"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude." -E.P. Powell
-------------------
Roselle sat there, studying the old woman. "You want me to what?"
"Break up the future president Armani Parker and the heiress Lily Strobe before the wedding," Grandma Scott said.
"I don't even think that I could."
"If I didn't think you could do it, I wouldn't be asking you."
"How? What should I do?"
The old woman tittered. "I don't know. Whatever it takes. Use Dylan. Use Eliot. Use a third party. Do a little espionage. I don't care what you have to do or who you have to use. Just do it. Get creative." She took out a business card and handed it to her. "If there's anything I can do to assist you in this operation, please let me know. I'm just a phone call away."
Roselle hesitantly took the card and put it in her pocket. "One question. What's in it for you?"
"Well, as you probably know, Lily and Dylan were together a long time ago. It was perfect. If they had gotten married, that would've strengthened my family immensely." She frowned. "Then Warren got involved and foiled my plans."
"I thought Warren didn't want the marriage to happen because of Dylan's politics."
She shook her head. "No, dearie, it was because he hates me. Not to worry, I have a plan. Don't worry about that part. Focus on what I've assigned to you."
"I haven't even told you that I'll do it."
The car stopped in front of Roselle's hotel.
Grandma Scott looked at her once more, and her intensive eyes were daunting. Finally, she said, "But I know you will."
With that, Roselle got out of the car in a hurry, practically running away from that crazy rich old woman.
* * *
"Where have you been?" Michelle asked, swinging the door open once Roselle came by the room. "Things have been crazy once you left."
Roselle came in and threw herself on the bed. "I doubt things have been crazier for you than they've been for me."
"Well, get this. Our company website has been blowing up in the past few hours, and a whole bunch of people are asking us to do their hair and makeup for weddings, proms, parties, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I guess doing hair and makeup for Lily has really put us in the public eye. I've booked us both for every day this whole week. What's been up with you?"
"Uh, where do I begin? Went to the press conference and people started grilling me, asking me if I was dating Eliot or Dylan. Then Lily confronted me about dating her ex. I went on a helicopter ride with the vice president. We kissed. I rejected him. Oh yeah, then his crazy grandma showed up and told me she wanted me to break up Lily and the future president's engagement."
Michelle stared at her for a moment, taking it all in. "Aww, no fair! How come all the cool stuff always happens to YOU?"
"You wanna trade places? Have at it. I'm done with all this craziness."
"So what are you going to do next?"
Roselle sighed. "I have no idea." She drifted off on her bed, tired from all the events the past few days. She just needed a moment to rest.
Finally, she went to sleep.
* * *
And so, just as Roselle had wished, for a while there was no craziness. It was business as usual. She and her sister went around doing the hair and makeup of various people throughout D.C. every day for two weeks.
Due to the Reyes girls being so high in demand, they were able to rack up a lot of money within just fourteen days. They rented a two-bedroom apartment and were working on slowly buying furniture for it. Things were going well.
"Hey, Ro?" asked Michelle.
"Yeah?"
"Do you have any idea what day it is?"
Roselle sat there, working the inner mechanisms of your mind. "Is it your birthday or something?"
"It's Thanksgiving."
"Oh . . ."
"Yeah, Mom has been trying to get in touch with me all week, but I was too busy to call back. I think she wants us to come home."
She sighed. "It's kinda late to catch a flight there though, isn't it?"
"Yeah . . . I'll just tell her we'll be home for Christmas."
"Michelle, are we going to celebrate this year? I know it's kinda of late to start making food, but maybe we can go get some turkey sandwiches at least."
She shrugged. "Up to you."
Roselle's phone dinged, and she gaped at the message.
"Who's that?" asked Michelle.
"It's Grandma Scott!"
"What does she want? Is she mad you didn't break up the engagement yet?"
"Actually, no. She's inviting me to Thanksgiving dinner at a fancy restaurant."
"Seems harmless."
"Yeah, but . . ." she narrowed her eyes on the phone. "Something doesn't seem right."
Roselle: Sorry, but I'm not attending your dinner. I have other plans.
Grandma Scott: Other plans? With whom, may I ask?
Roselle: My sister.
Grandma Scott: Oh yes, of course. She's invited as well.
Roselle: We aren't going.
Grandma Scott: We'll see about that.
* * *
There was a knock on the door. Roselle jumped behind her couch, hiding from it. "Don't open it!"
"Why?" asked Michelle.
"It might be Grandma Scott!"
She rolled her eyes. She opened the door, and Dylan was there, holding a giant bouquet of a few dozen roses and wearing a suit. "I like your new apartment," he said, wearing a warm smile.
"Dylan?" Roselle asked. "Hey!" She leaped in his arms. "I didn't know you were coming for Thanksgiving."
"I wanted to surprise you. Why aren't you dressed? Grandma said you were coming to dinner."
"That woman really knows how to push my buttons, doesn't she?" Roselle mumbled.
"What?"
"What." She snapped out of her thoughts. "I'm just gonna slap on a dress and some makeup really quick and come back out." She turned to Michelle. "You coming?"
"Depends. Do I get a date too?"
"Well, actually," Dylan said, turning towards the door.
Eliot revealed himself from behind the wall holding a single daffodil. He walked into the room without much confidence, staring at the floor. "Here I am," he said unenthusiastically.
Michelle and Roselle exchanged glances with one another.
"Wait a minute," said Roselle. "You're here together? I thought you were . . . I don't know . . . Fighting because of the whole thing?"
Dylan and Eliot looked at one another.
"Actually," Dylan said. "He apologized to me the day after I returned to Canada. I was surprised too. He said he felt really guilty about everything that happened."
Roselle remembered the kiss she shared with Eliot on the helicopter ride that night two weeks ago, and her face flushed red. She looked at Eliot, and somehow from his expression, she knew he was thinking about it too.
"Would you excuse us for a sec?" Michelle asked, tugging her sister into the other room.
* * *
"You never told Dylan about the kiss, did you?" asked Michelle.
"I may have mentioned to him that I shared a kiss with another man, and he was cool with it since we weren't exclusive. I may have just left out the tiny part about the other man being his cousin."
"You WHAT?!"
"Look, it was a mistake. Eliot is a jerk. I should have never kissed him anyway. I'm just gonna focus on Dylan now."
"Tell that to HIM, not me. What do you think he'd do if he found out from someone else?"
Roselle sighed. "You're right. I'll tell him after Thanksgiving, which I already have a bad feeling about. Grandma Scott is planning something. I can feel it."
"So you're really not going to go along with her plan? Don't you still have feelings for Armani?"
"Yeah, but I'm not going to get in the way of a marriage for her selfish reasons. Or mine."
"Ouch. She's not gonna like that."
"Stop stressing me out!"
* * *
After about an hour of preparing, the Reyes sisters walked out of their rooms in elegant gowns with their makeup polished, and not a hair out of place. Roselle took Dylan by the arm, and Eliot walked side-by-side with Michelle awkwardly. He kept sneaking glances at Roselle the whole time though.
They got in a limo, and headed over to the restaurant.
* * *
The foursome arrived at the Thanksgiving dinner. The restaurant/hotel was completely rented out for the event, and there were about fifty tables there, six to a table.
"Should we sit over there?" asked Roselle, pointing at an empty table.
"We have assigned seating," said Dylan. "Let's see." He looked at his invitation. "We're all at table forty-eight."
Roselle searched the room for that table, and she found it. She shook from panic, because there at their assigned table were Armani and Lily.
And Lily looked quite displeased.