Chapter 26 #2
“How long before it’s up online?”
Graham kept his head ducked low as he put veggies and dip on his plate.
“I’m a couple of weeks out,” Reeves said. “I try to work about that far ahead, and these multi-day trips take a long time to edit.”
“You’re making videos?” Laney asked.
Graham looked up in time to see the anxiety on Bailey’s face as she turned toward Reeves.
He gave her a warm smile and communicated something to her with only his eyes.
Graham wanted to pause time right then, because he loved watching her interact with Reeves this way.
Yes, she’d said their relationship was new, only a couple of months old, but they’d obviously spent a lot of time together, and it warmed his heart to see her in a relationship this intimate at all.
“Yes, ma’am,” Reeves said as he turned his attention back to Laney. “I make videos and post them across various online channels.”
“Outdoor videos, Grandma Laney,” OJ said. “He’s the Teton Mountain Man.” He spoke like Graham and everyone should know who that is.
“OJ,” Bailey said sharply.
He glanced at her, and then Reeves, his eyes widening as his countenance fell. “I’m sorry. Is it a secret?”
“He just doesn’t want—”
“It’s not really a secret,” Reeves said, as Bailey cut off. “It’s just kind of like….”
Though Reeves struggled to find the words, Graham knew exactly what it was like.
He looked from Reeves to OJ. “I imagine it’s probably a lot like how your daddy is, son,” he said.
“He’s famous, and people recognize him, but at the same time, he’s just Otis Young.
You know, your daddy, and your momma’s husband, and a guy out at the store to get the bananas his kids want.
He doesn’t have to be—or even want to be—a country music star all the time.
” He looked back to Reeves. “Is that about right?”
“Yes, sir,” he murmured. “That’s about right.”
Graham reached the end of the line and picked up a can of root beer. “Teton Mountain Man. I’ll have to look it up and see what you do.”
“It’s so great, Grandpa Graham,” OJ said as they moved away from the table.
“He’s done so many videos, some about camping, and some about hiking.
My favorite are the winter camping ones, and he has millions and millions of followers.
Me and my uncle Luke watch him and have even done some of his recipes. ”
“Is that right?” Graham grinned at him and led OJ and Laney over to a table where they could sit down and enjoy their dinner.
“He seems a little quiet about it,” Laney said, and she met Graham’s eyes before looking back at OJ. “Maybe we should let him bring it up before we ask him anything else.”
OJ looked from her to Graham, and he seemed utterly confused. That made Graham laugh, and he once again put his arm around OJ.
“You’ve been out with Harry, right, bud?” he asked.
“Yeah, of course,” OJ said. “But not when they have their secret cousin night.” He picked up his hot dog and took a bite that seemed a little bit angry.
Graham’s heartbeat accelerated. “What’s this about a secret cousin night?” he asked as nonchalantly as he could.
“Well, I’m not invited,” OJ said around his hot dog. He swallowed it, and then reached to pop the top on his Fresca. “They say I’m not quite old enough yet, but I know they all get together and have dinner and play games and all that stuff.”
“Who does?” Laney asked.
OJ looked at her. “All the older cousins. You know, Harry and Bryce and Cash and Boston.” He waved his hand like that was everyone in his huge family.
“Sure,” Laney said, and she once again looked at Graham, more nervousness in her expression than before. “I mean, Bryce is quite a bit older than you, OJ.”
“Yeah, I know.” He didn’t sound happy about it nonetheless. “They don’t invite Eric either, and it’s fine. I’m not upset by it.”
“Are you sure?” Graham asked. He looked over as Bailey sat next to her mother, and Reeves joined them on that side of the table as well. “You seem a little upset.”
OJ sighed and stabbed a butterfly-shaped noodle. “I just feel a little left out, you know? I’m old enough to go play croquet, or watch a movie, and I’m a pro at eating pizza.”
Laney giggled and said, “Of course you are, OJ.”
Graham took a bite of his hamburger, so he would have a few seconds to organize his thoughts.
“What are we talking about?” Bailey asked.
“Cousin night,” OJ said, and the words definitely carried a hint of bitterness.
Laney looked at Bailey, who looked at her mother, and Laney quickly filled her in before turning her attention back to OJ.
She reached over and covered his hand with hers.
“Baby, they’re all adults,” she said. “They’re dating, and getting married, and having babies…
they might talk about things that won’t mean anything to you, because you’re only fourteen. ”
“I’ll be fifteen soon,” he said.
