Love Is Full Of Surprises

Chapter 2

The next couple weeks flew by and Don and Meryl kept their promise to have a date night every week. One week he would plan it and the next she would plan it. They looked forward to every Friday night because it meant one thing-date night. This week was different as they would be with her family in Mason's Island, Connecticut for Thanksgiving celebrations. It was Wednesday morning and Meryl was finishing packing their stuff, Don still had to be careful because of his injuries, and he was meeting with some gallery owners, soon as he got home that afternoon they were going to hit the road. Meryl had finished packing by late morning and had a thought-she was going to make Don a pie. She wanted their first Thanksgiving to be perfect, she couldn't wait until they celebrated with her family. Secretly, she was glad they would be celebrating Thanksgiving with her family instead of his, because she knew how well he got along with her family, it was almost as if he was always a part of the family, and knew he felt like a black sheep with his. One thing he did always talk about regarding Thanksgivings back home was his mother's apple pie. She had made him one when they were on vacation in Maine, where they declared their love for one another, and he loved it, so she decided to make one again. She remembered his mom had sent her apple pie recipe, she wanted to follow the recipe to make sure last time wasn't a fluke. She got out all of the ingredients and started the process.

***

Two hours later Meryl stood in their kitchen extremely frustrated. Flour was everywhere; on the counter tops, on the floor, on the cabinets, and all over her. She was not having ANY luck with the apple pie. She had sliced her finger trying to peel the apples. She had thrown away multiple crust batches. She looked at the time and realized Don would be home any minute. She felt like a failure, all she wanted to do was make Thanksgiving special for Don and to make him a simple apple pie, but it wasn't working. She followed his mother's recipe to the T multiple times, but the crust never turned out right. She didn't know why she was able to make one in Maine without a recipe but not now when she was following a recipe that Don thought was the best apple pie ever, even though he now claimed hers was the best ever, she couldn't do it. She took a breath and decided to try one more time to make the crust without a recipe, it didn't work either. Deflated, she slid down the cabinets and sat on floor burying her hands and started to cry.

***

Don quickly made his way upstairs excited to start the holiday weekend with his wife. He walked into the apartment and could hear crying coming from the kitchen. He stopped at the sight in front of him, trying desperately not to laugh. There was flour EVERYWHERE, he saw half-peeled apples on the counter, and saw his wife sitting against the cabinets covered in flour and crying. He knelt down in front of her and noticed her right hand was wrapped in a towel and was soaked in blood. Now he wasn't laughing.

"Meryl, baby, what's wrong?" He asked rubbing her legs. She removed her hands and now had blood on her face, she was a mess. "Dear lord, Meryl, what is with the blood?" He asked getting up to wet a tea towel.

"I'm a failure, I can't even peel a damn apple." She cried as he wiped her face and wrapped her hand up again.

"What are you talking about, baby? You are the furthest thing from a failure." He tried to console her. "What happened in here?" He asked now concerned.

"I want this to be a really special Thanksgiving for us, and since you aren't going home for Thanksgiving I wanted to make you your mom's apple pie. I followed the recipe to the T THREE TIMES and it didn't work. Then, I decided not to use a recipe because that worked in Maine and even that didn't work. I sliced the hell out of my hand, I'm a mess, the kitchen is a mess, and I can't even bake my husband a simple apple pie. I am the worst wife ever. Maybe you should just marry Julia fucking Child!" She cried.