Hey, Gunnar, do you want to play football with us?” I asked after we’d eaten dessert. I wasn’t sure why the tradition of physical activity existed on the day when everyone overate. It seemed like naptime was the only thing that made sense, but that wasn’t happening.

“I can?” Gunnar asked, jumping up.

“Yes,” I said. “I want you on my team on account of you being such a fast runner.”

He cheered and, as if proving my point, ran out the door and into the Williamses’ backyard.

“I guess that means I’m on your team,” Andrew said to Micah. “Are you any good?”

“I’m the best,” Micah said, following Gunnar outside.

“Nice. You’re going down, Sophie,” Andrew said.

“Kind of like that rock you tried to skip in the lake?” I replied.

“Um … yes actually. Were you meaning to back up my statement?” he asked.

I thought about it. “No, I was trying to insult your throwing abilities.”

Micah picked up a basket of flip-flops by the back door, which she always used to mark out boundaries on the grass. “Next time just say: ‘Well, you can’t throw, so there,’ ” Micah said.

“I thought you were on my team,” Andrew said to her.

“I am, but Sophie needed help with her smack talk.”

“Since when?” Andrew asked, glancing at me. “You’ve been flinging the best insults at me all year.”

I kicked at his leg as we walked to the grass. “I know! I’ve gone soft.”

“I have a feeling that’s not true at all.”

We’d been playing for a while when the adults came outside, wanting to join us. They’d never done that before and I wondered what had happened inside to make sports with us seem appealing.

Mr. Williams answered my question when he said, “Jett has never played a game of touch football.”

“Plus,” Mom said, “he thinks it looks easy.”

Gunnar had probably been making it look easy. He’d caught almost every throw I’d passed to him and was just as fast as I’d hoped. We were totally killing Micah and Andrew, much to Andrew’s dismay.

“We’ll take my parents!” Micah called out, waving to her mom and dad to join her and Andrew.

I gave Jett a once-over as he came to join my team. “Are you going to make me lose?” I asked him.

Andrew laughed.

My mom seemed to be assessing Jett as well. “We got this,” she said to me, holding her hand up. I complied by giving her a high five.

“Sorry you felt like you needed to wear that dress,” I said to her quietly.

“It’s really comfortable.”

“You never have to wear it again.”

She laughed and pulled me into a side hug. “Love you, kid.”

“Love you too.”

I remained in my position as quarterback. It seemed to be Andrew’s new goal, now that he had extra people on his team and didn’t have to play receiver, to try to get to me before I could throw the ball. For the fourth time since the adults had joined us, I found myself trying to outrun him. Gunnar was being double-teamed by Micah’s parents, my mom was illegally holding Micah to keep her in place, but Jett was open downfield.

I hadn’t thrown to him once and he held out his hands and called, “Give it up, flower girl!”

I pressed my lips together and threw just as Andrew reached me. He picked me up and spun me around.

“Too late!” I called out to him.

He laughed and then paused, me in his arms, as we watched his dad catch the ball and run into the end zone.

“Ha!” I called out.

“It figures that my dad’s a natural,” Andrew said. “And that he’s on your team.”

Gunnar came running our way and slammed into me and Andrew, knocking us both down. Andrew landed on his back with a grunt and I landed back first on top of him, with Gunnar lying flat on me.

“We win!” Gunnar said, rolling off me, jumping up, and doing a lap around the yard to rub his victory in everyone’s faces. I rolled off Andrew and onto my side to face him.

“You okay?” I asked.

“No air,” he said, still on his back, holding his chest like he couldn’t breathe.

I smacked his arm. “Good thing we didn’t play tackle, wimp.”

He stared up at the sky, a small smile on his face. “This is why people don’t cater on Thanksgiving,” he said.

“Why?”

“Because being with family is so much better.”

I smiled, sitting up, and looked around. My mom was showing Jett how to hold a football. Micah was tickling Gunnar while telling him that she let him win. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were studying some weeds at the edge of the grass, his arm around her shoulder. We weren’t all technically family, but I knew what he meant. Family was everything.