-Oliver-

The morning of Thanksgiving, I dressed in the outfit I'd brought for the occasion. Since I thought I'd be having Thanksgiving with Brad, I'd packed my nicest sweater - a soft, cream colored cashmere - and a pair of tan pants. I was looking at myself in the mirror and frowning when Cooper came into the bedroom.

"You look amazing," he said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around me.

"Is it too much? I don't want to stick out when I'm with your family."

"It's perfect. The only downside is now I have to dress up. My mom got me a sweater last Christmas and if I show up with you looking this nice and I'm not also wearing a sweater, that's all I'm gonna hear about the rest of the day."

I laughed. "Then we better find that sweater."

Inside Cooper's closet, I looked through his clothes while he found the sweater. His closet was mostly filled with jeans, outdoor work pants, and flannel shirts, but I saw some dress pants and a button down shirt in a corner.

"You've got some nicer pants you could wear with the sweater."

"Yeah, and I'll probably bust the ass right out of them if I try and wear them. I've put on a little weight recently."

I laughed loudly and then hugged Cooper. "I think you have a great body. And I love your ass, even if it's not playing nice with some of your pants at the moment," I told him, making my point by grabbing his ass with both hands.

Cooper grinned and backed away out of my grasp. "If we start, we're not going to get to my parents' house. Hands off."

"You better get dressed then," I warned with a smile on my face. "Standing there in your underwear is not helping the situation."

I watched Cooper pull on a nicer pair of jeans and a knit olive green sweater. The color complemented his dark hair and beard perfectly and brought out his hazel eyes. "You do clean up nice," I said. "I knew you would."

"Before I let all your compliments go to my head, we should get going. Being in front of my family will force me to behave around you."

-

When we pulled up to Cooper's parents' house, I took a deep breath. I knew I shouldn't be nervous. We weren't dating. I was just a new friend who had nowhere else to go for Thanksgiving, and it shouldn't matter if I impressed Cooper's family or not. But for some reason, I wanted to impress them. I wanted them to like me.

I followed Cooper inside, carrying some sparkling cider we'd picked up from the store. The house was like Cooper's, except bigger. It had the same warm, homey feel, and the air smelled of vanilla and a hint of cinnamon. I assumed Annabelle had been baking.

"We're here!" Cooper called out.

He led us to the kitchen where his family was gathered. I recognized Annabelle and Rhett from the pictures he had shown me, and I assumed the dark-haired and bearded man was his dad and the woman with red hair like Annabelle's was his mom.

"Everyone, this is Oliver. Oliver, you can probably guess who Rhett and Annabelle are. And these are my parents, Andy and Eileen."

I stepped forward and shook everyone's hand. "It's great to meet you all. Cooper has told me a lot about you, and I really appreciate you including me on Thanksgiving."

His mom smiled at me and I noticed she had the same warm, hazel eyes as Cooper. "Cooper's friends are always welcome. I wouldn't allow anyone to be alone on Thanksgiving."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." I glanced over at Annabelle. "Did you bake something for dessert? Cooper gave me some of the s'mores cookies you made and they were amazing. I loved them."

Annabelle's face lit up. "Thank you! I helped my mom make a pumpkin pie and then I made snickerdoodle cookies. I'm making every type of cookie so I can decide which one is the best."

"This is why I'm getting fat," Cooper said. "I've been asked to taste all of them."

"If you just had one, it wouldn't be a problem," Rhett said. "But you take half of them home and then I see you eating at least five during lunch whenever we work together."

"Okay, guilty," Cooper admitted with a grin. "Annabelle's cookies are just that good and I lack self control."

I laughed along with everyone. As we all sat down and began eating, it became clear to me that Cooper was the joker of the family and kept everyone entertained. I could also imagine him being the peacekeeper and making sure everyone got along.

All of his family members were kind to me, with the exception of Rhett. Rhett was the quietest member of the family and the most serious, and I caught several disapproving glances from him whenever he looked in me and Cooper's direction. I remembered Cooper telling me that Rhett didn't approve of Cooper being gay, and I hoped it wasn't going to be an issue.

Annabelle talked my ear off about baking, especially when she found out that I baked sometimes. She wanted to know all about the cookies I had made and only stopped her questions when Cooper's dad changed the subject.

"How are you liking Washington?" he asked me.

"It's incredible. There's so much out here - beaches, mountains, waterfalls, lakes, rainforests. I've been really impressed with everything."

