biting back

Amanda was making something out of the leftovers her mother-in-law gave her. Turkey soup. It had been a much better Thanksgiving than she anticipated. Elliot got an early Christmas present from his parents. Money. She knew it was his. Not hers, yet, he was all smiles and said they'd have a great Christmas. She only took a glimpse of the the 10 thousand dollar check and told him to hang on to it. They'd definitely have to see just how far it could take them into the new year.

Of course, all Rosie could do was carry around her picture, she had taken with Asa. It was her favorite. Amanda heard Rosie tell Derrick in the livingroom that Asa was the best boyfriend uncle ever.

"What am I?" He fussed and took the picture away from her. "I'm the real deal, you know! I'm your real uncle!" He informed her. But it didn't matter. He had her picture and wouldn't give it back. She started to yell for Amanda. Rosie put up a fit that even shocked Amanda. Derrick would not give back the picture.

"Hey! What is eating you!" She almost bonked him with the huge metal soup spoon she was holding, but she knew that would just be wrong. Especially, in front of Rosie.

"Quit telling her crap! Will you!" Derrick looked back at Amanda, all angry. He handed the picture to her. "She's just got me for an uncle. Dan, too. And that's it." He winced.

"Just..just calm down. OK." She gave Rosie her picture back. "Go put this in your room. I'll be in, in a minute to put in the macaroni frame, you made. OK." She gave Rosie a kiss and off she went all better. She sat down next to Derrick then. "So what happened at Dan's?" He'd gone there for Thanksgiving.

"Nothing." He was sullen as he hugged himself, staring at the TV. Some game show was on. She knew he didn't watch Jeopardy.

"Look, if you won't tell me what's going on, how can I help you? I'm sorry you didn't come with us, but you would have hated it. People were in suits, you know. It was very formal." She'd even worn stockings, and she couldn't remember the last time she wore stockings.

"They fried a turkey." Derrick looked over at Amanda, giving her a small frown.

"Dang, I missed that?" They would do something cool like that. "Was it good?"

"It was all right." He didn't smile. "I helped Charity make a pumpkin pie. It was so boring. Then dad called from Vegas."

"Yeah, he called me too." Amanda rolled her eyes. Some Dad he was. She knew he was probably not telling her everything. Always on the road. Never enough time for him to do anything in his truck driving world.

"I guess you had a good time with Elliot one and Elliot two." He gave her a glare then.

"Whats that suppose to mean?" She winced.

"You know what it means." Derrick squinted hard. "You're with his cousin, all the time." He groaned it out as if she had the worst addiction, yet.

"He just needs family." She told him. Maybe Derrick was kind of right. Yes, Asa could come over some days and stay all day. But he'd conveniently come right after Elliot left for work and leave before he came home. But they were just friends and they talked a lot. She knew about his mom splitting and how he'd only wanted to win her attention, he guessed by doing the big missionary trip. Then Elliot's parents had set him up with some girl at church that he was trying his best to avoid now. And there was the cooking. It wasn't that bad. She wasn't completely alone with him. She had Rosie with her every step of the way. "You can't be so jealous." She got up then to go check on the soup.

"Yeah, that's right I'm so jealous," Derrick mocked as she walked away. "You wait til Elliot figures it out. Just wait and see how much fun Asa is then!" His warning was just silly. She shook her head. He was totally wrong about Asa. Totally.