Best Siblings Forever (I Love You to Paris & Back)

Chapter 8-The Big Thanksgiving (And Christmas!) Surprise

"Chan!" Elise yells at me. "Check the turkey, will you?"

I make a face as I reluctantly stand and walk over to the oven.

"The turkey's fine, Elise!" I yell. I walk back to my seat on the couch where Liam and Blake are fully engrossed in the football game.

I hear footsteps from the hall and a few seconds later, Elise puts her hands on my shoulders and massages gently.

"Ohhh, that feels amazing." I feel myself relaxing.

"You deserve it after all that work you did yesterday," Elise replies. I can hear the grin in her voice as she ruffles my hair. "That turkey looks amazing. What time did you say it would be done?"

I check my phone. "It's got about an hour left."

"Okay." Elise joins me on the couch. "Who's winning?"

"Cowboys," Liam says quickly.

For a while, we all concentrate on the game-even Elise, who, for a girl, is pretty good about keeping up with sports. None of us even glance toward the oven until we begin to smell the smoke.

"What is that?" Blake asks, wrinkling his nose.

My eyes widen and Elise and I look at each other.

"The turkey!" she screams, scurrying into the kitchen.

My Grandma, who was setting the table, comes into the kitchen. Elise grabs the hot pads and opens the oven, only to choke the rest of us with black smoke.

"Oh, crap," Elise yells disgustedly. She grabs the turkey pan and shoves it in the sink while Liam and I try to wave away some of the smoke. Surprisingly, the fire alarm hasn't bothered to go off yet. Usually by this time, it's screeching something about carbon monoxide poisoning.

The turkey is charcoal black. One look at our charred creation and we all know there isn't going to be any Thanksgiving dinner.

Elise sighs loudly, slaps the oven mitts onto the counter and retreats to her room. Grandma stays silent. Liam and Blake poke at the turkey, but I already know it's too burnt to taste good.

"So, what do we do now?" Blake asks.

"Well, I am going to go console Elise and you two can start making phone calls to see if there's a restaurant open on Thanksgiving," I say, a little too brightly. Liam and Blake roll their eyes at me.

I knock on Elise's door and then go in without a response. Elise is pacing back and forth with fervor.

"You're gonna wear out the carpet," I tell her. She looks up long enough to shake her head and then resumes pacing.

"Elise, it's gonna be okay. We'll go to a restaurant and we'll still have Thanksgiving."

She shakes her head. "It's not just the dinner. It's...Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is about family and Dad should be here for Thanksgiving! But no, he's overseas doing some kind of important mission. Too busy to come home for Thanksgiving. He's got more important things to do."

"You know it doesn't work like that," I say quietly. "I'm sure Dad would love to come home for Thanksgiving if he could. I wish he could come home too, but he's probably over in some Middle-Eastern country saving lives. They need him more than we do."