Chapter 17 #2
“Momma asked me to do the cutting.” Melissa shot her younger sister a dark-eyed look and cut off the end of another asparagus spear. “You’re supposed to snap off the ends of the green beans, Pip.”
“It’s boring,” she said.
“Helping your mother is never boring,” Tex said, and he leaned over and pressed his lips to the top of his youngest’s head. “No knives for you yet, Pips. Promise me.”
She glared at him. “Momma said the same thing.”
Tex grinned. “I figured.”
“My momma doesn’t let me use a knife yet either,” Wyatt said. “She cut all the carrots, and I got to stir them on the stove with the maple syrup and brown sugar. Oh!” He snapped his fingers. “And butter. Lotsa butter.”
Tex’s heart expanded three sizes, and he wanted to stay there and eavesdrop on all the kids who’d come. He turned just as the front door opened, and Blaze said, “In. Everyone inside.”
His kids started filing in, his only younger son leading the crew. Tyrone saw Tex, and his whole face lit up. “Teh, Uncla-Teh!” He turned back toward the door, where Grace nearly steamrolled over him. “Turrey ou-sigh!”
“Yeah, there’s a turkey outside,” Tex said, and he moved quickly past his everyday dining table and into the formal living room. He swept Ty into his arms and squeezed him. “You can come sit with me if you want.”
He met his brother’s eye, and Blaze nodded. Tex moved to the side so the girls could go inside, and Faith stepped into the house last. “There’s a playpen right there for her,” he said. “If she needs to nap or you just want to contain her.”
Faith looked over to it, a measure of relief pulling across her features. “Thanks, Tex. I’ll put her here and go get the pies.”
“Seems like we cowboys are manning the turkey,” Blaze said.
The alarm on Tex’s phone went off, and he nodded his brother back out the front door. “Yep, and that one’s done.”
Blaze exited the house, then turned back around. “Let me talk to the girls first.”
“And bring out the second turkey,” Tex called after him, quickly moving down the steps and over to the fryer. He passed Ty to Trace, saying, “This turkey is done.”
At least he hoped so. He first silenced his alarm, then plucked the meat thermometer from where he’d hung it against the side of the house. A gust of wind blew the scent of snow and sky across the cement, driving the steam toward Wade’s house next door.
Tex put on the heat-resistant grill gloves and reached for the handle on the turkey. He lifted it out of the hot peanut oil, the gloriously golden skin on the bird making his stomach growl appreciatively.
He stuck the thermometer down into the thickest part of the breast and waited a few seconds for it to register. “One-seventy-one,” he said. “That’s good.” His shoulder strained from holding the thirteen-pound bird, but he managed to get it all the way up and out of the oil.
He put it on the platter he’d switched out with Abby, and Bryce appeared to take it from him. “Uncle Blaze is coming out with the other one.”
“Hold this.” Tex passed him the platter, and his son held it while Tex removed the hanger that attached to the “anchor” that held the turkey in place inside the pot.
“I think this just goes—” He cut off as the turkey came free, and that rod that he’d slid through the whole thing came right back out.
“Yep, that worked.”
“So this is good?”
Tex grabbed the hanger he’d set on the corner of the platter. “Yeah, take that inside to Momma, would you?”
Bryce turned to do that, and Blaze took his place with a raw turkey.
Tex inserted the rod the way he’d done before, seated the turkey in the anchor-y part, and reattached the hanger to it.
He used that to lower the turkey into the oil, which probably needed a few more minutes to come up to temperature again.
“Let me check it.” He moved over to the pot of oil, which had been fresh before the first turkey. He could easily do another one, as he’d watched at least a dozen videos to figure out how to do a fried turkey.
He’d wanted to do one for years, and Abby had finally let him. “Almost there,” he said when he saw the oil temp up at three-forty. “Just a few more degrees.”
Blaze slid the tray onto the small table several feet from the oil, and Tex turned toward him only to find him watching the road. Tex turned that way too and found Cash’s truck coming to a stop behind Trace’s.
“Cash is here.”
“Yep.” Blaze squeezed Tex’s forearm as he passed him. “I promised not to tease him about his new girl.”
Tex simply watched as Cash got out, waved and called, “Hello, everyone,” then rounded the hood of his pickup to open the door for his new girlfriend.
Tex caught a flash of a red coat, and then Cash rounded the truck with his hand secured in that of a pretty woman with bright eyes and hair halfway between blonde and black.
“She’s pretty,” he said as Blaze approached. He hugged both Cash and Lark, and together, the three of them approached.
