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 seenbutter 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.
“I am not doing anything wrong by dating him,” she said, folding his arms. “Yes, I like him.Of courseI do, or we wouldn’t be dating.”
“We know that, Roo,” Daddy said.
“Don’tRoome,” Joey said. “If this is how you’re going to act when I bring him over, then I just won’t bring him over.”
“That’s not what we want.” Georgia exchanged a glance with Otis and quickly moved toward Joey and put both hands on her shoulders.
Joey loved her stepmother, and all the cells in her body quivered with emotion.
