When Jake insists on cooking Thanksgiving turkey for the first time, Jen is skeptical but supportive until the result is a culinary disaster no one at the table can ignore. But the real shock comes when she discovers the recipe isn’t Jake’s. As tensions simmer and doubts creep in, she’s forced to confront the cracks in their marriage. This Thanksgiving, the turkey isn’t the only thing leaving a bad aftertaste.
Thanksgiving has always been my domain. I’m not saying I’m Martha Stewart in any way, but the turkey? That’s my masterpiece.
So when Jake, my husband of six years, announced he’d be taking the reins this year, I was caught off guard.
A woman standing in the kitchen | Source: Midjourney
“This year, I’m cooking the turkey,” he declared over dinner one night, his tone brimming with confidence.
“I’ve got a secret recipe, Jen…”
I smiled at him, though something about the way he said secret made my stomach do a little flip.
“Alright,” I said, keeping my tone light. “I’ll put my feet up, maybe do my nails. Just let me know if you need any help.”
A man sitting at a dinner table | Source: Midjourney
“I won’t,” he shot back quickly.
Too quickly.
“This is going to be special.”
Jake’s always been eager to impress. At work, with his friends, his mother — especially his mother. And Patricia’s the type of woman who finds fault in compliments. She’d call the Mona Lisa “a little boring.”
A woman drinking a glass of wine | Source: Midjourney
The morning of Thanksgiving, Jake was a man possessed. He’d woken up early to prep, shooing me out of the kitchen before I could even pour my coffee.
“I’ve got it under control,” he chirped.
Patricia, perched at the counter with her ever-present glass of wine, raised a skeptical eyebrow.
A coffee machine | Source: Midjourney
“Jen, are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked me, her voice dripping with faux concern. “You’ve always done the turkey so well.”
“It’ll be fine,” I muttered, more to myself than to her.
Hours later, Jake emerged from the kitchen with our Thanksgiving centerpiece. To his credit, it looked perfect. Golden-brown, glistening, straight out of a food magazine or blog. He had even made roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a thick gravy.
A Thanksgiving turkey | Source: Midjourney
My mom clapped enthusiastically. Patricia tilted her head, inspecting it like a jeweler appraising a diamond.
“It smells amazing!” my mom gushed.
We gathered around the table, Jake beaming as he carved the first slice. Music was being played, plates were passed, and soon everyone had a helping. I cut into mine, ready to be caught off guard by the delicious meal.
People sitting around a table | Source: Midjourney
The moment it hit my tongue, I gagged.
“What the…?” I coughed, reaching for my water.
It wasn’t savory. It wasn’t even remotely turkey-like. It was sweet. Sickeningly, cloyingly sweet, like someone had glazed it with melted candy or something.
“Jake,” I managed, staring at him in disbelief. “What is this?”
A woman holding a napkin to her mouth | Source: Midjourney
Patricia, mid-chew, spat hers into a napkin with dramatic flair.
“Oh, Jake. Oh no.”
Jake’s face flushed red.
“It’s a glaze!” he said defensively. “Brown sugar, maple syrup, and marshmallow fluff. It’s different! It’s creative!”
A woman holding napkin to her mouth | Source: Midjourney
“Creative?” I echoed. “It tastes like someone dropped a turkey in a vat of something at Willy Wonka’s factory.”
The room fell silent. My brother-in-law, Steven, stifled a laugh. My mom pretended to focus on her mashed potatoes. Patricia, never one to miss an opportunity, shook her head with a dramatic sigh.
“This is why we don’t mess with tradition, Jake. Since you got married, Jen’s been the turkey girl. Tradition, Jake. Tradition.”
A woman sitting at a table with a glass of wine | Source: Midjourney
Jake’s jaw tightened at her comment, but he stayed quiet. I noticed his hand twitch toward the wine bottle. Like he wanted to grab it and drown out the awkwardness with some good old fermented grapes.
Later, after most of our guests had shuffled home and Jake had retreated to the den to lick his wounds, I stayed behind to clean the kitchen.
