Chapter 9
CHAPTER
NINE
Cash found Boston and Cora parked in front of the house as he went by and pulled into the driveway.
The ride home from church, though it only took ten minutes, had been done mostly in silence, as both he and Lark seemed to be absorbed in their own thoughts, either from what the pastor had said or their quick gratitude session immediately following the sermon.
Cash knew he had said too much, too fast, but he’d wanted Lark to know that she was not a burden to him, and that he actually enjoyed her sassiness and personality, just as she was.
“Looks like they beat us here,” he said, pulling into the garage. “They live on the other side of town, and I told them they could come here after church.”
“It’s going to be fine.” Lark gave him a smile. “I can be pleasant, I promise.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Cash said. “It’s just…we Youngs are a lot, you know? And I only invited three cousins.”
“Do you guys ever all get together?” she asked, and since she hadn’t gotten out of the truck yet, Cash stayed too.
“At New Year’s,” he said. “That would be the soonest time we’d do that.”
“So no one hosts a big family Thanksgiving or Christmas?”
Cash shook his head no. “We usually split up into groups, and those change all the time. My daddy and my uncle Jem are best friends. They only live a couple blocks away from each other, and I’ve always done the most with their family and their kids growing up.”
He took a moment to think through his family. “Bryce is ten years older than me, and he’s got a horse rescue ranch up here in Dog Valley. We seem to gather at his house for Halloween. They do a spooky Halloween walk.”
“That sounds fun,” Lark said.
“Yeah, it’s because we have sixty kids in our family,” he said. “Sometimes fun is not the word that I would use to describe it.”
“But you said you’ve been out of town,” Lark said, a frown appearing between her eyes.
“Yeah,” Cash said. “Honestly, I kind of needed the break, though I missed my family and I’m glad to be back.”
Lark nodded, and then she sighed as she unbuckled her seatbelt and reached for her purse at her feet. “I think a big family is a blessing,” she said.
“That’s because you don’t have one.”
She looked over to him, obviously surprised that he’d spoken back to her in such a way, and Cash sighed and reached up and pulled his cowboy hat off his head and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Sorry, Lark. I didn’t—I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’ve spent the last ten years of my life being lonely,” she said. “So, I actually think it’s really nice that someone is here waiting at the house who wants to spend time with you.”
Cash had not considered that point of view, and foolishness ran through him rampantly. “I’m sorry, Lark,” he said again, and he meant for his own insensitivity, but also that she’d spent ten years feeling so alone. He also knew what that felt like, and he did not wish it upon anyone.
“I guess I just…I know my family loves me,” he said. “But I almost feel like a novelty item for them. It’s calmed down a lot since I moved home, but I totally get how you feel like no one ever puts you first.”
He thought of the argument he’d had with his father at the steakhouse, months ago. “I feel like that a lot,” he said. “Especially after my dad got remarried.”
Lark’s chin shook and her eyes shone like glass, but she did not let a single tear fall. “Let’s go in.”
“Okay.”
“I promise I’ll make a perfectly acceptable excuse and retreat to my bedroom if I need to.”
“I can help if you need it. Maybe we should have a safe word.” He grinned at her.
“A safe word?” she repeated.
“Yeah,” he said. “Boston and I have one when we go to family parties. I either say it or text it to him, and we can rescue each other.”
“What are you going to do? Kick all your cousins out?”
“If that’s what it takes,” he said, a fiercely protective streak rising up within him, as he wanted Lark’s life to be nothing but rainbows and roses.
She laughed lightly and shook her head, sobering quickly and wiping at her eyes. “I’m sure it will be fine. Let’s go.”
She reached to open her door, so Cash did the same. Just as he’d tapped to close the garage door and step into the house when he heard Boston call, “We’re walking in the front.”
“Come on in,” Cash called, already working the tie loose from around his neck.
He moved over to the fridge to get out the doughnut dough, and he set it on the counter just before Boston and Cora appeared in the kitchen. He stepped over and gave Boston a hug. “Hey, you guys. Thanks for coming.”
“If it’s inconvenient—” Cora started.
“I’m just going to go change my clothes real quick,” Lark said over her, and she darted down the hall to do that.
