Ben had just backed out of the driveway as he looked over at her.  He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.  “What’s wrong?”

She wiped at her eyes.  “I was just thinking about how lucky I am.”

Ben squeezed her hand again and then brought it to his lips. “I’m the winner in this relationship, Red.  I have to pinch myself every morning to make sure I’m not dreaming.  I love you.”

She smiled.  “And, I love you.”

Ben reached over and wiped the tears from her cheeks.  “I was thinking Le Peep for breakfast.  Are you okay with that?”

“Le Peep’s perfect.  I could go for a breakfast skillet.  By the way, Jess called while you were talking to Tanner.  She’s bringing Gabe Greer home with her for Thanksgiving.  He wants to rent a car, so I don’t need to pick her up.”

“Gabe Greer, huh?”  Ben thought his two youngest brothers, identical twins Joey and Pauli both of whom seemed to have a crush on Jess were about to have a little more competition for her attention than either of them was ready for.

She laughed.  “If the guest list grows much more, we’ll have to have Thanksgiving at Papa’s.”

“Red, you know we’ll figure it out.  Have you heard from Meg with a response for the Kellys?”

“She texted last night saying they’d be here.  Meg’s mother likes to bake, so they offered to bring pies.  One less thing for us to do.”

Chapter 11

Jess ended the call with her mother and looked at her travelling companion.  “I think I might have surprised her a bit.”

Gabe smiled.  “I hope she’s okay with me inviting myself for the weekend.  With my folks out of the country, I didn’t have any place else to go.  Besides, we’re leaving for Europe on Monday any way.”

Jess sat back in her seat.  “You’d have to know my Mom.  She’s okay with it.  Her exact words were …” she made air quotes “… ‘the more the merrier’ and she meant it.  But, that was before I told her whom I’m bringing.  She might be a little star struck when we get there.”

Gabe laughed.  “But you’re going to be a star now.”

“Yeah, but she gave birth to me, so, I’m just Jess to her.  You’re GABE GREER, star of TV, movies and Broadway, winner of Grammys, Emmys People’s Choice awards,” she waived her arm in the air, “and the list goes on.”

He laughed again and Jess laughed with him.  She had met Gabe several months ago when he had been the guest star on Lawlessness, a TV forensic crime show.  Jess had played his girlfriend, who was killed in a car accident in the first scene of the show.  They’d had maybe five scenes together between the accident scene and the flashback scenes.  They had just clicked and when Gabe had gotten the script for Harts in Time, he’d called the producers and suggested they audition the practically unknown Jessica Lane to be his co-star.  He’d even done the audition with her.  She had nailed the audition and had won the role.  Jess and Gabe had been in rehearsals for the last month and would start principal shooting in Europe the week after Thanksgiving.  Both Jess and Gabe were playing twins in the movie, each the love interest of the other.  There were still ongoing negotiations to film the two sequels concurrently with the first movie.  It didn’t interfere with Jess’s schedule, but Gabe hadn’t planned to be out of the country quite as long as concurrently filming three movies might take.  Regardless it was the role or is it roles of a lifetime for each of them, but especially for Jess.  Gabe didn’t have any acting gigs on his plate that would interfere with staying in Europe for the nearly twelve months that filming all three would take, but he did owe his label a new album.

“By the way, the Parkers have a holiday tradition that we serve dinner to the needy.  Last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we served at a homeless shelter, but this year Mom has us serving Thanksgiving at a nursing home where one of her friends does volunteer work.  I’m sure you could get out of it, after all, you are a guest.”

Gabe smiled his movie star smile, “Not on your life.  If they’ll have me, I’ll be right there with you.”  He’d heard a lot about Jess’s family in the last few weeks and was looking forward to meeting them.  “Tell me again who’s going to be there.”

Jess began counting on her fingers.  “Well, Mom, my brothers Jake and Jams, I mean Jamie, and Ben.  Then there are the Bellinis.  Ben’s parents and his brothers Tony, Pauli, and Joey.  His uncles Sal and Vinnie Luciano.  Vinnie’s wife and at least one of his daughters.  My Nana Evie could come and there’s the possibility that Jake’s girlfriend and her daughter could be there.

“Wow, what is that almost 20 people?  I’m an only child.  It’s always been just my folks and me.  This will be like the movie holidays.”

Jess laughed and shook her head.  “You have no idea.”

She knew there was going to be some drama and wondered if she should warn her friend about the documents she carried in her purse and the conversation that she was going to have with Ben and her Mother.  She and Gabe had grown up in two completely different worlds.  He’d grown up in Hollywood.  His mother was a renowned makeup artist and his father was a director of photography.  Between them, his parents had at least a dozen Emmys and Oscars.

“So anyway, we’ll have dinner later in the day.  Then sometime Friday we’ll drive to St. Louis because Jamie’s football team is playing in the state championship game Friday evening.”

“Your whole family is like the ideal TV family.  I can’t wait.”

She looked at him.  “Gabe, there are some things I should tell you about my ideal TV family.”

“Sounds serious.  Tell me everything.”  He said, leaning toward her.

“My Mother keeps finding dead bodies, so who knows what the weekend might bring.  Ben’s family is rumored to be connected.” She put her finger alongside her nose and bent it. “His uncles, the Luciano brothers, gave my Mother a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar car for her birthday. My Mother is 12 years older than her husband, Ben. And she’s pregnant.”

Gabe nodded.  “The pregnant part I knew from the video going viral last month.  Remember you announced it to the whole world via the paparazzi while you were trying to get yourself shot as I recall.  No biggie.  All families have skeletons.  Wait until you meet my parents.”

The steward served breakfast and they relaxed as they ate.  Afterward, they ran some lines together. In no time at all, they’d landed at the Johnson County Executive airport.  Gabe had made arrangements and a rental car was waiting.

Jess gave Gabe directions and played tour guide as they drove to Ben’s house.  She had decided not to talk to Gabe about the bomb she was going to drop when she got home.  The truth was, while she’d played several scenarios through her head, she still hadn’t decided what she was going to say or when she was going to say it.  A couple of months ago, Ben had accused her of trying to direct everyone’s lives.  He had no idea how much work went into being a director.

As they pulled into the driveway, Jess said, “Leave the bags.  Depending on how full the house is, we may have to go to the Parker House.”

Gabe looked askance at her.

“It’s what we call the house that Mom had before she married, and moved in with, Ben.  If Ben’s brothers Pauli and Joey are here, there won’t be enough bedrooms for all of us.  It might be better to have the other house to ourselves anyway.”

She entered the code to open the garage door and guided Gabe through the garage and into the house, calling, “Hey?  We’re here.  Anybody home?” as they entered.

Lane and Ben met her in the hallway.  Lane and Jess hugged.

“Mom, Ben, this is Gabe Greer.  Gabe, this is my Mom, Lane and her husband, Ben.”

Ben and Gabe shook hands.

Lane stepped forward and gave Gabe a hug.  “It’s nice to meet you Gabe.”