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“What?”

“You are one of the women I picked up in the bar. You realize that, right?”

Realization swept over Annalise’s face, followed by a wide grin. “Shit. You’re right. Man, you’re really good at what you do. It’s been months and I didn’t even realize that. So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving next week?”

Brinley shrugged. “Nothing too exciting.” She didn’t know why she wasn’t telling Annalise that she was skipping out on the holidays this year. Probably because she worried Annalise would feel bad when she told her that her actual Thanksgiving plans were to work a food drive that Dale was hosting then spend the rest of the night studying. “What are you up to?”

“Just lunch at my parents’ house with my brother, his girlfriend, and my grandma. Same old, same old.”

“Sounds nice.” It really did. Brinley couldn’t remember the last time she had a nice holiday that didn’t hold family drama of some sort.

“Do you work on Friday? I could bring some leftovers and shop the Black Friday deals online while you study.”

“On one condition.”

“Anything.”

“After studying and shopping, we roleplay again.”

“Deal. Wanna do the Lit Clit one I was supposed to do according to your syllabus?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll think about it.”

“Well, I’m sure whatever you come up with will be perfect.”

“Duh.”

***

Are you back at your place yet?

Brinley looked up from her notes as soon as she heard her phone go off. It wasn’t that she was waiting for a text from Annalise. She was just waiting for an excuse to take a break. Obviously .

Yep! What’s up?

Brinley didn’t see any reason to tell Annalise she had been at her place all day, just downstairs working for part of it.

Instead of getting a text back, a call came through from Annalise instead. “Hello?” Brinley said as soon as she picked up.

“Happy Thanksgiving! How was your day?”

“It was good. How was yours?”

“Good. I’m so full though. Did you eat a ton of food? Were you at your mom’s house or your dad’s today? I don’t think you actually ever told me.”

“I…” It was one thing not to give Annalise all of the details but another thing completely to lie. Brinley couldn’t do it. “I didn’t go to either. I worked until two and have been studying ever since.”

“Really? Did you at least get some turkey and mashed potatoes?”

The mention of food made Brinley’s stomach growl. Damn, she was hungry. It was too bad there was nowhere open to get food from. “No, I didn’t.”

“I’ll be right over.”

“What?” Brinley figured she must have heard that wrong.

“It’s Thanksgiving. I’m not letting you go through the day without any turkey and mashed potatoes. My mom gave me so many leftovers. Much more than we ever would have finished in one day. So, this is perfect. Now we have two days to work on it.” Annalise suddenly went from rambling to completely silent. “That is, if you want me to come. If you don’t want me to stay over tonight, I can obviously wait until tomorrow. I shouldn’t have just assumed you would want me to come.”

“Hey, Annalise? Breathe. Of course I want you here. There’s nothing I want more.”