And I know it makes you nervous

 Valentina woke up with a headache on Thanksgiving. She felt rather peculiar.

"What if it's COVID?" Her mother asked. As it was, she would know. She knew how these things started. She took her temp, but Val didn't have one. Her throat was not sore.

"Anything else?" Her mom asked in the foreign language they usually spoke in with fondness and gratitude.

Val shook her head no, thinking her mother didn't want to hear the strange dream about her Dad. 

In the dream, her dad had been shot by the police because he was reprimanding a boy in a store who had randomly peed on the merchandise. And to make matters worse no one wanted to help her bleeding father. Each time she asked for help she could barely speak. It was as if she was the only one there to help her wounded father.

She'd awoke out of breath, thankful it was only a dream. Of course, he hadn't called in many weeks, but the child support checks kept showing up. It was a reminder that he was done with the payments once she graduated. She'd wept then wondering why she cared at all, but she did. She couldn't help it even if her mom remarried and they lived with her new husband (Val's ex-boyfriend's dad).

It would be a quiet Thanksgiving. At least, Matty came to dinner which was in the late afternoon. Somehow, Val managed to help with the meal. Her mom made her favorite churro cheesecake. Later, she would make turkey enchiladas. Nothing in the meal would go to waste.

Val promised she felt better, but seeing Matty made her all the woozier, as if she really wanted him, after all. Naturally, she'd told herself from time to time that she would not have feelings for him and as cold as she tried to be..it never worked. Honestly, she even enjoyed doing nothing with him.

Of course, she kept waiting to see if he would confess some sort of inkling of passion for her, but at times he was as stoic as her father. This only left her with bitter tears. How could she fall for someone like her dad? It couldn't be possible.

Matty brought rolls and even sparkling grape juice. She thought it funny. Especially, when her mother mentioned to him that when Val was little she called the sparkling grape juice her wine juice.

"She would say after picking through the Thanksgiving meal that she was too tired to eat, but would ask for more wine juice and nibble on a roll," her mother told the story and added. "Thank you Matty for bringing Valentina's favorites."

Thanksgiving dinner was much better than Valentina ever planned. She gave Matty one of her sock creatures. He smiled as if it was the best holiday gift of all. Although, it was a random item in her stash of homemade creations.

It was all rather lovely, and then someone showed up just in time for her Mom's cheesecake. A stranger. He looked like some sort of preacher to Valentina, but he said he was a nurse.

They waited for very bad news. Valentina was certain her father was hurt and found someone to find them because he couldn't. Yet, the stranger looked out of place, even lipped with dark sad eyes. He started to talk, but it was as if he might be a little sick too.

Val winced hard wondering if he was a criminal exposing them to something contagious. But he went on to introduce himself and when he told her who he was, she only squeezed Matty's hand harder. As if the only person she needed in her life was...

"This is..this is my boyfriend," Val said ever so quickly. It was as if she had no control. No way would an actual relative ever hurt her. Never.

Dan only smiled, as if his message was done and about to go, but of course, her mother wouldn't have it. He needed to stay for cheesecake.