GMT
Ignoring Brandon's comment, Amber glowered at Cooper for a moment before turning her attention to Madison. "I'm so glad that you could come," she greeted the other woman warmly. "How's everything? Come on, I'll get you a drink and you can catch me up on how things have been."
Cooper eyed Amber, unsure of what to do since she didn't actually confirm that she needed a turkey. "I'd love a drink."
"You can get yourself a drink, Cooper. I wouldn't want to get you a drink and make it wrong and for you to have to arrange for a back-up," Amber replied gently before turning her attention back to the brunette, smiling brightly once again. "I just started reading this new book that I actually think you'd really like."
Cassidy walked over to Brandon and greeted him with a nod. She was about to ask him something when Melanie bolted past her to stand right in front of Brandon. "Can I sit next to you?" the little girl asked with a broad smile.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 20, 2015 15:01:34 GMT
Madison had come to realize just how quickly she had begun to consider Amber a friend. In fact, the fact that they had bonded relatively fast had caused some uncertainty in her friendship with Riley, at least in situations where the three women were present. The fact of the matter was that Riley had been her best friend for as long as she could remember, and Madison was absolutely ecstatic about being her maid of honor this spring. And while she knew that it wasn't against any rules to have more than one female friend, a small part of her felt strange being here with Amber and Brandon Finn instead of being with her family, or even with Riley. But, she had to keep reminding herself, things were constantly changing. In fact, a large part of why things were changing in her own life seemed to have upset Amber. She looked over at Cooper for a moment, shaking her head and giving him a soft smile. Having a backup plan was probably not the most comforting fact at the moment. "Things have been going really well, thank you again for having us," she said, turning her attention to Amber. "How have things been going for you?"
Brandon smiled in greeting to Cassidy, noting that she seemed to be a little off from her normally bubbly personality before Melanie rushed over. "Sure," he told her with a nod, "You might just have to ask Amber," he wasn't entirely certain if she had a seating chart or something additional planned to make this the Thanksgiving dinner that she was anticipating. Now that she seemed to have reached the peak of her sadness over the failed turkey, he didn't want to give her anything else that might have set her off. Like a backup turkey. In fact, at this point things probably would have gone south quickly had she known that he had conspired to have an entire backup meal prepared. Smiling at Melanie, he turned his attention to Cooper, "Thank you, by the way," he nodded, not sure if he meant for having a plan b or for not throwing him under the bus with Amber. "I can grab you a drink. Cassidy, do you want anything?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 20, 2015 20:34:47 GMT
Cassidy offered a weak smile at Brandon, "Wine if you have it would be great." She turned to Amber, eyebrow lifting. "Did you remember to turn the oven on?"
Amber looked up at Cassidy, frowning. "Of course I remembered to turn it on, I just...forgot that I had to start thawing it four days ago," she admitted. She ran her hand through her hair and looked back at Madison, "I'm really glad you came. I thought it would be fun to get everyone together for the holiday."
"So you just stuck a completely frozen turkey in the oven this morning and hoped for the best?" Cooper asked, mildly amused. He knew it was a common problem and that making a full meal like this for this many people was a big deal. "Honestly, it's really not that big of a deal. The turkey is the hardest part, and honestly when Brandon invited me and we discussed arranging for a back up plan, I thought we'd need everything. Like I said when I came in, everything else seems like it turned out great." He turned his attention back to Brandon. "A drink would be great."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 21, 2015 0:02:30 GMT
The tension in the room had become palpable and Brandon had visibly winced when Cooper had mentioned that he had played a part in arranging a backup plan for this dinner. It truly hadn't been that he didn't trust that Amber was possible of managing everything on her own, he had just been worried that she might have been disappointed if things didn't work out. And the truth was, things hadn't worked out the way that she had planned. But she was taking it a little harder than he had originally anticipated. Perhaps it was nonsensical to think that she would have been happy or appreciative of their plotting and planning, but he also hadn't factored in the idea that Cassidy might have been a little bit testier than normal. He wasn't sure how much that was factoring into everything. Brandon busied himself with getting Cassidy and Cooper each a drink, pouring himself one as well, feeling that they might have been on the cusp of Amber reaching her limit. Handing their guest their drinks, he tentatively took a sip from his own glass. "Everything is going to be great," he reassured her. "Amber, we can just get the replacement turkey over here and we can just pretend like nothing ever happened. It'll be fine."
Maddy looked between Amber and Brandon for a moment, trying to figure out exactly what was going to happen. Truthfully, she didn't know then very well and she wasn't sure whether or not she should brace herself for an argument. From what she could remember, and from what she had heard, they had always been very passionate people in the fact that they always seemed to be arguing with each other, breaking up, and then getting back together. She couldn't say that she completely understood it, but she did know that she felt sorry that there seemed to be tension today. She would have offered to help Amber with whatever she needed help with at the moment. It was the tactic that she had used to avoid awkward questions from her mother and extended family as her grandmother finished cooking her family's Thanksgiving dinner.
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Sept 21, 2015 1:15:36 GMT
Amber looked at Brandon for a moment and then reached to untie her apron. "Maybe it doesn't seem like a very big deal to some of you, or maybe it doesn't seem like I did enough," she ticked her eyebrow up at Cassidy. "But I wanted to have everyone over because I've never had a big family Thanksgiving."
Removing her apron, she dropped hung it up and shook her head, glancing at Cassidy again she frowned. "I knew you were sad that you weren't going home so I got your mom to give me your favorite recipes."
"Excuse me," she said gently. "I just need a minute." She turned and walked in the direction of the bedroom.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Sept 21, 2015 3:27:25 GMT
Brandon frowned. He hadn't been expecting for her to seem so sad, angry maybe, but not like this. Amber really had done her absolute best to make sure that everything today was as perfect as she had hoped. He has watched her work hard to make a variety of dishes he didn't even know where to begin making. Which really didn't say much considering the fact that he had never actually cooked much for himself, but he was proud of her for how much she had accomplished and how much she had attempted. He was even proud of her for attempting to make a turkey, no matter how much she claimed she had failed at it. He was suddenly very sorry that he hadn't consulted her about having a backup plan. "If you would just excuse me for a second," he announced to the room before adding "Please make yourselves comfortable."
Following Amber into their bedroom, he sighed as he shut the door behind them, "Hey - are you okay? I'm sorry for asking Cooper to get a backup dinner. I just didn't want you to be disappointed in case something happened."
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