“It’s not inconvenient,” Cash said. “I’ve been planning it for a week.”
Both Boston and Cora watched Lark disappear into her bedroom, and everybody waited until the door clicked closed before they looked back at him.
“Yeah, but Lark’s here,” Boston said under his breath.
“Yeah, I knew she was going to be here.” Cash leaned in closer and grinned at his cousin. “It doesn’t change anything.”
Cora scoffed. She was a little bit salty like Lark, though she worked heavily in customer service and had tempered that greatly. “Oh, please, Cash. We both saw you holding her hand during church. Don’t even try to deny it.”
Cash held up both hands and laughed as he moved down the counter to where he’d left the bowl of dough. “I’m not going to deny it.”
“So if it’s inconvenient….” Boston said again, letting the words hang there.
Cash sent him a glare. “It’s not inconvenient. I invited you two, Bryce and Codi, Kassie and Reggie, and Adam and Joey. It’s fine. I’ve warned Lark.”
Cora laughed. “Oh, honey, you can’t properly warn someone about you Youngs.” She lifted her bag. “Can I go change too?”
“Yeah, sure,” Cash said, hating the truth with which her words rang through him. “There’s a bathroom right across from Lark’s bedroom. She might need to use that, though. There’s a guest bedroom at the end of the hall as well.”
“I’ll go in there,” Cora said. “Are you going to change, Bossy?”
Cash had never heard Cora call Boston Bossy before, but it was said with such tenderness that it actually fit.
“You go ahead,” Boston said, and his fiancé went down the hall and left the two of them alone.
“I promise I’d tell you if it wasn’t okay,” Cash said.
“When did she get here?” Boston asked.
“Yesterday,” Cash said. “I didn’t know she was coming that early, and we immediately went to Coral Canyon for groceries, and then I made her dinner.” He glanced over to the hall and then poured the dough onto the counter. “It’s fine.”
He started shaping the doughnuts, deciding on the spot to do half of them as round Bismarck-type doughnuts and the other half as Long Johns.
Daddy loved Long Johns, and Faith had taught him that they fried up a little bit better than the round doughnuts.
He’d found that to be true too, and he turned to put a big pot on the stove, which he then filled with a mix of half canola oil and half sunflower oil.
They were both neutral and wouldn’t give the doughnuts any flavor, and he could heat them to a high temperature and do a quick fry, which would make the dough less greasy.
He clipped a candy thermometer to the edge of the pot and flipped on the flame, setting it at medium-high.
Cora returned to the kitchen first. “I left the bag in the bedroom,” she said to Boston.
“Thanks, Kitten.” He slung his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “He says it’s fine.”
Cora looked at Boston, and while he didn’t know her all that well, he had spent quite a bit of time with her and Boston in the past several months. A silent understanding moved between them, and she looked up at Boston. “Then I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s not badger him to death about it.”
“Yes, let’s not badger him to death about it,” Cash repeated, and he gave Boston a silent glare.
“If you think I’m bad, wait until Bryce gets here,” Boston said with a laugh. “He’ll be the one you have to worry about. And he’s the one who puts everything on the family text too.” He gave Cash a cocked-eyebrow look that spoke volumes.
“It’s fine,” Cash said for the umpteenth time, though his entire being quaked at the thought of every aunt and every uncle and every cousin over the age of fifteen knowing about him and Lark.
Heck, he didn’t even know what they were yet, though he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted them to be.
“Tell us what you need us to do,” Cora said.
“Just go relax,” Cash said. “Lunch isn’t for another hour and a half. You can put on a movie or some music. If you brought your swimsuits, you can sit in the hot tub. Lark’s gonna help me with the potatoes after I get the doughnuts fried. When they’re cool, we’ll fill them and frost them.”
“Oh, you’re filling and frosting?” Lark asked as she returned. “You guys got so much more information out of him than I could get.” She grinned, and Cash’s whole world lit up with her in it.
“I’ve been keeping it a secret what I’ve been making,” he said. “I wanted her to do a taste test for Wade and Jet.”
“Those are your brothers, right?” Cora asked.
“Yep.” Lark smiled at her and then moved into the kitchen. “You want me to peel all twenty pounds?”
