Chapter 22
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
Joey set the lid over the pot of potatoes on the stove, and then turned her attention to filling the pressure cooker with the remaining cubes. Yes, Thanksgiving dinner was really coming together now, and she stepped out of the way as Georgia reached to open the oven.
“I think this turkey is done,” she said. “Yep, look, it’s popped.”
Joey turned to the island to put down some potholders for her. Georgia slid the turkey out of the oven and onto the counter.
“I’ll go check the rolls,” Joey said, already moving toward the dining room table, where she’d put the dough to rise earlier. “Once we bake these,” she said, finding them properly proofed and ready to bake. “We’ll be able to set the table.”
“OJ and Anaya can do that,” Georgia said. Joey’s younger brother poked his head up over the top of the couch.
“I have to do what?” he asked.
“Come set the table, baby,” Georgia said. “Ana, you too. People are going to start arriving soon.”
She moved down to the mouth of the hallway, and called, “Otis, I need you to come look at this ham.”
They’d bought a candied ham this year from one of the pig farmers out in Rusk, and personally, Joey couldn’t wait to taste it. She loved pork candy more than almost anything in the world.
She glanced at the clock, because while dinner wasn’t for another forty-five minutes, she expected Adam to ring the doorbell very, very soon.
“I think your momma put the plates out in the garage,” Laney Whittaker said to OJ.
“Oh, right,” OJ said, and the two of them went out there to get the things they needed to set the table.
Graham, Laney’s husband, who had been entertaining the kids in the living room as well, stood. “What can I do?” he asked.
Joey slid both trays of rolls into the oven and closed it.
“Oh, nothing,” Georgia said.
“Georgia, he can make the punch.” Joey nodded to the folding table that she’d staged on the other side of the island. “The kids like to have a rainbow of drinks for Thanksgiving,” she said. “Well, really just red, orange, yellow, and brown.” She grinned. “All the autumn colors.”
Graham came around the end of the couch and moved over to the table. “So we’ve got lemonade, wild cherry, orange Tang.” He lifted the container and grinned for all he was worth. “I love this stuff. My momma used to serve it hot, and it’s almost like wassail at that point.”
Joey smiled because she enjoyed warm orange Tang as well.
“Any word on Bailey?” Georgia asked, and Graham set down the canister of Tang.
“She’s gonna make it only moments before dinner time,” he said. “We won’t have to wait for her. Apparently, there were a bunch of bison who didn’t get the memo that it’s Thanksgiving Day and they should just be resting in the fields.” He smiled. “She’s on the way, though.”
He glanced over to the garage door just as OJ and Laney came back inside.
“Graham,” Laney said. “If you could come get the rest of this stuff, we’ll work on the table.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and he went to do as his wife asked.
Joey took stock of everything in the kitchen. She’d helped OJ peel and cut the carrots into rounds. They’d blanched them, and then Joey had set them to cook slowly with butter. Once they were fully cooked, she’d shown OJ how to put the brown sugar over them and set them aside.
The pot of creamed corn sat on the back corner of the stove, and Joey reached to turn on the flame underneath it.
It only took about fifteen minutes, but corn stayed hot for a long time.
She realized then that she had forgotten to set the timer on the rolls, so she quickly did that.
The sound of the beeping nearly covered the chiming of the doorbell.
When her brain caught up to the noises, she sucked in her breath and turned around.
“I’ll get it,” Georgia said.
“Georgia,” Joey started, but she didn’t know what else to say. Not only that, but her daddy had finally made an appearance in the kitchen. He’d obviously heard the doorbell too, and he cast a look at both Georgia and Joey, and then turned to go toward the front door.
“Georgia,” Joey hissed, now a clear warning in her tone.
“I’m going,” Georgia said. “Don’t worry.”
Oh, but Joey worried. She reminded herself that she’d given Adam a complete synopsis of what would happen at dinner today. He’d also met her parents before, and she turned her attention back to the green bean casserole, reminding herself that Adam was a people person.
He’d have every member of their holiday party eating out of the palm of his hand before the first course was even served. Not that they did courses in Joey’s family. She’d have everything laid out on the island to be served buffet style, and they’d sit down at the table and eat.
She’d been working in the kitchen for hours, and she always lamented the fact that the meal only took fifteen or twenty minutes. But watching other people enjoy the food that she had created brought so much joy to Joey’s heart that it didn’t matter that it only lasted a few minutes.
