Season Of Love (gxg) | ✍︎︎

8. Give Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|  SEASON OF LOVE  |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday.
22 November 2018.
Riverlin, Michigan.

Thanksgiving Morning

"Riley, come here and let me run this lint roller over your clothes real quick," Noelle motioned for Dwayne's son to come stand in front of her.

"Why is grandma making us dress up?" He questioned, but still did as he was told.

"This is hardly dressed up," she said as she passed the lint roller over his shirt a couple of times. "She just wants everyone to look nice today. She wants to take family pictures for her Christmas cards this year."

"Are you gonna be in them?"

"I'm not part of your family, Riley."

"Yes, you are. You've been here since before I was born."

"Yes, that is true," Noelle nodded her head. "But I'm not actually part of the family."

"Then why are you spending Thanksgiving with us?"

"I'm only spending half of it with you. I'm going to my parent's house later on for dinner."

"Can I come? Mama Jennings cooks way better than my side of the family."

"You have to ask your dad, but I'm sure he'll be fine with it. Plus, my sister, Glory, has been asking about you a lot lately. But for now, come and let me fix your hair up a bit."

"My hair is done."

"Your hair is freshly cut, it's not done," Noelle said as she ran her fingers through his dense, kinky hair.

"What else needs to be done? I've already brushed it."

"Baby, your hair is dry as hell. What product did you put in it?"

"Product?" the little boy furrowed his eyebrows.

"Exactly. Come here." Noelle guided him to the bathroom and took out a moisturizer and a curl-defining cream to apply to Riley's hair.

"You gotta stop moving," she held Riley's head still so she could finish doing his hair.

Noelle wasn't doing anything too crazy. He had gone to get his hair shaped up with Dwayne a couple of days prior, so it was still fresh. All she was doing was spraying water on the couple of inches of hair he had on top of his head and applying product in it to define his natural curl pattern.

"Y'all almost ready?" They both heard Dwayne yell from his own bedroom.

"Almost!" They replied back at the same time.

"How do I look?" Dwayne came to the doorway of the bathroom with a casual suit on.

"A suit with a t-shirt and no tie?" Noelle raised an eyebrow at his outfit choice.

"Yeah. I look good."

"Then why ask me?"

"Because I want you to agree. I look good, right Riley?"

"Sure, dad."

"Y'all some haters," he scoffed. "I think we all look good. You have to," he nudged his son with his elbow. "Cause you look just like me."

"Thank God he isn't conceited like you," Noelle whispered under her breath. "Okay, Riley, I'm done with your hair. We can get going now."

The three of them got their jackets and shoes on before heading to the garage where Dwayne's car was parked to keep it safe from the light snowfall that had started earlier that morning.