Hidden Burdens (working title)

Thanksgiving: Round Two

The microwave beeped. Ariel yanked the door open to take the plate out. "That's not a bad thing. It only shows how big of a heart you both have. Animals especially can see it."

Kimmy took her plate back.

"I've been trying to tell him that, myself," Kayla inputted.

Kimmy took her plate over to sit where she sat the day before, listening to the adults insist she and Ben were alike. She didn't think so, though. At least Ben could talk.

She picked up the turkey wing to pull apart and nibbled on what came loose.

Oliver and Claudia shortly joined them as he bragged about getting schooled in pool. Something Kimmy never heard anyone do. Usually, a loser complained about their loss, but this guy seemed happy to lose.

Everyone sat around the kitchen table, chatting about stuff adults talked about while Claudia and Kimmy quietly ate their food. Ariel and Oliver didn't have stools at their island counter so Kimmy had to eat with them. Although, she thought about standing at the counter.

Ariel also tried to bring Claudia into the conversation, asking about school.

Claudia shrugged the questions off.

"Do you have any plans after high school? College? Career?"

She shrugged some more. "Something with kids, maybe."

"Oh, like a teacher?"

"Hell no," Claudia replied automatically, which Ben scolded her for, reminding Claudia about cussing. "I don't know yet. I just know I don't want to be a teacher."

"How are ya with blood and needles?" Oliver asked.

"Fine. Why?" She shrugged some more.

"Could always be a pediatrician."

"I don't know. Maybe."

Oliver turned to Kimmy next. "What about you, squirt?"

The only reason she looked up was that he was looking at her.

"Is there anything you want to be when you grow up?"

Kimmy gazed around the table, seeing everyone looking at her.

Ariel jumped in after a while. "She's got plenty of time to figure it out." She then stood up to see if anyone wanted to play a game while they ate dessert, collecting their plates.

Once her plate was gone, Kimmy carefully got up from her chair without pushing it out and wandered over to drop on the recliner. She folded herself into a ball, dropping her feet when Kayla told her to take her shoes off the chair since it wasn't their furniture. She was welcome to take them off completely when Oliver reminded her he wanted them to be comfortable. So, Kimmy kicked off each shoe with the other foot.

Oliver playfully grabbed her up-turned knee, shaking it. "You want some pie?"

She shrugged.

He listed off the kinds of pie that were brought yesterday until Kimmy nodded her head yes and brought her a slice of chocolate pie. "You can eat it here," Oliver insisted when she started to move back to the table. "Just try not to make a mess."

Oliver also asked if she wanted to play a game with them, which Kimmy shook her head. He then offered to put a movie on the TV. Their TV had all of their streaming services in one. Oliver scrolled through the movies until he came upon his favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story. It wasn't a movie Kimmy was familiar with. At least this old movie was less cheesy than that Halloween movie.