She heard voices coming from the front of the house, and she turned to set out more potholders.
She moved the green bean casserole from the stovetop to the counter and set the fried onions next to it.
She’d remove the aluminum foil and sprinkle those on top at the last minute, so they didn’t get soggy.
Footsteps came down the hall from the front door, and Joey braced herself. For what, she wasn’t exactly sure. On her right, OJ and Anaya chatted with Laney and Graham as they set the table, but Joey could barely hear them.
Georgia came around the corner first, looking over her shoulder with a wide smile on her face.
Perhaps Adam had charmed her already. He came next, and Joey’s breath caught at the handsome sight of his chiseled face, those pretty blue eyes, and his sandy hair—which he had allowed to grow a little bit longer—coming out the bottom of his cowboy hat.
He wore a festive brown button-up shirt with what looked like little embroidered turkeys all over it.
An instant smile sprang to Joey’s face before she looked to her father.
“It hasn’t been bad this year,” Daddy said as he brought up the rear.
“It just means it’ll snow more in December, January, and February,” Georgia said. “Maybe all the way to May.”
“Harry’s warned me a lot about the Wyoming winters,” Adam said good-naturedly, his eyes landing on Joey as she moved toward him. “Joey’s given me a few warnings as well. I now have a winter storm kit in my car because of her.”
“Is that right?” Daddy raised his eyebrows and looked at Joey as she approached too.
“Hey,” she said, feeling awkward inside her own skin. She reached Adam and tipped up onto her toes to sweep a kiss across his cheek. “You found the house.”
“He’s been here before,” Daddy growled.
Joey stepped back, her anxiety buzzing through her like a live electrical wire. “Oh, well, I didn’t know that.”
“They met here when they were discussing terms for the Country Quad contract,” Georgia said.
Joey nodded and swallowed, because Adam had also not told her that. She couldn’t believe she felt left out in her own childhood home, with her own family and her own boyfriend. Her gaze quickly slipped past all of them, and then she turned to go back into the kitchen.
“The potatoes will be done soon,” she said, making her voice bright. “And then we just have to do the gravy.”
“I need you on this ham, Otis,” Georgia said, and everyone flowed into the kitchen with Joey.
She didn’t need to start the gravy right away, because it only took a few minutes and was best served hot.
She checked the time. They still had thirty-five minutes until two o’clock, when they’d planned to eat.
“Do you need any help?” Adam asked.
Joey faced him again. “Yeah, you know what? You can take this butter over to the table to OJ and Anaya. We’ve got extra salt and pepper shakers here too.” Joey indicated the items on the corner of the island.
Adam picked up the plate with the butter that had been molded into the shape of a turkey. “Well, I’ll be,” he said, really sounding like a true-blooded cowboy. “I’ve never seen butter shaped like a turkey.” He looked up and grinned at Joey.
She smiled back, sure her parents were taking a thousand mental pictures of what kind of smile it was. “Really?” she asked. “With all the celebrities you’ve eaten dinner with, there’s never been turkey-shaped butter?”
Adam let loose a genuine laugh, which made Joey giggle too. He turned toward the table as he continued to chuckle, and he said over his shoulder, “Believe it or not, there’s been no turkey-shaped butter at the charity dinners that I’ve organized.”
“Such a shame,” Joey teased, and she turned to her daddy as he cleared his throat. Both he and Georgia watched her, and she glared back at them.
“What?” she hissed.
Laughter erupted over at the table too, and Joey felt whipped between the two places in the house.
She looked over to Graham and Laney and found them all laughing, even OJ and Anaya, who had climbed up on a chair.
She somehow had a drawing that she’d done and was showing it to Adam.
He glowed like he’d swallowed moonlight, and Joey couldn’t look away from him.
“You like him too much.” Daddy’s words, low and deep, hit her eardrums and made her flinch.
“I do not,” she hissed back. “Come with me.” She grabbed onto his hand and towed him out of the kitchen and down the hall.
“Joey,” Georgia said.
“You too,” Joey practically yelled over her shoulder. “Right now.”
She had no idea who else was looking at her, and in that moment, she didn’t care.
She marched into Daddy’s music studio and let go of his hand in a huff.
Thankfully, Georgia had followed her, and she closed the door behind her.
Joey stomped all the way over to the window before she turned back to face them.