Neither Cole nor Tina could get free from their business obligations in time to meet Bette, Greg, Peter and Maxine at the Kennard-Porter loft that evening. For that reason the foursome changed their plans and instead went back to Peter’s hotel to have dinner. As they ate they processed everything they’d heard from Jeffrey and made plans for what to do next. .

While at the hotel Bette took a few minutes to meet with Roderick to go over last minute changes for Thanksgiving. It was then that she made mention to Maxine and Greg about the dinner arrangements and asked if they would confirm the need for rooms and how many nights stay at the hotel. They’d all been so busy since the return from Canada that she hadn’t had time to bring it up before. Bette apologized that the short notice didn’t give them much time to plan but she wasn’t expecting Maxine’s reaction to the idea of having Thanksgiving catered at a hotel.

When Tina got home later that evening Bette filled her in on the day’s events. Bette still hadn’t gotten over her first disagreement with her mother.

“Are you OK?” Tina asked her wife.

“I felt like I was four years old again. Her reaction was so unexpected. Who would have thought she’d be so upset?”

“Well it is her first Thanksgiving with both her children babe. It’s only natural that she’d want to prepare the meal as a family.”

“I know. It just didn’t occur to me that it would be such a big deal to her. I guess we need to get used to including her and Greg on planning family events from now on.”

“We all need to make adjustments and be more considerate of things like that but she also has to understand that we’ve been doing this for over ten years. It’s our tradition. With the extended family growing each year and now including two coasts it’s impossible to have an intimate family gathering anymore. There’s no way we could cook for and accommodate thirty people in our home. Even if Cole and Greg hosted we’d still have people sitting down to eat in separate rooms. Having it at the hotel was a brilliant idea babe. Once she sees the venue all set up I think she’ll be very pleased.”