Pumpkin Pie

“What are you thankful for Kai?”

Kai was quiet. He was used to Thanksgiving. He had lived in the States all his life and had experienced Thanksgiving before. He loved gorging himself on the turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, bread and butter, and pie. Oh, Kai loved pie. Sweet and crunchy pecan, sour lemon meringue, creamy cheesecake, old-fashioned pumpkin. He loved all the foods, but the pie was his favorite. 

However, Kai had never really liked Thanksgiving. He never had. For him, it meant eating at a restaurant, freezer food, or the odd dinner at a friend’s house. Even when Kai’s mom was alive, there was only a cold plate of food and a short note written on a holiday paper pad.

Kai had made it through his youth with a mother who worked full-time, as well as a few part-time jobs. He focused on his education so all his mother’s work wouldn’t be in vain. When high school graduation came around, it was one of the few things Kai was looking forward to. Graduation day was on his birthday, and Kai’s mom had promised him that she would be there. It would be the first ceremony she would attend since his seventh-grade honor roll breakfast, which she ended up leaving early. Kai didn’t blame her, he knew it was hard for her being a single mom struggling to make ends meet. But when she never showed to the celebration, without even a call or an excuse, Kai was livid. 

Later, he found out that she had been in a car accident and had passed away at the hospital.

The funeral was short, barely anyone present. The majority of the guests Kai’s friend Mark’s giant family. They took him in for a while, but Kai left as soon as he could. He was an adult, graduated from high school, and already accepted into a big college. He needed to support himself. 

Kai pushed around a leftover bit of turkey on his plate. 

It was funny how if he never had pushed straight into college, dove headfirst into working, immersing himself in schedules and classes, he would have never met her. 

He looked up at Jane, who had asked him the simple, yet life-changing question, and remembered how her hair had been all over her face, her snow coat half falling off of her, and how the rich brown stain had covered her jeans and T-shirt and spotted the snow on the ground around her. His lips twitched as he remembered her furious glare directed at him from the ground.

It was his junior year of college. Kai had been in a hurry to make it home before the snowfall started again. He had been in such a hurry, he had run right into a young woman, causing her to spill her coffee all over her. Kai had apologized, and paid for the drink, leaving her still angry, but appeased. Two weeks later, he ran into her again, literally. Kai was leaving class and got shoved from behind into her. Thankfully, miss Jane Wall wasn’t holding a drink again, but some books and papers were scattered on the ground. This time, however, she laughed and told Kai he might as well grab lunch with her, seeing as that he kept bumping into her. 

That was the start of the happiest time of Kai’s life. Meeting up between classes, going out for dinner and a movie, studying together before exams, and pulling all-nighters and buying donuts at 4 am. They got closer and closer, falling deeply in love. And last year on Thanksgiving, he proposed. They were at Jane’s parents' house, which was awkward at first because Kai wasn’t used to a busy and crowded house full of people and friends. There was so much he didn’t understand about families, but seeing Jane smile and laugh with everyone made him want to find out. He took her outside -after a short conversation with her dad, which resulted in Mr. Wall shoving Kai towards Jane and telling him to go get her already- and asked her to marry him. She said yes, and they were married less than a year later. 

And slowly, Thanksgiving became something more to Kai, more than a day to eat a lot of pie and take a day off.

So, as his wife -their marriage only months-old- and her family and friends looked at him, waiting for an answer, Kai saw just one thing. He saw the way that Uncle Josh placed his arm over his wife Lauren’s shoulder, the way the children fussed over who had the bigger slice of turkey with smiles on their faces, the way Kai’s in-laws waited patiently, and how not a single person was on their phones or detached from the event in any sort of way. Everyone here was here for each other, and no one was left out. The only screen open was a laptop, displaying Max and Emma’s yawning college student skyping in. 

It was still a little unfamiliar for Kai, all the people in one place, getting together for Thanksgiving. Helping out in the kitchen all day, and the day before, to prepare all the food. (Kai especially loved the pie-making lessons from all the older ladies, sharing family recipes and secrets). And Kai had never felt so at home anywhere. 

So, he leaned over, kissing Jane on her cheek, and took her hand. She squeezed it, and the smile she gave Kai was more precious to him than anything in the world. Kai looked out over the expectant audience and met his father-in-law’s eyes. He winked at Kai, and Kai grinned.

“Well, I’m thankful for my lovely wife,” Kai said slowly, squeezing her hand back gently. “And I’m thankful for the delicious food, and that I was able to help prepare it without burning anything-” 

Everyone laughed, and Jane’s grandma (winner of the Wall Family’s Best Pumpkin Pie award for seven years in a row) sweetly said, “Oh, hun. You couldn’t burn water if you tried. But,” she leaned in conspiratorially, “best to leave the stuffing to people who know what they’re doing!” 

Kai laughed along, knowing entirely well that Nana Wall had saved the day -and the stuffing- from going up in flames. After the incident, she smacked him over the head with an oven mitt and warned him not to do it again. Then she told him; it was edible enough, and that “those holler’n pigs wouldn’t notice anything anyway” because they’d be “too busy filling their faces”.

When they quieted down, Kai continued. “And well, besides that, I’m thankful for all of you for welcoming me into your family, and for this opportunity to spend time with you lively bunch, and to live the rest of my life with Jane.” 

Jane leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her. 

They finished going around the table, everyone sharing what they were most thankful for this year, revealing the immeasurable love this tight-knit family shared for each other in every teasing joke. When everyone had gone, Kai whispered in his wife’s ear. “Is it time for pie now?” “Yes!” Jane laughed and pulled him up from his seat. Then she dragged him into the kitchen to help serve the pies, much to Kai’s disappointment. 

When everyone had gotten a slice of pie -or two- Jane opened a cupboard and pulled out a plate. It was a slice of Nana Wall’s ‘award-winning’ pumpkin pie, covered in whipped cream and decorated with cranberries and cinnamon. Jane handed it to Kai with a huge smile, and Kai took it, amazed at this beautiful masterpiece that was just for him. 

“I was in here the whole day helping, when did you have time to do this?” Kai asked, setting the plate on the counter and pulling Jane into his arms.

She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Well, you were pretty distracted with the whole stuffing fiasco...”

Kai sighed dramatically. “Not you too! Can’t we just put the past behind us?”

Jane’s dimples deepened and her smile widened. “Nope. Because it was hilarious! I even got a picture!” She gloated.

Kai chuckled. Jane reached behind him and grabbed the plate of pie. “You better eat it now, before the cream melts.”

“But my hands are full!” Kai bantered, pulling her as close to his chest as he could without jarring the pie.  

She laughed and grabbed a fork from the counter. “Fine then.” She directed the generous forkful to Kai’s mouth, which he gladly accepted. He chewed slowly, enjoying the tasty dessert, and licking his lips when it was gone. 

“You like it?” Jane questioned eagerly.

“Like it?” Kai said. “I love it almost as much as I love you.”

Jane blushed, and Kai tilted his head down to meet hers, their lips meeting in a kiss. A kiss that tasted to Kai, like pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

Kai might have started out life without the wonders Thanksgiving brought, but he would never miss the holiday again. Not with this perfectly mad bunch of wonderful people, and not with the love of his life. With her, he could never run out of things to be thankful for.