I filled them in on what I'd seen so far, and Cooper's parents told me about some of the trips they'd taken the family on and what else I should try to see. Talking with them felt natural and easy, and I was having a great time. Dinner flew by, and soon Cooper's mom was getting up to get the pumpkin pie and Annabelle's cookies.

"Oliver?" Annabelle piped up. "Are you Cooper's new boyfriend?"

I looked over at Cooper and saw his cheeks turn pink as he blushed. He answered before I could. "No, Oliver is a good friend. He doesn't live here. He's visiting from California."

"Oh," Annabelle said. She turned her gaze to me. "I hoped you were Cooper's boyfriend. He deserves someone nice and cute like you. And someone who will bake for him when I can't."

I smiled at her. "He certainly does deserve all of that. Your brother is an amazing guy, and anyone would be lucky to have him as a boyfriend."

"How did you two meet?" Rhett asked. It was the first thing he'd said to me.

Cooper chimed in again. "Oliver had the unfortunate experience of having to sit next to me on the plane. He's a forgiving person, because he still wanted to be friends after I crushed half his body."

I snorted a laugh at Cooper's description. "What he isn't telling you all is that he helped cheer me up on the plane. My boyfriend at the time got himself a seat in first class and stuck me in economy. Then he kind of ruined this trip by not wanting to hike with me and then breaking up with me after a few days. Cooper's been an awesome tour guide and basically saved my trip."

His mother beamed at him, a smile that seemed to say 'that's my boy'. "Cooper has always made friends everywhere he goes."

After that, it seemed to be Cooper story time. They all took turns telling me about ridiculous things Cooper had done while growing up, and I really appreciated hearing the stories and having something to tease Cooper about later. We finished eating the pie and cookies, and everyone helped clean up. Then Rhett appeared at my side.

"Come outside. I want to talk to you."

I followed Rhett into the yard. He made me nervous because he didn't talk much and had an intense demeanor, and because I also knew how he felt about gay men. Rhett stopped near the corner of the house, crossed his arms and stared at me.

"What's with you and Cooper?"

"Um, what do you mean?"

"I can tell he really likes you. You better not be leading him on."

"I'm not. I like him too, but we're not dating. I've known him less than two weeks and I don't live here."

"So you're just going to pick up and leave when your trip is over, and go back to California to find another yuppie like you?"

"I don't know. Neither Cooper or I know what's going to happen, and we haven't talked about it yet. But I told him I want to come back and visit, and he's talked about visiting me."

"Do you actually like him?"

Now I was confused. "I said I did?"

"How much did he tell you about his exes?"

"He said he had three and he was long distance with one of them."

"Here's what he didn't tell you. One of those guys that lived in Seattle called him an uneducated hick. I don't want another city person coming here and making him feel like shit."

I was horrified. "I would never do that. I think Cooper's great. He's a smart, hardworking guy and I really enjoy being around him. I would never put him down like that."

Rhett stared at me and narrowed his eyes. "You better not. The last thing he needs is someone else getting his hopes up. When that long distance guy broke up with him, he was devastated. I don't want to see him like that again."

I didn't know Cooper had taken the break-up that hard. He talked about it like anything else, with no hint of seriousness or emotion.

"I wish he wasn't like this," Rhett continued. "His life would be a lot easier if he would settle down with a woman and have his own family."

"That's not going to happen. He's gay, and it's not a choice and he can't change it," I said, feeling a flare of anger.

"I get that. But I don't want him to keep getting hurt, either by not being able to find someone or by guys he works with giving him a hard time."

"Welcome to our lives," I said bitterly. "It's not easy, and people with attitudes like yours don't make it any easier."

Rhett glared at me, and I glared back. After what seemed like forever, he broke the silence. "Don't hurt him." Then he turned and walked back into the house.

Part of me was mad, but another part of me understood what Cooper meant when he said that Rhett worried about him. Sure, Rhett wasn't exactly gay-friendly, but he did seem most concerned about how it impacted Cooper's life and the way people treated him. Beyond Rhett's gruff exterior and harsh words, I could tell he cared about his brother.

I cared about Cooper also, more than I wanted to. And to make the whole situation even worse, I liked his family too. Being with them felt like being home, and they had a warmth that I'd never felt with my own parents. Cooper was lucky that his parents and Annabelle accepted him exactly the way he was.

It was going to be difficult to go back to my life in California, back to a family I wasn't close with and back to single life.

Why did I have to fall for a guy that lived 1,300 miles away?