Tuesday - 11/30
REISTERSTOWN ROAD PLAZA - BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
JENNIFER: Wow. A party in Europe. A party at the von Amberg Palace.
FRANKIE: Yeah. Like I said, I know it’s kinda late notice, so if you either can’t or don’t want to-
JENNIFER: I want to!
FRANKIE: You do?
JENNIFER: Of course! I would love to go to Europe again, and spend time with you! That would be great!
FRANKIE: Great! Thank you so much, Jen!
JENNIFER: Well thank you for the invitation! So, am I gonna meet you there? Should I come out to D.C. first?
FRANKIE: That won’t be necessary. Actually, I’m gonna be in Salem for Christmas. I’ll stay through New Year’s, and then we can go together.
JENNIFER: That sounds great!
FRANKIE: It does! I’m really excited about this!
JENNIFER: Me too!
They stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. Jennifer hesitated.
JENNIFER: It’s getting to be about the time Hope, Melissa, Sarah and I agreed to meet up. I should probably go.
FRANKIE: Yeah, I gotta head out, too.
JENNIFER: It’s so good to see you again, Frankie!
FRANKIE: You too! I’ll be in touch in a couple of days with the details about the event.
JENNIFER: Sounds great to me.
They hugged again.
JENNIFER: I’ll see you around Christmas.
FRANKIE: See you then.
Frankie watched as Jennifer walked away. After a few minutes, Jennifer caught up with Hope.
JENNIFER: Hey, cuz.
HOPE: Hey. So, Frankie Brady.
JENNIFER: Yeah, of all the people to run into here. It was so nice to catch up with him! Plus, he invited me to that party in Europe in January.
HOPE: Jen, that’s fantastic! I’m so glad you’ll be joining us there!
JENNIFER: Me too!
SALEM PLACE
ALLIE: Wow!
CLAIRE: You really want to ask Joey to marry you?
ALANIS: Yeah. Why? Do you not think it’s a good idea?
CLAIRE: I think it’s a great idea! You and Joey are so good together! How long have you been thinking about this?
ALANIS: For a while now. He and I have talked about the future, and we both can see each other being together in it. I just want to make it official. Not immediately or anything, even if we did get engaged, we would take our time putting everything together. It would be sort of like your engagement, Claire, where you and Chase waited just over a year.
CLAIRE: Well, I’m glad you’ve been thinking about it.
ALLIE: Yeah.
ALANIS: Thanks. So, I was thinking about getting this for him. I don’t know when I’ll give it to him, maybe it’ll be Christmas or New Year’s, maybe after. I just know how I feel about him, and he’s told me that he feels the same.
CLAIRE: Go for it, then. I’m happy for you!
ALANIS: Thanks!
Claire and Alanis hugged.
Meanwhile, Trix had come to the mall and joined Ciara.
CIARA: How was the rest of your Thanksgiving? I mean, aside from the part where you came to celebrate with us.
TRIX: Yeah, it was alright. My Aunt Vivian announced that she’s back. Guess her marriage to André DiMera didn’t work out.
CIARA: Shocker. Sorry, I know she’s your aunt, but…
TRIX: You’re all good. Neither my Dad or I could understand what she was thinking. getting together with that creep. Let’s go in here.
She pointed to the Basic Black outlet.
CIARA: Basic Black? Isn’t that a dress store?
TRIX: You’ve got it.
The two walked in.
CIARA: I don’t think I’ve seen you wear a dress, outside of weddings.
TRIX: I’m not much for them, but I’ll be needing a new one soon. How’s this one look?
Trix pulled a dark blue dress off the rack and held it up in front of her.
CIARA: It’s nice. I like that color on you.
TRIX: Cheers. I wanna check out a couple others, but I do quite like this one.
CIARA: So, what do you need a new dress for?
TRIX: That event in Europe in the new year.
CIARA: Wait, you’re going to that?
TRIX: Yep. Aunt Viv, Dad and I, we all got invitations. I guess the Alamains and von Ambergs are in the same circles, so we got an invite, and Aunt Viv insisted that we all go.
CIARA: You never mentioned that.
TRIX: I was gonna tell you. I wasn’t trying to keep it secret or anything. You just made it clear you’re not interested, so I thought I’d hold off on mentioning it. I’ll also have to find a plus one, I suppose. It’s kind of a requirement, so Aunt Viv says. She’ll bring Ivan, no doubt. Not sure who Dad or I’ll bring.
Ciara was left speechless.