“Don’t worry about it, honey,” I said. “You chill in there, and I’ll be with you soon. I stashed a pumpkin pie earlier, because I know we like it with cold whipped cream.”
A slice of pumpkin pie and whipped cream | Source: Midjourney
I was trying to be nice. To help him realize that it had been a mistake, and nothing was wrong with that.
As I tossed scraps into the trash, a crumpled piece of paper caught my eye. Curious, I smoothed it out, revealing a handwritten recipe.
My heart sped up when I saw the name at the bottom of the page.
Sarah.
The contents of a trash can | Source: Midjourney
Sarah. Jake’s ex-wife.
My hands trembled as I stared at the card. Of all the people Jake could have gone to for a recipe — Google searches included — why on earth would he choose her? My mind worked overtime, trying to connect dots I didn’t want to see.
I stormed into the living room, holding the recipe card like evidence. Jake looked up from his football game rerun, his face draining of color.
A man sitting in front of a TV | Source: Midjourney
“Care to explain this?” I asked, my voice colder than I intended.
Jake sat up straighter.
“I… uh… I just wanted to make something special, Jen. Sarah worked as a cook for a while, when she was into catering. And I thought she’d… you know… have some good ideas for me.”
A woman in a kitchen | Source: Midjourney
“You thought Sarah would have the answer?” I interrupted, my voice rising. “Not me, your wife, the person who has been cooking almost all of your meals, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners included, for years?”
Jake’s mouth opened, then closed. For once, he had no response.
“I just… I didn’t want to mess up,” he admitted finally, his voice barely above a whisper. “You’re so good at it, and I thought if I asked, you’d take over. I wanted to prove that I could do it all on my own.”
A man holding his head | Source: Midjourney
“And you couldn’t just ask me for a little help?” I snapped. “Not even for my suggestions? Instead, you went to your ex-wife?”
Jake winced.
“Jen, it wasn’t like that…”
“No?” I shot back. “Then what was it like?”
A woman with her hands on her hips | Source: Midjourney
As I lay staring at the ceiling that night, my mind wouldn’t stop spiraling. Jake’s explanation felt weak. If he was too insecure to ask for my help with a turkey, what did that say about our relationship?
And Sarah?
Why her?
Was she really his best option, or was something else behind it? I mean, if I’m being honest, people always say you remember your first love forever.
A woman laying in bed at night | Source: Midjourney
The next morning, Jake approached me with a mug of coffee and a slice of pumpkin pie.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I’m really sorry, love. I wasn’t thinking. I just wanted to impress everyone, and I… I messed up royally.”
I nodded, keeping calm and collected, as I had instructed myself all night. I could barely sleep with my mind running through the possibilities.
A cup of coffee and a slice of pie | Source: Midjourney
“I understand wanting to impress people, Jake. But here’s the thing — next time you want advice, like good, solid advice, maybe start with the person you married. And for the record? Sarah sabotaged you. This recipe? Unless it was for some sickly sweet cereal treat, it was revenge, plain and simple.”
Jake blinked, his mouth dropping open.
“You think…”
A man looking shocked | Source: Midjourney
“Oh, I don’t think, Jake,” I said firmly. “I know.”
He groaned, sinking into the nearest chair.
“Goodness, I’m such an idiot.”
Jake couldn’t seem to meet my eyes for the rest of Thanksgiving weekend. He apologized again, twice, but it didn’t erase the lingering doubt. I kept replaying the moment I found that recipe card and the look on his face when I confronted him.
A man looking apologetic | Source: Midjourney
Patricia, of course, added fuel to the fire. She was staying with us for the weekend and naturally had heard everything.
“Well, at least he learned his lesson,” she remarked with a smug sip of her wine.
Jake had decided to take our dog for a walk, leaving Patricia and me alone, dissecting the entire turkey fiasco.
A man with his dog | Source: Midjourney
“Do you really think he went to her for help?” I asked my mother-in-law. “That there is nothing else going on?”
“Darling, Sarah cheated on him. She broke his little heart, so it can’t be anything more. I think our foolish man just wanted to impress the women in his life, so he reached out to the only other one he knew well.”