“Hey, Uncle Tex.” Cash grinned and jogged the last few steps to him. “Thanks for inviting me, and thanks for letting me bring Lark last-minute.” He emanated sunshine, and Tex hadn’t seen him this alive since he’d won Nationals last year.
“This is Lark McClellan.” Cash looked over to her, his smile only growing. “Lark, this is my uncle Tex. He’s the oldest brother.”
Blaze nodded over to Trace. “Then comes Trace, and then me.”
“And you’ve met Bryce,” Cash said. “And that’s Uncle Wade. He lives right next door here.” He nodded over to the house next door.
“Wade?” Lark asked. “You did not have an Uncle Wade on the flow chart you made.”
Tex burst out laughing, because the Young family so needed a flow chart. Cash laughed too, and he linked his arm through Lark’s. “He’s Aunt Abby’s brother, so not technically a Young.”
“We have a lot of those,” Blaze said.
“Yeah, Wade and Cheryl,” Tex said.
“Reggie and Kassie,” Blaze said.
“Denzel and Michelle.”
“Sure,” Blaze said. “He’s Aunt Leigh’s brother.”
“Reggie is Aunt Ev’s brother,” Cash said.
“And Everly is married to Trace,” Lark said. “Because I know she’s not your momma, and I remember you said Abby and Tex lived next door to her brother.”
“Yep, Ev is married to Trace.”
Lark smiled at Tex and extended her hand. “It’s great to meet you. Thank you for letting me come.”
“Of course,” Tex said, giving her hand a good pump. “How long have you and Cash been seein’ each other?”
She glanced over to him, and he raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m going to go with Sunday,” she said, and she faced Tex again. “So three days now.”
“Wo-how-how.” Tex chuckled out the word, his gaze automatically moving to Blaze. “Three days.”
“Three days.” Blaze smiled at Tex and then Cash and Lark. “I think we’re going to stay out here, but you can take her in and introduce her around.”
Cash looked toward the house, his jaw strengthening as he pressed his teeth together. Tex wanted to laugh again, but he held back, because he wanted Cash to feel comfortable here, and he wanted him to bring anyone, to any family function, at any time.
“Abby and Ev are inside,” Tex said. “If you need someone to take over….”
Cash blinked, and Tex couldn’t stop his chuckle this time. “I think Harry and Belle are here too.”
“Yeah, out in the recording studio,” Tex said.
“We’ll head that way.”
“Great to meet you,” Lark said again, her smaller hand tucked into Cash’s as he led her toward Trace and Wade. They paused there while Cash introduced her, more hands got shook, and then they went past the steps and down the sidewalk that led across the backyard to the recording studio.
Finally, Tex blinked. “Well, they’re cute together.”
“It’s been three days,” Blaze said, his voice part darkness and part disgust.
“Yeah, and you’ve already met her.” Tex looked at his brother. “And that’s definitely something to be thankful for.”
Blaze softened and nodded. “You’re right, and I have to remind myself that Cash is a smart man. A good person.”
“That he is.”
“So you wouldn’t be worried that they’re going to be living together in the same house—alone—for almost a month while she’s home between semesters?”
Tex blinked again, this time his eyelids moving faster and faster and then faster. Blaze scoffed, and Tex practically watched as the storm cloud formed over his head. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. But nothing to worry about, right?”
He walked away and paused in front of the fryer. “This is ready, Tex. Do you need some help?”
He flew into action and joined Blaze in front of the fryer. “Yes,” he said. “First, we turn the flame all the way off before we lower the bird into the oil.” He did that, and Blaze picked up the hanger attached to the rod.
Their eyes met, and Tex gave his brother the most confident smile he could muster. “Cash is a great man, but I know how hard it is to trust people his age.”
Blaze nodded, a thread of understanding linking the two of them together. “So you’ll take my call, day or night?” A wry smile touched his mouth.
“Anytime,” Tex said. “For real. Anytime at all.”
Blaze drew in a deep breath and blew it out while Tex took the turkey from him and slowly, carefully lowered it into the hot oil. It sizzled and boiled and bubbled in the most satisfying way, the scent of golden, delicious turkey skin meeting his nose.
Once it was submerged, Tex stepped back, removed the gloves, and set a timer on his phone for forty-five minutes. Then he turned toward the men who’d gathered outside in the area where the wind couldn’t get at them easily, and he headed in that direction.
After all, dealing with the hot oil was a touch stressful, and he had to perform later that night too. Just for family, but Tex still wanted to do a good job.
And then, there was the whole Country Quad announcement happening….
But for now, he sighed as he settled into the chair Wade had gotten for him, and he sat back to listen to those around him, because often Tex could find something his brothers needed him to pray about if he simply kept his mouth shut and his ears open.