Rae smiled with her whole face and laughed, shrugging her shoulder. “They were thinking that you needed to laugh.” She paused. “Or groan... either way, we're amusing you. Or bonding you by giving you something to complain about!” she mused, feigning pragmatism and nodding sagely. “Hey, those Laffy Taffy jokes were awesome. And we totally told you that we had candy back at the office. It's your fault you didn't listen, not ours!” she said, reaching over and poking him in the arm with a playful smile.
With a little smile, Rae nodded her agreement. “That's what I was thinking. It feels like we've earned a good Thanksgiving dinner. And if someone took a hunting trip and managed to get a turkey? Oh man I'm pretty sure I would kiss them.” She paused for a minute, pondering the thought with a little more seriousness. “I guess we could have some chicken, but the turkey... that was always my favorite thing...” she paused, then looked down, embarrassed. “I totally got carried away, didn't I?” she asked, then licked her lips and looked over at him. “I love the holidays, though. Just the feeling of togetherness and how everyone seems a little bit happier.” Or sadder. Christmas would be a rough one.
“Well damn, you know how to treat a lady. We should work together on it. Get Bea in on it too. Trap him in a bet over the intercom that he has no chance of winning!” she said seriously. Brandon had always stricken her as the type who was completely incapable of turning down any bet, even if it was one he had no chance at winning. “Something like... out-flexibility-ing me, after I have the baby, anyway,” she mused. “Or heads or tails with a double sided coin.” She looked at her hands in her lap when he spoke next, and wet her lips when he said he liked her. It was a simple comment, but she'd been erring dangerously close to flirting with him, sure, but it felt like forever since someone had spoken like that to her. “I've heard I'm a likable person,” she said, trying to lighten things up, but her tone was a lot softer than she thought.
She laughed. “It doesn't, does it?” she asked. “I'm not a brainy type. We'll have to ask Eloise. I'm sure she's got some kind of brainiac explanation as to why it works the way it does. For me, it's just hope that I'll be a good mom.” She grinned.
Desperation. Rae nodded her head and looked down. “I think we've all had times like that.” But it was just hard to think that she had changed so much. Rae had changed a little bit since she'd lost Elliot, but she hadn't changed that much. “I don't know. I just...” she paused, trying to think of the best way to say this. “I feel like she's been playing the friendships she used to have. At one point, she told me that my friendship was worthless to her when she was here before. And then the next day... she wanted to be my friend again, you know? So it's hard to say.” She pondered it carefully, then shrugged. “It's possible. I don't even know if she's manipulating us, really? But if she is, she was really close to Brandon when she was here.”
She tilted her head and looked over at him. “Like what?” she asked. “If you don't mind me asking, I mean.” It was nice, getting to know him. The few times she'd talked to him, they'd gotten along well, but never really gotten to know each other until the past few weeks or so. Between chatting over the radios and the few times they'd talked in person... it was a nice new friendship.
“Oh well.” She shrugged. “Conversations wouldn't be any fun without a faux pas or two in there to keep things interesting.”