The sweet potatoes were still steaming when my phone rang. I’d spent six hours on that casserole—roasting each potato individually the way my grandmother taught me, making praline topping from scratch, letting the pecans caramelize until they looked like amber fossils. Outside my apartment window, the city had that particular Thanksgiving quiet, like even the traffic knew to soften its voice.
It was 9:12 a.m.
My sister Ashley still hadn’t texted me the schedule. My mom hadn’t called with her usual “You’re bringing your fancy casserole, right?” Nobody had mentioned anything all week.
I’d told myself everyone was busy, because that’s what I always did—constructed excuses like it was a second job. When I called Ashley, she answered on the sixth ring, breathless and hurried.
Behind her voice I heard laughter, overlapping conversations, the warm chaos that only happens when a house is full of family.
“Oh my god,” Ashley said, her voice dropping like she’d stepped into a closet. “Nathan.”
My stomach lurched. “Hey,” I kept my voice light.
“Just confirming what time I should arrive.
I’ve got the casserole ready.”
The pause that followed wasn’t empty. It was an answer that couldn’t be bothered to dress itself up.
“I thought Mom called you,” Ashley finally said. “Called me about what?”
“Okay.
So… we decided to do Thanksgiving early this year.
Like, last weekend. Mom wanted to avoid the holiday grocery rush.”
I stared at the casserole like it had betrayed me. They had gathered—parents, siblings, spouses, kids—and no one thought to tell me.
No one thought, Hey, Nathan might want to know that the biggest family holiday of the year is happening without him.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” My fingers gripped the counter until they ached. Ashley’s hesitation was its own confession.
“I really thought Mom had called you. Nathan, I’m sorry.
This is… awkward.”
Awkward.
Like my absence was a small social stain, not a statement. “Do you want to come over now?” she asked. “We have leftovers.”
The word hit me like a slap.
I imagined walking into my parents’ house, everyone already full and sleepy, my casserole like a sad offering arriving after the candles burned down.
“No,” I said. “I’m good.
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