“I’m doubting everything.” I admitted, picking up Patricia’s glass of wine and taking a sip.
A woman holding a glass of wine | Source: Midjourney
“Jen, he adores you. He’s just a bit stupid sometimes. But if you think that a bigger and more important conversation needs to be had, then go ahead, darling. Do it.”
I nodded.
By Sunday night, I was exhausted — emotionally, mentally, physically. That Thanksgiving turkey didn’t just leave a bad taste in my mouth. It left cracks in something I thought was solid.
A woman sitting on a porch | Source: Midjourney
The truth is, I don’t know if I’ll ever fully trust Jake’s judgment again. Not just in the kitchen but in everything. And as we lay in bed that night, his soft apology didn’t make those doubts disappear.
For now, I’m still here. But I can’t shake the feeling that something shifted this Thanksgiving, and once things crack, it’s hard to piece them back together again.
A couple standing in a kitchen | Source: Midjourney
What would you have done?
If you’ve enjoyed this story, here’s another one for you |
At Christmas Dinner, My Daughter Stood up and Shouted, ‘And Where’s the Man Mom Keeps in Our Basement?’
Over a family dinner with his wife, daughter, and extended family, Quentin thinks everything will be perfect in the Christmas wonderland his wife has created. But during dinner, Daphne, his daughter, claims there’s a man hidden in their basement. Quentin has no choice but to uncover the truth.
Christmas dinner was supposed to be perfect this year. My wife, Ivy, had spent weeks transforming our home into a holiday wonderland, from garlands framing the doorways to twinkling white lights strung across the windows.
A house decorated for Christmas | Source: Midjourney
Our 8-year-old daughter, Daphne, had helped set the table, her chaotic but charming touch evident in the mismatched napkin folds and slightly tilted name cards.
Both sets of grandparents were with us, this being Ivy’s first Christmas with her stepfather, Patrick. Everyone was laughing, trading stories, and sipping mulled wine. For once, everything felt harmonious.
Until Daphne destroyed it all.
A smiling little girl | Source: Midjourney
I was mid-slice into the turkey, the knife gliding through the golden, crispy skin, when Daphne climbed onto her chair.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
At 15, Vivienne, Brad Pitt’s youngest daughter, is a little “Brangelina,” gorgeous.
Despite their short but lovely marriage coming to an abrupt end, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had some amazing kids.
In addition to having the most famous double surname, Vivienne, 15, is the picture perfect daughter of picture-perfect parents and one of the most beautiful young women living. Her twin brother Knox and biological sister Shiloh share this surname.
Read on to learn more about the newest member of the Pitt-Jolie family!
Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt was born into an aristocratic Hollywood family and became well-known at an early age.
After the birth of their twins in 2008, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, anticipating a circus of media attention, took control of the situation and sold People and Hello! the rights to the kids’ earliest photos! They donated the $14 million they collected from the sale of the images to their organization, the Maddox-Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
In a 2008 Rolling Stone interview, Brad Pitt talked about how the paparazzi invaded their personal lives, stating, “Well, we get run out of every major city.” That’s the cause of my b****ing. These photographers are pursuing the kids as they call out their names.
All eyes were focused on the couple and their growing family, though.
At the age of fifteen, Vivienne Marcheline, who went by her mother’s name Angelina Jolie, is widely recognized as one of the most stunning young women in the world. She is the youngest of six children, with her twin brother Knox being a few seconds older.
Given how stunning her parents are, it should come as no surprise that their children share their beauty.
Her father, a good-looking 60-year-old, is one of the only two men to have won People’s Sexiest Guy Alive twice, along with George Clooney and Johnny Depp. Numerous times, her mother has been named the world’s most beautiful woman.
In 1990, a young man from Missouri started to change Hollywood. His charming grin, bleached blonde hair, and innate acting abilities captivated every scene.
His perfectly sculpted features and dimples make him incredibly attractive to women. All he needed to win their hearts was a cowboy hat and a seductive sequence starring Geena Davis from the 1991 film Thelma and Louise.
