44. Jake
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
jake
Plates and silverware clanked as we all flitted around each other in Reid and Isa’s kitchen.
After last year’s Thanksgiving at Colter and Ellison’s house, we decided to make Silver Creek Friendsgiving dinner a yearly tradition.
With Levi only being three months old, Reid and Isa offered to host. It was an adults-only celebration, so the kids were over at Maggie’s place.
“Can someone hand me a pair of oven mitts?” Isa asked over the hustle and bustle of our crew.
Mikey reached across the counter to hand her a pair, but Reid snatched them out of her hands before she could put them on. “Oh, no you don’t. That turkey is going to be fucking heavy when it comes out of the oven.”
Isa pouted, putting her hands on her hips. “I can handle it.”
He lifted her chin with his pointer finger, planting a kiss on her lips. “I know you can, Honeybee, but you shouldn’t have to.”
“Aye, keep the lovefest out of the kitchen!” I teased, pretending to gag. “What’s next? Who needs help?”
“Someone needs to drain and mash the potatoes.” Ellison pointed to the pot on the stove.
“On the potatoes,” Sierra replied.
“Can someone set the table?”
“Got it, boss.” I gave Ellison a salute then grabbed plates and silverware.
Caitlin jumped in beside me, grabbing some napkins and silverware I had missed. She gave my shoulder a light squeeze as we set the table together, a brief moment away from the chaos.
Neither of us needed to say a word, just comfortable in each other’s presence.
“This is perfect, isn’t it?” Caitlin flashed me a smile.
Before I could answer, a loud crash and a scream from the kitchen cut us off. Caitlin and I rushed into the kitchen to find mashed potatoes splattered all over the floor and jaws dropped all around.
“What happened? Is everyone okay?” Caitlin asked, frantically checking all of our friends.
No one answered, and then in perfect timing, the oven with the turkey inside started smoking.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Reid mumbled, quickly pulling the oven door open. Smoke billowed out, and he swatted it away with his oven mitt. He pulled the pan out of the oven, the turkey completely charred.
I pursed my lips, surveying the shocked expressions all around the room. Silence settled over the kitchen, but then Colter snorted, immediately covering his mouth with his hand. A snicker from Mikey followed, and soon our entire friend group was erupting into laughter at the situation.
“Maybe an annual Silver Creek Thanksgiving isn’t the best idea,” Ellison muttered.
“Well, what are we going to do now?” Isa worried her lip.
“First we need to clean this up. But, unfortunately, the turkey is unsalvageable and we won’t have potatoes,” Reid said.
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but I forgot the pie at home… I was hoping no one would notice,” Sierra admitted, covering her mouth to suppress a laugh.
“Pizza, anyone?” Mikey suggested, which received a resounding yes from everyone.
“That seems more like our speed, anyway,” I added.
“We can go to Rudy’s,” Reid suggested. “He’ll be happy for the company.”
Caitlin’s brows furrowed. “Isn’t the bar closed today?”
“It is, but he’ll be there,” Reid said with a melancholic expression.
A moment of silence clung to the air, but then Colter clapped his hands. “Let’s get to it, then!”
That seemed to get everyone moving again.
Our crew got to work, picking up piles of smushed potatoes. Reid attempted to carve the turkey, but found the meat inside was horribly dry. He still put it away in the fridge to try to make a meal out of it later, but he wasn’t going to subject us all to eating bone-dry meat.
An hour later, we all met in front of the doors of Rudy’s bar. Downtown was pretty much deserted, as was to be expected on a major holiday like Thanksgiving, but Reid knocked a couple times on the double doors, and before long, the old man had hobbled up to the doors to unlock them.
His brows lifted in surprise. “Ho, Reid, my boy.” Then his eyes wandered across all of us. “You brought friends. What are you all doing here?”
“Funny story.” Reid scratched the back of his neck. “We had a little mishap with Thanksgiving dinner, so we all decided to order some pizzas and come here. Figured you’d appreciate the company. I know it’s not turkey, but we wanted to bring you a meal, too.”
I could have sworn I heard the old man sniffle.
