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Kat woke up the next morning and started getting stuff ready. She knew that everyone was coming and she wanted to make sure she had everything ready so she was racing around the next day. By the time everyone else woke up, she had done most of the baking and was starting to clean the turkeys.

 AJ came downstairs and found Kat in the kitchen with a bunch of pots and pans all over the counter.

“What smells so good?” he asked kissing her and wrapping his arm around her waist.

 “Pumpkin pie. I couldn’t sleep so I decided to get a head start.”

 “Kat, I didn’t ask you here to just cook. I wanted you to have some time to relax and just enjoy the holiday.”

 “I will, I promise. I want to get a lot done today so I can enjoy everyone’s company tomorrow.”

 “Can I help?”

 Kat laughed and pointed at a chair. “You can sit there and look handsome.”

 “Very funny. I mean it. What can I do?”

 “How about just keep me company?”

 “I can do that.” he said with a smile.

 About an hour later, Nick emerged and a few minutes later, Brenda came down.

 “Sooooo,” AJ said with a grin, “how’d you two sleep?”

 Both of them turned beet red and looked down at the floor. Kat and AJ burst out laughing.

 “You two suck at hiding stuff.” Kat said finally able to catch her breath.

 “We’re not trying to hide….”

 “Give it up guys, you’ve been caught.”  AJ interrupted. “Why can’t the two of you just admit that you like each other? You act like two little kids that have a crush.”

 “Fine!” Brenda and Nick yelled at the same time. Brenda looked over at Nick and then turned to face AJ and Kat. “Fine, we like each other and yes we spent the night in the same room. Can I get some coffee now?”

 Kat chuckled and poured two cups of coffee. 

 “Why don’t we let the girls chat and Kat finish cooking?” AJ suggested to Nick, steering him out the slider onto the deck.

 “You two are relentless, you know that right?” Brenda said to Kat.

 “I know we are.” Kat responded back with a smile.

 “Well, we finally admitted it so you two can back off now and we can all get back to what we were doing. Can I help you with anything?”

 “Sure, you can help me clean out the turkeys.”

 “Not happening! Pick something easy and less gross.”

 Kat laughed. “What about cookies?”

 “Much better. Where’s the dough?”

 ----------------------------

A few hours later, Kat was cleaning up the kitchen and Nick had taken Brenda out to sightseeing. AJ was glad to have a little alone time with Kat. He needed to talk to her and didn’t want to do it around everyone else.

 The two of them had just gotten settled on the couch when he turned off the TV.

 “We need to talk.”

 “That doesn’t sound good.” Kat said with a sad look on her face. She looked down not wanting to see his eyes.

AJ cupped her chin in his hand, pushed her face up and kissed her softly.  “It’s nothing like that Kat. It’s not bad.”

 Kat still looked concerned.

 “I wanted to ask you if you would mind talking to my mother. I would like her to be here with us tomorrow but I know things haven’t exactly been great between you. Can she come to dinner tonight and see if we can work this out?”

 Kat didn’t even hesitate. “You don’t have to ask my permission AJ. She’s your mother and she has every right to be here tomorrow. I figured she was coming.”

 “Can we still do dinner tonight?”

 “Absolutely.”

 “I love you. I hope you know that.” he said pulling her onto his lap and draping his arms around her.

 “I do and I love you too.”