“Does Rosie go?” Bailey asked.
OJ looked at her, something clouded across his face, and then he nodded. “Yeah, because she’s from the first marriage. That’s what Joey told me. Cousin night is for the kids from the first marriage, whatever that means.”
Graham met Laney’s eyes again. “It means the kids that came into your family when your daddies were married before,” he said.
“Rosie isn’t even that much older than me,” OJ said.
“It’s just a different group,” Laney said, her voice quiet. “Your family has a lot of those.”
“Maybe age doesn’t have much to do with it at all,” Bailey said simply.
OJ cut a look at Reeves, and then back to his food. “It’s fine. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Graham swallowed and wiped his mouth with a paper towel. He had no idea what to say into the tense silence settling over the table. His brothers and their wives and kids came to join them, but they’d sat down on the end, and their conversations didn’t quite reach this far.
“It sounds like you might be real busy this summer, OJ,” Reeves said, and all eyes moved to him again. He spoke in a slow, cowboy way that also held ultimate power. “But I have to make videos every week, and I could start to teach you how to use the camera, if you’d like.”
Bailey turned toward him, and Reeves met her eye for a moment. Again, they seemed to have a whole conversation, and Reeves swept his lips across her cheek and practically rested his chin on her shoulder as he looked at OJ again. “I’ve asked Bailey, but she doesn’t seem too keen on helping me.”
“You don’t really need a cameraman,” Bailey said dryly.
“No, but if OJ wants to come, he could even be in a video if he wanted.”
“Could I?” OJ asked, his voice now made of magic. “I would love that, Reeves.”
“Have you been camping before?” Reeves asked.
“Oh yeah, loads of times,” OJ said. “My family sometimes goes with Uncle Luke’s, and sometimes I just go with them alone.”
“See?” Bailey asked. “You get to do all kinds of things your cousins don’t.” She sent a sharp look over to OJ. “I mean, none of them are here with us.”
OJ simply watched her, then looked at Reeves with all the hope in the world.
Graham’s heart bled for the boy, and he just wanted him to be happy. “He’s a very outdoorsy person.”
“And very responsible,” Laney said with a grin at their grandson. “You’d have to do every single thing Reeves says, exactly when he says it.”
OJ straightened, his eyes bright and filled with the energy Graham loved. “I can do it, Grandma Laney,” he said. He looked back to Reeves. “I really can.”
“Well, you’ll have to check with all your jobs,” Reeves said. “And not be too upset if it doesn’t work out right away.” He took a bite of his hot dog, chewed, and swallowed it. “Remember, I make a video every week, so if it doesn’t work out the first time, it surely will eventually.”
Bailey smiled at him and sagged into his chest, and she looked over to OJ. “How does that sound, bud?”
“Amazing.” Then he lifted up on one side and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “I’m totally going to need your number,” he said. “Then I can talk to my momma and daddy, and we can work something out.”
Bailey reached for the phone and handed it to Reeves, and Graham’s gratitude only grew and grew. He still didn’t know very much about Reeves at all, but the way the man had read the table and offered OJ something that would mean a great deal to him spoke volumes about his character.
As he typed his number into OJ’s phone and the conversation moved on to something else, Graham sent a prayer up to God that Bailey would be able to find her ultimate happiness, whether that was with Reeves or not.
Every time Graham looked at them, he got the feeling that God had led Bailey to that house, which stood exactly next door to Reeves, for a reason.
“All right, we’ve got games here,” Andrew said, and Graham stood and picked up the empty paper plates from the people around him. “Lawn darts, cornhole, horseshoes, and nine-square,” his brother called. “Who’s in?”
“I am,” Graham said, because he wanted to have a good time at his family barbecue. He and Laney could talk about Bailey and Reeves once everyone had gone and they were alone again, because he couldn’t wait to get his wife’s opinion on this new relationship.
Oh, and he might want to mention OJ’s feelings about cousin night to Bryce too. Maybe, he told himself, because he didn’t tell the man everything, and he didn’t want to betray OJ’s confidence.
Maybe waiting and watching—for now—would be the best course of action, and as he took the red-striped beanbags for a game of cornhole with Eli, he focused his attention on that instead of trying to micromanage every situation OJ found himself in.
Graham couldn’t do that anyway, no matter how badly he wanted to.