text: “Come on, that’s not fair. You have to show me a picture,” I exclaimed. “Alright. One second,” Will responded. I was sitting at the dinner table with Will, one of my mom’s coworkers. They had worked with each other in retail for a couple years now, so naturally, they became pretty close friends. While my mom and dad were in the kitchen getting dinner prepared, I was sitting at the table with Will. He was like an uncle to me. He would come over a couple times a week to have dinner with us, and we would always sit and talk while we waited for dinner. About two months prior, he met a *lady friend* while he was out with his friends. He had been telling me about her as their relationship progressed. Her name was Janet. She had the standard brown hair and brown eyes that most people have, but Will thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. With so many stories about her, my curiosity piqued. I finally caved and asked to see her. “Here she is,” he said proudly, showing me a picture of the two of them. Oh. My. God. This must be a joke. It felt like time stood still as I realized...that’s Aunt Janet. *My* Aunt Janet. As in mom’s sister, Aunt Janet - the one that’s “happily” married with two kids. “Wow, she really is beautiful,” I responded as calmly as I could. “I know! I’m thinking about asking her to come as my +1 for Thanksgiving. Is it too soon? Do you think your mom would mind?” “Not at all, you should totally invite her! I’d love to meet her. I don’t think my mom will mind, but you should check with her just to be sure, though.” I paused to consider the consequences, before adding on, “Wait! Keep it a little bit of a secret though. Just mention that you’d like to bring her over to meet the family, but don’t tell my mom anything else. It’ll drive her crazy!” Will, thinking it would be a fun way to pull my mom’s leg, agreed. Now, you might be thinking that I’m being an asshole here. Why would I ruin poor Aunt Janet’s marriage? Well, you see, Aunt Janet was the reason my two-year relationship ended earlier this year. My ex-boyfriend, Liam, had been with me since freshman year of high school. We were childhood friends, and I’d like to think we truly loved each other. Liam and I had a fantastic relationship while we were together. He was my best friend, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. But one day, Aunt Janet came over with her good-for-nothing husband, Ethan. I can’t tell you why, but they thought it would be a great idea to have sex in my bed, throwing their used condom in my trash can without the slightest effort to hide it. I wasn’t home that day, so when Liam and I got back to my house to watch a movie, Liam caught sight of the used condom in my trash can. “Babe, what’s that?” You could hear his voice cracking as his eyes teared up. “Is that a condom?” I responded, confused as to how it got there. “You’re seriously gonna ask me if you have a used condom in *your* trash can?” The sadness in his voice turned to annoyance as I denied knowledge of it. I genuinely didn’t know where it had come from, but Liam wouldn’t take my “I don’t know how it got there” and “it’s not mine!” He broke up with me, storming out of my room and leaving both of us in tears. It felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart. I was devastated. Later that night, my mom had casually mentioned that she had Aunt Janet and Uncle Ethan over. Aunt Janet made it very clear that she didn’t regret what she did. “Did you have sex in my bed?” I screamed at her over the phone. “Don’t worry, dear. We put down a towel,” she laughed. “But you didn’t think you should cover up the condom?” “It’s not a surprise that two married adults have sex. Maybe you can take the stick out of your ass and try it some time,” she retorted, hanging up on me. I called Liam over and over, but it kept going straight to voicemail. I tried texting him, explaining that it was my aunt and uncle, but he didn’t respond. I. Was. Livid. I wanted nothing more than bitter revenge and swore that I’d make her life a living hell one day. To my delight, that day finally arrived. Mom invited Aunt Janet, Uncle Ethan, and their kids over for Thanksgiving. Normally, Will would spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, but since they had broken up several months ago, my Mom had invited Will over as a friendly gesture. I knew Aunt Janet would decline the offer to go with Will, but knowing that they would very likely be in the same room at the same time gave me something to look forward to. On Thanksgiving, Will and I were