“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 movedover 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 thebeeping 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 andset 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.