“Well, that’s mighty kind of you. Come on in.” He stepped aside, gesturing for us all to enter the bar.
The stereo played an old Sinatra song, and a John Wayne movie played on the TV in the corner.
“Take a seat. Can I get you all some drinks? On the house.” Rudy walked behind the bar and reached for a bottle of Pendleton.
Mikey started counting all of us. “One, two, three, four, five shots of Pendleton, one shot of tequila for Ellison, a Malibu lemonade for Isa, vodka soda for Sierra, and…uh…” He hesitated when he looked at Caitlin.
“Gin and tonic, easy on the gin,” I answered for him.
“Here, let me help you with all those,” Juniper offered, skirting around to the other side of the bar. “It’ll be just like old times. And then I can also make my own because I’m picky.”
Rudy laughed. “If you ever want to come back to bartending, you know we’ll always have a place for you here.”
She flashed him a grin. “If the whole cancer research thing doesn’t work out for me, you know where to find me.”
“It’s going to work out for her,” Mikey added with a wink.
I redirected my attention to the other conversation between Ellison and Isa.
“So, now that you’ve moved up to Montana, do you think he’s going to propose soon?” Ellison asked, her lips curling up into a grin.
Isa shrugged, but her eyes sparkled with emotion. “I’m not sure.”
On the other side of me, Reid said in a low voice to Colter, “I think I might propose to Isa next summer. I want to give us some time to adjust to living together, but Ellison and her little sister gave me some ideas of what she likes in a ring.”
“Eavesdropping?” Caitlin whispered in my ear as she sidled up next to me.
“Guilty,” I admitted, just as Juniper slid a few drinks across the bar, putting them next to the lineup of shots Rudy had poured for us.
Mikey cleared his throat and reached for a shot glass. “All right, ladies and gentlemen. Raise your glasses.”
The rest of us passed around the drinks until everyone had one.
“Here’s to having friends who have seen us at our best and at our worst and still keep us around, even when the mashed potatoes get dropped and the turkey gets burnt. I’m grateful to call you all my chosen family. Yeehaw!”
We all laughed and clinked our glasses, the guys all throwing back their shots.
Mikey let out a contented sigh then whooped. “Now, who wants to play a game of pool?”
“Tournament style!” Colter raised his pointer finger and swirled it in the air. “Everyone partner up!”
Naturally, everyone chose to partner up with their significant other, leaving me and Caitlin at the end.
“Do me the honor of being my pool partner?” I winked, nudging her with my elbow.
She linked her arm with mine, and we followed the rest of the group over to the pool table. “Gladly.”
“Who wants to go first?” Ellison asked.
“Longest couples go against each other!” Juniper tossed out.
Isa shrugged. “Works for me. We’re going to run the table, right, Cowboy?” She winked at Reid.
“You’re on.” Ellison took a big sip of her tequila soda then grabbed a pool stick. “You can break, since we’re going to wipe the floor with you guys,” she teased.
The rest of our group chuckled before finding some chairs to sit in or leaning against the wall to watch the game unfold.
Before long, we’d all chosen sides to cheer for. Caitlin and I were obviously rooting for Colter and Ellison—blood family loyalty and all that. Hayden and Sierra were split, with Hayden cheering for Isa and Reid, and Mikey and Juniper had disappeared somewhere. Probably the bathroom for a quickie.
I chuckled to myself at the thought.
The game was just about over, with Ellison and Colter leading. Ellison had the final shot, picking a pocket to aim the eight ball at.
“Don’t mess up, Ells,” Isa sing-songed. “Ooh! What if I told the story about when—”
Ellison pulled back her cue stick at an angle, hitting Isa in the butt.
“Ow! What was that for?” she yelped, pulling laughter from the group.
“Whoops.” Ellison smirked. “My hand slipped.” Then she actually took her shot, hitting the eight ball into the pocket she designated and winning the game.
Colter and Ellison cheered, giving each other high fives as Reid and Isa booed teasingly.
“Since Mikey and June are off boning somewhere, we can have Hayden and Sierra play you two.” Ellison pointed at me and Caitlin.