“Yeah, but you don’t need to do it right now,” he said. “I’ll be working on the doughnuts for probably the next half-hour.”
Lark hefted the twenty-pound bag of russet potatoes onto the counter and into the sink. “Okay, well then I’ll just leave it.”
Cash stood there and watched as she looked from him to Boston to Cora and back.
“All right,” he said, a faint beat of panic moving through him for a reason he couldn’t name. “I’ve got two options here. Maybe I’ll let you guys vote.”
“Lay ’em on us, Cash,” Boston said.
“I’m going to be doing a raspberry-filled doughnut in two shapes,” Cash said. “And the choices come in the toppings. We can do some chocolate, kind of like a variation on the Black Forest cake. I can do a simple white chocolate glaze, or I can do a whipped cream cheese frosting.”
“I love raspberries and chocolate,” Cora said. “Have you had those candy sticks they sell at Christmas? The chocolate-covered raspberry jelly ones?”
Boston made a face. “Are you serious? You like those?”
“They’re good,” Cora said emphatically. “You like the chocolate oranges.”
“Yeah, the ones you can break apart. Not the jelly sticks. Those are nasty.”
She grinned at him. “Well, I like the raspberry jelly ones, so now you know what to put in my stocking.”
Cash glanced over to Lark, because she would be here in the house for Christmas, and he had no idea what to put in her stocking. “Everyone gets one vote,” he said.
“We only get one?” Cora asked.
“Fine, give me your top two,” he said, starting to regret that he told Boston and Cora to come early and that they didn’t need to leave.
“I vote for the Black Forest variation,” Cora said. “That’s my top one. Second, I would go with frosting. You can never have too much cream cheese frosting.”
“She’s not wrong,” Lark said. “My top choice is the cream cheese frosting.”
“And number two?” Cash asked.
“I don’t know if I have a number two.” She flicked a quick glance over to Cora. “Sorry, Cora, but I’m with Boston on the raspberry chocolate combo, so I’d probably pick white chocolate.”
“Those are my top two as well,” Boston said.
“Boo,” Cora said while grinning.
Cash, the people pleaser that he was, wanted to make a chocolate raspberry doughnut just for her, and he could too. It wouldn’t be that much harder.
“All right,” he said. “But now we’re still at a tie between the white chocolate and the cream cheese.”
“Well, what do you want to make, Big Spender?” Lark burst out laughing again. “I’m sorry, I tried it. It was terrible. I can’t believe I said that.”
Cash laughed with her, glad he got to have her laughter in his life again. “You keep trying, sweetheart. You’ll find the right one.”
“Yeah, and you’re not supposed to call me sweetheart.”
Cash glanced over to his cousin and found Boston standing there with his mouth open.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “I’ve been out on dates with you and Cora before. You’ve seen me flirt.”
“Have we, though?” Boston looked at Cora. “Have you ever seen him like this?”
With wide eyes, Cora shook her head no. “This is something else.”
“Okay, I’m uninviting you guys to lunch,” Cash said, frustration moving through him. “I don’t want to be teased all day.”
“We won’t,” Cora said quickly, and then she looked over to Lark. “Come show me how to work this TV. Let’s put a movie on while Cash cooks.”
She linked arms with Lark, and they went into the living room together, somehow talking about something already. Boston watched Cash for an extra moment.
“All right, so I like her. Big deal,” Cash said.
“For the past few months, you’ve spent all your time complaining about her,” Boston said.
“Yeah, because she didn’t like me back,” Cash whispered, deftly dividing the dough and measuring it into one-and-a-half-ounce chunks. “But now she does. So can you stop with all the staring and questioning?”
“Boston,” Cora barked. “Leave him alone to make our doughnuts, or we’re never going to eat.”
“Yeah, sure,” Boston said, and he clapped Cash on the shoulder. “Well, she’s really pretty, and I’m glad you like her.” Then he joined his fiancé and Lark in the living room.
Cash had made doughnuts so many times that it didn’t require much mental effort, and he weighed the dough and shaped it and let it rest, all while thinking he may have made the biggest mistake of his life by not canceling today’s lunch with his cousins.