in the kitchen with my parents, helping to prepare some of the side dishes. Aunt Janet had a habit of being really late, so none of us were in any rush to put the food on the table. We all laughed together in the kitchen, enjoying our time together and taste-testing all the food as it was being made. A couple hours went by, and we finally had everything out and ready on the table. Mom called Aunt Janet to ask her ETA, and she said they would be over in about half an hour. One of their kids was throwing a tantrum. “Whelp, let’s not let the food get cold. Let’s dig in!” Mom said. My parents, Will, and I did exactly that. I piled a mountain of turkey and green bean casserole onto my plate. I devoured my food in less than 10 minutes, so I leaned back in my chair and admired my food baby. I did have to leave a little room, however, as I still needed the sweet taste of revenge I so desperately craved. *Ding.* The doorbell! It was finally happening. Aunt Janet walked in with her purse, making a scene about how tired she was. “Oh my god. Janet? I thought you said you were spending Thanksgiving with your sister’s family?” Poor, sweet, innocent Will. Before Aunt Janet had the chance to respond, Uncle Ethan and their kids walked in. “Sorry, guys. Makayla was giving us a hard time, but we’re finally here and...ready for the turkey.” Uncle Ethan’s voice trailed off at the end as he sensed the tension in the room. “Wait, are you married?” Will was finally catching on. “Janet, who the hell is this?” Uncle Ethan angrily exclaimed. “Mary! What the fuck did you do?” Wow. Aunt Janet was really going to try to blame my mom for this. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” my mom said, genuinely confused by the situation. “Janet, I asked you who the fuck this is,” Uncle Ethan pointed at Will, growing increasingly impatient. Everyone began screaming over each other. Will was confused, but mostly upset that his Janet wasn’t all he worked her up to be. My parents were taken aback, trying to figure out what was going on. My uncle was furious, ignoring his children, who were crying in the background. I was sitting back in my chair, smiling as I watched the chaos unfold. Now we get to Janet. Poor Aunt Janet. She was in complete denial, saying that she had never met Will, that my mom was setting her up because she didn’t like Ethan, that my mom was just jealous of her relationship with Ethan. This was quickly refuted by the evidence Will produced on his phone - the same picture he showed me of the two of them together. Fortunately for me, everyone was too absorbed with Aunt Janet the Cheater to trace the blame for the situation back to me. “Since you don’t care about your fucking family, we’ll be heading back home. You can live on the fucking street for all I care” Uncle Ethan said, as he grabbed his kids’ hands and walked out the door. My parents excused themselves from the room, insisting they had to take care of some stuff in the kitchen. Will was visibly upset. “I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that you lied to me or the fact that I believed you,” Will said dismally. I truly did feel bad for Will, but he deserved so much better than her. I knew it would hurt him short-term, but I knew he would be thankful in the long-run, when he would be able to spend time with someone who actually loves and cares about his pure soul. This left just Aunt Janet and I in the room. I had the biggest, shit-eating grin you could imagine. I turned to Aunt Janet, who was now sobbing. “Hey, Aunt Janet,” I said as nicely as I could. “What?” she screamed back. “Happy Thanksgiving.” \*\*\* **Note**: This story was inspired by a post I saw on Facebook. Unfortunately, the poster’s name was blacked out, so I don’t know who to give credit to, but I am including it here for reference. “My mom invited Kevin to thanksgiving dinner...Kevin is the man my aunt sheryl has been having an affair with...\[emojis\] kevin invited my aunt sheryl to dinner at a friends house but she said no cause she was having dinner with family. So kevin is going to this friends house alone...This friends house happens to be my house. My aunt sheryl is having dinner at my house with her husband. Kevin is my moms coworker. Sheryl met kevin at a bar when she told my uncle she was working late. Kevin showed me a pic of his new girlfriend 2 weeks ago. I told my mom to invite kevin, I cant wait to sit next to kevin. Aunt sheryl ruined my relationship a few years ago & I told her to count her days that day is today. Happy thanksgiving everyone \[emojis\].