"So, can you do it?" Charlie asked, looking expectantly at Jake.
Jake slowly lowered his juice box. "Let me make sure I understand this. You want me to help you convince a girl you used to date, who wants to settle down and have a family, to ditch her current fiancé, just so you might possibly, eventually wind up with her?"
"Exactly," Charlie beamed. "And maybe throw some of that little magic of yours in there, too."
"Ah, my 'magic,'" Jake repeated, utterly unimpressed.
"Yeah, you know, that thing you do where you basically hypnotize people," Charlie said, waving his hand vaguely.
"I don't hypnotize people, Uncle Charlie," Jake sighed. "It's called active listening and psychological mirroring. You observe a person's baseline behavior, analyze their micro-expressions, and then guide the conversation by reflecting their own internal desires back at—"
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Charlie interrupted, completely ignoring Jake's long-winded deductive explanation. "Just do that voodoo and make her want to get back together with me."
"Absolutely not," Jake said flatly.
"What? Why?" Charlie asked, genuinely surprised.
"Do you hear yourself talk?" Jake asked.
"Oh, please, Jake! I'll do anything," Charlie pleaded, genuine desperation creeping into his voice.
"Anything?" Jake asked, his eyes narrowing as his mind started working.
Charlie caught the dangerous glint in his nephew's eye. "Nothing illegal," he quickly added.
"Aw," Jake said, disappointed.
"Come on, Jake, do it for your Uncle Charlie. Will you?"
Jake thought about it for a moment. "I won't lie to her. But... I can say you have the potential for change, I guess."
"That's perfect!" Charlie said, realizing that was the best he was going to get.
By the time Thanksgiving arrived, the beach house had turned into a chaotic hosting ground. Charlie had chosen to host the dinner, which meant the house was currently packed with Alan, Evelyn, Judith, and Judith's parents.
Ding dong.
The front doorbell chimed. Charlie, who was wearing long pants, a plaid shirt, and a sweater vest for the first time in years, frantically patted Jake on the back. "Come on! Go, go, go."
Jake rolled his eyes, stepped up to the door, and pulled it open. Standing on the porch was Lisa.
"Hi, you must be Jake," she said brightly.
"That's me. A pleasure to meet you, Lisa," Jake said, extending his hand for a polite handshake.
"Oh, wow, what a polite young man," she said with a warm smile, shaking his hand.
"Especially to beautiful ladies," Jake added smoothly, not missing a beat.
While a comment like that coming out of a grown man would be creepy, a ten-year-old saying it was nothing but endearing.
One of the greatest perks of being a reincarnated adult trapped in a child's body was that he could say absolutely out-of-pocket things, and people would just laugh or brush it off as 'precocious charm'.
Lisa let out a delighted laugh. "Oh, well, thank you!"
"Oh! Hey, Lisa!" Charlie suddenly barged into the entryway, pretending he had just casually strolled by and noticed her.
He smoothly stepped between them as Jake quietly slipped away. "Come on in, let me introduce you."
Charlie guided Lisa into the living room, where the tense family dynamic was already simmering.
"Lisa, this is Judith, my former sister-in-law, but still, you know, family," Charlie presented generously.
"Hi, nice to meet you," Judith said with a polite smile.
"Nice to meet you too," Lisa answered, shaking her hand.
"And these, of course, are her wonderful parents, Sherman and Lorraine," Charlie continued, gesturing to the older couple.
"Sheldon and Lenore," Judith muttered through gritted teeth.
"Sheldon and Lenore," Charlie corrected himself without missing a beat. "It's great to see you folks. So, how are you liking California?" he asked, trying to make pleasant small talk.
Sheldon stared at him blankly. "We live in California."
"So you must really like it," Charlie recovered with a smile.
"Hi, Lisa, nice to see you again," Alan said, entering the room with a drink on his hand.
"Hi, Alan. It's been a long time," Lisa answered kindly.
"See? Isn't this great?" Charlie announced to the room, wrapping an arm around Lisa's and Alan's shoulders. "This is why we all come together. We break, we make up, but in the end, love is love, and family is family."
He looked at Lisa, trying his absolute hardest to project the aura of a deeply changed, family-oriented man.
Alan squinted at his brother. "Ease up on the wine, Charlie."
"No, he's right," Lenore suddenly chimed in. She looked past her daughter and smiled directly at Alan. "And Alan, Sheldon and I want you to know that even though you and our daughter are no longer married, we will always think of you as our son."
Judith froze, her polite smile instantly vanishing. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Ma?"
This was the first time Judith and her parents had been in the same room since the explosive argument about her lifestyle, and she had naively thought things had finally calmed down between them.
Sheldon took a slow sip of her drink. "It means that even if you blew up your marriage and turned yourself into a lesbian, we still love him."
"You can't turn yourself into a lesbian, Dad!" Judith yelled, her face flushing red with sudden fury. "It's not a choice!"
Charlie stared at the screaming match that had just erupted in his living room. He slowly turned to Lisa.
"Well, this is really Judith's family," Charlie whispered. "Let's go find mine."
He quickly ushered Lisa out of the crossfire.
"Did it ever occur to you that you might want to support me, your daughter?" Judith demanded, glaring at her parents.
"Well, why can't we support Alan too?" Lenore asked innocently.
"Because I'm divorcing him!" Judith shouted.
"Well, who told you to do that?" Sheldon chimed in.
Judith was left with her mouth open, absolutely speechless and about to explode, when Alan suddenly stepped forward.
"Uh, look, I appreciate your... your feelings for me," Alan started nervously, holding up a hand. "But I have to tell you, I really think your daughter deserves a lot of respect. I mean, it takes real courage to make huge changes in your life and not worry about what everybody else thinks."
Judith looked at her ex-husband, genuinely stunned. "Thanks, Alan," she said gratefully.
"That's true. The lesbians of my generation were entirely too scared to come out of the closet," Evelyn said, strolling into the room just in time to hear the last part of the conversation, swirling a martini glass in her hand.
Sheldon let out a small, tortured groan, while Lenore just tightly gripped her drink.
Watching from the kitchen, Jake mentally noted the subtle glint of disappointment on his grandmother's face.
Evelyn thrived on dropping bombs and causing a scene and was clearly annoyed that Judith's parents already knew she was a lesbian, robbing Evelyn of the chance to break the scandalous news herself.