The night before Thanksgiving, the Bowmans and the Collinses had dinner together at the town's bar and grill. Both families had guests in town for the holiday. Betty Ann Collins' sister, Sarah Ann, was visiting with her family. This was an unusual occurrence; although they lived barely an hour apart, the two families rarely saw each other. Sarah Ann and her husband were conservative Christians and tended to argue with Kat's much more liberal parents. But they had recently decided to try again to get along, seeing as they were family, and agreed to get together for Thanksgiving.
Sarah Ann had a daughter, Sally Ann, who was just two months younger than Kelly. Kelly hadn't seen her cousin since they were both in junior high. At that time they'd been almost twins; 5 years later they still looked very much alike, with the same red hair and green eyes, but Sally Ann was a little shorter and curvier, Kelly taller and leaner.
Kat's father's brother and his wife were also in town, and also had a daughter the same age as Kat and Kelly. Like Kelly, Kat hadn't seen her cousin in a number of years, in this case because her family had moved to Europe and seldom returned. Kat remembered her cousin J.J. (short for Jennifer Jasmine) as a short, dumpy 11-year-old with big glasses, but in the intervening years she'd changed considerably. She was tall and willowy, with medium-length black hair and striking blue eyes (contacts, no glasses).
The restaurant didn't have a table big enough for the whole party, so the four girls ended up at a separate table together. Initially they were joined by J.J.'s younger brother, a sullen 14-year-old who didn't say much. In any case the conversation was dominated by his sister, who was worldly, intelligent, and opinionated, and spent much of the meal regaling the others with tales of her travels and adventures. Kelly Ann was especially taken with the vivacious J.J., while Kat found herself oddly drawn to Sally, who was shy and polite and seemed occasionally discomfited by some of J.J.'s graphic tales of sex and wild parties. Kat went out of her way to try to make Sally feel at ease, trying to draw her into the conversation and steer the subject matter into more wholesome areas.
Between the entrees and dessert J.J.'s brother switched places with Samantha Bowman, who did not fail to notice how Kat was acting toward Sally Ann. After dessert Kat excused herself to go to the restroom, and her mother followed close behind. As they were checking their hair Samantha addressed her daughter.
"Katrina Margaret Bowman, don't you dare even think about it."
Kat flashed her best innocent look. "What are you talking about, Mom?"
"I saw the way you were flirting with Sally. Her family is very religious, you know. Sarah Ann would kill Betty if her daughter somehow got corrupted."
Kat rolled her eyes. "Jeez, Mom, can't I be nice to somebody without getting accused of something?"
