Page 29 of Tizzy's Little Thanksgiving

“You’re here! Come, come, I want you to meet my best friend in the whole wide world, and if I get my way, which I always do, my soon-to-be sister-in-law! Ladies, this is Teresa!”

“Teresa, you met Wren, Sadie and Hayleigh yesterday, and this is Luna and Daisy.” Georgie introduced them one by one. “Luna works here as a service sub and is about as sweet as she can be. So if she cleans your room, make sure to give her a five-star rating,” Georgie teased.

“Or a huge tip,” Luna suggested, wagging her eyebrows and rubbing her hands together as if making it rain money.

Georgie snorted and pulled Daisy forward next. “Don’t let these blonde curls and big blue eyes fool you. Daisy isn’t as innocent as she looks, and she is never one to turn down a dare.”

“Oh my gosh! Hi!” the one called Daisy squealed. “We’ve heard so much about you!”

“Likewise,” Teresa answered politely.

“We’re all so glad you came to the Ranch!” Wren added with a broad smile. “What happened after you left the playground yesterday? Are you all settled in? Have you had the chance to explore anything at all?”

“Ha, not unless you count exploring the inside of a guest suite. She got in yesterday, promptly disappeared into the room with my brother, and no one saw hide or hair of them until this morning,” Georgie answered before Teresa could.

“With yourbrother?” Daisy squealed. “That’s new, right? I’m pretty sure that’s new. If you’d told me your best friend was with your brother, I’m sure I’d remember that!”

“It’s new,” Georgie confirmed, at the same time Teresa said, “It’s temporary.”

Teresa watched wearily as Georgie opened her mouth to argue. She did not want to get into this right now, and not with people she’d just met either.

“So,” she said brightly, changing the subject, “what wedding plans did you need help with? Isn’t that why we’re here? A wedding planning meeting?”

“Oh. No, it’s all done. Wedding planning is in my job description. Eli helped me and it’s been done for ages.”

“Then why the meeting?” Tizzy asked, confused, just as the waiter showed up to take their order.

They all ordered pancakes and hot cocoa, and as soon as he left, Georgie answered.

“Duh. It’s just an excuse to get together without the Daddies. I mean, I love Lucas, of course, but he can be such a fuddy-duddy sometimes. And besides, he knows me well enough to know the planning is done and this is just a cover. And he lets it happen because he’d rather do just about anything else than be dragged to wedding-planning festivities.”

“But he’s the groom. He has to be involved,” Teresa argued.

“He will be. He’ll be at the shower, and the rehearsal dinner, and the actual wedding, but he doesn’t need to be involved in every tiny detail and I don't want him to be. We can have a lot more fun without the Daddies around.”

Her friends agreed with hearty cheers.

“What kind of fun?” Teresa asked cautiously. Georgie’s brand of fun tended to get her in trouble, and with hard-handed Eddie as her acting Daddy for the week, Teresa wasn’t sure her butt could afford the price of Georgie’s shenanigans.

“Oh relax, will you?” Georgie waved off the question. “I don’t have anything crazy planned yet. Just breakfast, and a dress fitting, and showing you around the Ranch.”

“Oh, okay.” Tizzy relaxed. A tour and a dress fitting sounded pretty innocent.

“Welll…” Wren said beside her, “speaking of crazy plans… it’s almost the turkey’s rescue-versary, and my wedding anniversaryandmy favorite holiday, so I was kind of hoping you all would help me come up with a prank.”

“Ohhh, I’m in!” the other bridesmaids and Georgie responded immediately.

Teresa was still stuck onturkey-rescue-versary.

“Well, you know they are planning the Fall Fest with the hayrides and turkey trot and all that, so I was thinking we could have a little turkey trot of our own… dress up Ross, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Chandler and Joey, and maybe like do a parade through the main Ranch building, or something fun like that. Maybe make a little chant or song about how they were saved, and I don’t know”—Wren shrugged—“that’s as far as I’ve gotten.”

“Ross? Monica? Phoebe? Chandler? Rachel? Joey?” Teresa repeated, utterly confused. “What doFriendscharacters have to do with turkeys?”

“The turkeys are named after theFriendscharacters. They were supposed to be Thanksgiving turkeys a couple years back, the year Wren moved here, but…”

“But I named them and made friends with them and organized a protest. We dressed up and handcuffed ourselves to the fence and chanted ‘Friends not Food’. Chef Connor was not amused. I still don’t think he likes me very much,” Wren confided, “but, oh well.” She shrugged. “I saved the turkeys from being eaten and Daddy and Master Derek gave them to me as pets and now they get to roam around all day and be free. And Chef Connor cooks frozen turkeys now. I don’t think he’s quite forgiven me for that either.”

Hayleigh reach over to pat Wren’s arm. “Daddy’s bark is worse than his bite. Just give him a little more time—”

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