Chapter 25
Rafe
Heath inhaled the aroma coming from the oven. “Rafe, my friend, you have a gift. You’re like a less prickish version of GordonRamsey.”
Rafe mashed up potatoes at the kitchen table. “I love Thanksgiving. All you have to do iseat!”
He checked his computer spreadsheet where he organized his Thanksgiving menu and created the food preparation schedule. He spent the past week watching YouTube videos and reading food blogs. This was his biggest culinary challenge, and he wasn’t going to muck itup.
“What exactly is Thanksgiving?” Heath asked. “It celebrates when you Yanks committed genocide on those poor Native Americans,right?”
Rafe shot him the middle finger. “Like you Brits are so much better. The British Empire ruled the world for centuries. You think they took over coloniespolitely?”
“Touché.” Eamonn swung into the kitchen with a bag of cranberries and two bags of white bread. “It took me three stores to find one withcranberries.”
Eamonn dropped the food onto the kitchen table. He opened the oven door where the turkey cooked. “That is one sexybird.”
“Can you help me take it out? I have to baste it.” Rafe pulled out the oven shelf holding the roasting pan. The bird sizzled in itsjuices.
“Are you meditating?” Eamonnasked.
“No. I’m smelling. Can you smell that?” Rafe asked. Heath came closer, and the three of them took anotherwhiff.
“It smells delicious,” Heathsaid.
“It smells like Thanksgiving.” Rafe felt a tug on his heartstrings. “It smells like my grandparents’house.”
Rafe was using his grandmother’s recipe for the bird, but he didn’t think he could actually replicate it. She had the special ingredient, one of those grandmotherly touches where she didn’t have to use any measuring cups. But he was doing something right if the aromas aligned. “I can’t believe I’m successfully cooking Thanksgivingdinner.”
“This is going to be the best Thanksgiving meal we’ve ever had,” Eamonn said, pointing between him andHeath.
“It’s theonlyThanksgiving meal you’ve everhad.”
“Thus the bar is incredibly low.” Eamonn kissed him, which gave Rafe an extra boost to keep on making this the best meal ever. However low Eamonn’s bar might be, Rafe still wanted to impresshim.
“Heath, will you begin ripping up the bread into small pieces. Next, we’re going to make thestuffing!”
“Are we literally going to stuff a turkey’s arse with bread crumbs?” Heath asked, seemingly disgusted and intrigued at the sametime.
“No stuffing the stuffing. All of the turkey’s body cavities will go unviolated. My mom told me that she and my grandmother never stuff the turkey.” Rafe had eaten eighteen Thanksgiving meals, but had never stepped foot in a kitchen on Thanksgiving. The menfolk sat around the living room TV watching football (or scrolling through Instagram on their phones while football was on in the background in Rafe’s case). Rafe was let into a special club when his mom divulged family recipes tohim.
Rafe and Eamonn basted the turkey. He remembered the epic Asda grocery trip to get most of these Thanksgiving supplies. It was almost as magical as their first timethere.
“Heath, when you’re done, can you and Eamonn move the table and chairs into the hallway for settingup?”
Not all guests could fit around the table in the kitchen. The flat across the hall was letting them borrow their table and chairs, and they were going to combine both sets in the hallway. Thanksgiving wasn’t the same without an elongated diningtable.
Rafe and Eamonn shoved the bird back in theoven.
“Also, I invited Allison,” Rafe said, mostly toHeath.
“Cool,” he said, but Rafe caught a flicker of panic in hiseyes.
“Is that okay?” Rafe asked. “All of her friends went to Rome thisweekend.”
“Wait. Why would you think it wouldn’t be?” Heath askedback.
Rafe was too busy to tiptoe around this. “I know you and Allison hooked up. Shagged. Whatever you want to call it. I saw her leaving your room. I’m assuming Eamonn already knows because you guys are best friends and that seems like something you would’ve told him.” Rafe paused to get confirmation on this. Eamonn and Heath both nodded yes. “Good. I couldn’t not invite the only other American I know here to Thanksgiving dinner. Are you and Allisonstill…”