Whether he plays a vicious psychopath in Kalifornia, an assassin in Bullet Train, or a kind-hearted blood sucker in Interview with the Vampire, Pitt never fails to captivate an audience that can’t get enough of him.
Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were one of the most alluring couples in Hollywood in the early 2000s, so many fans were devastated when they announced their divorce in 2005.
Only one month after Aniston filed for divorce, there were reports that the 48-year-old Mr. and Mrs. Smith actress and the Once Upon a Time star were dating.
Although the exact cause of Aniston and Pitt’s breakup remains unknown to the public, the Tomb Raider actress insists that the two were not intimate until Pitt’s divorce was finalized.
“To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive,” she said, alluding to her father’s adultery. Her father is the well-known actor Jon Voight, who played Angelina Jolie’s father in the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider movie from 2001. She continued, saying, “I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that.” I would not be interested in a man who had an affair with his wife.
The couple’s biological kid Shiloh was born in 2006, and they were married in 2014, together with Knox and Vivienne. The family also consists of three adopted children: Maddox Jolie-Pitt, 22, from Cambodia, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 18, and Pax Thien, 19, from Vietnam.
The Tomb Raider star explained that every child has reaped tremendous benefits from having a cosmopolitan upbringing.
They’re genuinely amazing people, and I think their sheer quantity has greatly influenced one another. Not that I led anything, really. I’m resolved to not give any of her children the benefit of the doubt. I always tell the truth to my children. And I’m incredibly human when it comes to my kids,” Jolie previously told People.
There are six remarkably diverse people living in my house. I’m infatuated with all the different stages, feelings, and interests that children go through. From whence could you not be? It’s our responsibility to help them find their identity. You can’t learn who they are if you don’t actively grow alongside them, she added.
Furthermore, since their divorce in 2019, Jolie and the Oceans 11 actress have shared parental responsibilities for the children.
Vivienne
Jolie greeted her, “My mother comes to mind every time I see or say Vivienne’s full name.”
“I dare to say Viv is proving to resemble Ange in spirit, attitude, and physicality,” says Vivienne’s loving father. with regard to her character. She has the same grace as her mother.
The screen that she and her mother are using is the same one.
Vivienne costarred with her Oscar-winning mother as a young Princess Aurora in the 2014 film Maleficent. when he was five years old.
Jolie told Entertainment Weekly that she didn’t think Vivienne would be in the film and that she thinks parents should give their children the freedom to make their own decisions.
“Although they like coming on set and making brief cameos, our kids are not actors in our eyes. That’s not at all what Brad and I hope to accomplish. However, none of the other [performers], who were three and four years old, would come up to me. It had to be a child that liked me and didn’t run from my eyes, claws, or horns. It had to be Viv after all.
Although Vivienne is now assisting her mother in creating the Broadway musical adaptation of The Outsiders, which is scheduled to open in April 2024, her only performing credit to far is this one.
For the stage adaptation of the 1983 movie of the same name, Jolie’s daughter Viv acts as her assistant. Jolie told E! News that Viv “reminds me of my mother in that she isn’t focused on being the center of attention but in being a support to other creatives.” “She is very thoughtful and serious about it, and she works really hard to figure out how she can contribute to the theater.”
benevolent spirit
Apart from her hereditary endowments, Vivienne’s magnanimous disposition stems from her generous parents. In 2019, she was seen at a neighboring dog park in Los Angeles, where she was selling treats to raise money for a nearby rescue shelter.
As a passionate animal lover, Vivienne was devastated to hear in 2020 that her favorite bunny had passed away. Jolie spoke with Harper’s Bazaar on the loss and said,Following the death of Vivienne’s bunny during surgery, we adopted two cute but little rabbits with disabilities. They have to work in pairs. Because they are so gentle, it has been helpful to focus on their care for her at this time. And speaking of dogs, snakes, and lizards…
It’s amazing that the twins are fifteen years old, and it will be interesting to see what they decide to do with their lives.
What are your thoughts on this stunning family? Please share this article with others and let us know what you think so we can hear from them too!
If you enjoyed this story as much as I did, you should read Shiloh, Vivienne’s older sister!
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