“All righty.” I gestured between me and Caitlin and Hayden and Sierra. “Who wants to go first?”
“Rock, paper, scissors for it?” Hayden asked, to which Caitlin and I shrugged in agreement.
Caitlin and Sierra played for the first turn, Sierra ultimately winning with paper over rock.
“Sorry,” Caitlin sighed.
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, mumbling, “It’s all right, we’ll give them a head start.”
The game went back and forth pretty evenly at first, but then Caitlin and I turned up the heat on them, hitting three of our balls into the pockets in a row. Soon enough, we had left Sierra and Hayden in the dust, and I knocked in the eight ball to win the game.
Mikey and Juniper didn’t come back by the time our game was over, so we decided the championship would be a family affair between Colter and Ellison, and me and Caitlin.
Rudy jokingly turned on upbeat music you would hear on SportsCenter, acting as though this was a televised event and not just a bunch of friends fucking around in an empty bar on Thanksgiving.
“Ladies and gentlemen.” I cupped my hands over my mouth, pretending to be an announcer.
“The final round of the Rudy’s Pool Tournament is upon us.
On one side of the table, we have Colter Carson and Ellison Carson.
And on the other side, we have Caitlin Carson and Jake Flynn! ” I dragged out my name.
“How are you going to be the commentator and competitor?” Isa cocked her head.
“Easy.” I waved her off. “Just like this.” Turning my announcer voice back on, I said, “Who will be the first team to make their shot? Will they do rock, paper, scissors like the last round, or will one team waive their turn?”
Colter and Ellison whispered to one another before Ellison confidently replied, “We’ll let you two go first.”
“It’s Jake and Caitlin’s turn!” I called out, following it with a series of oohs and ahs.
Caitlin shook her head, amusement clouding her gaze before she poked me with her pool stick. “Go ahead, hotshot.”
I gave her a wink then lined up for a break shot.
Pulling back my stick, I took a deep breath.
Then I made my shot, hitting the head ball as hard as I could.
The other balls all went in different directions, but ultimately a solid one fell into a pocket.
I sank another one easily then missed the third.
Colter went next, making his first shot and missing the second.
Just like in our game with Hayden and Sierra, we stayed neck and neck for a while. But instead of one of us pulling ahead at the end, it came down to the wire. It was our turn, and we had one ball plus the eight ball left.
Mikey and Juniper had come back right as we were down to the last few shots.
Juniper’s cheeks were flushed and Mikey’s shirt was inside out, but no one got the chance to give him shit about it because he was already placing bets on who was going to win.
His money was on Colter and Ellison, but that was probably just because Ellison beat his ass in pool every single time.
Caitlin made the shot with practiced ease, and I swore my dick got hard just at the sight. The only thing standing between us and victory was the eight ball.
“Don’t miss, Cait!” Mikey, no doubt trying to get some money in his pocket, taunted her.
She glanced up at him, rolled her eyes, and threw him the bird.
“Don’t listen to him. You’ve got this, Cait baby,” I cooed in her ear. “Don’t let me down.”
“Stop distracting me,” she said through gritted teeth. Her gaze was laser focused as she hit the cue ball. It rolled down the table, bouncing off one edge before lightly tapping the eight ball into the pocket.
“Champions!” I yelled, throwing my hands in the air before dropping my cue stick and picking up Caitlin, racing around the bar with her in my arms like we’d just won the Super Bowl.
Hayden, Sierra, Reid, Isa, and Juniper all joined, circling up around us and hopping up and down like they were in a mosh pit.
Even though Colter and Ellison lost, and Mikey owed everyone twenty bucks each, they all joined in with the cheering, jumping up and down with the rest of our friends.
Our friend group wasn’t perfect. Far from it, actually.
We got into fights, we burned the turkey dinner, and sometimes we got way too damn drunk, but spending Thanksgiving at the bar tonight was exactly where I wanted to be.
And, even though we weren’t all related by blood, I knew that this group—this rugged group of cowboys and the women who made us all better—was my family.
The five of us were brothers, and we always would be. Until the very end.