By the time he and the girls got there with Cam, the turkeys had been in the smokers for hours, and there was a whole brisket and a ham going besides.
“We thawed them out in the hot tub last night.” Miz Halley told him grinning fit to beat the band. “I’d forgotten to take them out of the freezer. You should have seen them just bobbing along, bubbling away.”
Somehow or another, the very thought of that had fascinated Sarah to no end, and she wanted to know if there were any videos.
Bekka proudly presented her pineapple dressing, and Rachel couldn’t have been more proud of her chocolate pie and whipped cream.
And Cam kept giving him these looks, these proud, happy looks like he was some sort of prize and that Cam was excited to have him right there in his parents’ house. It was the weirdest feeling ever because him and Allison had never had any happy family Thanksgivings that weren’t just the four of them. Hecouldn’t even say five because poor Rachel had never known anything like that.
“Mitch, hey, you want a beer?” That was Ramsey, Cam’s oldest brother.
“It’s a little chilly for me for a beer.” It had turned off a little bit cold. He kind of thought maybe he wanted a cup of coffee.
“I’ll get you a cup of coffee. Take anything in it?”
“Just a little cream.” He learned not to take sugar in it because it wired him up even more if he did.
Ramsey grinned at him, watching him watch the flurry of activity going on in the kitchen. “I’m going in. Cover me, man.”
Mitch laughed, shaking his head. He was stunned by all of it.
“Ah, Mitch, come on and sit down with me.” That was Cam’s dad who was sitting in front of the TV watching something that wasn’t the parade. They had watched that before they left the house.
In fact, he thought maybe the man was watching a dog show.
One eyebrow went up. “My team hasn’t started playing yet. I like the dog show well enough. Especially like the hounds.”
Mitch settled in one of the chairs. “I think my girls would tell me I had to root for the Rottweiler.”
Scott nodded. “Yes, I’ve heard about Rosie.”
“You have?” That didn’t surprise him. “Rachel?”
Scott shook his head, chuckled at him. “No, believe it or not. It was Sarah; she loves that dog.”
“Yes. Yes, she does.” He’d heard all about how Sarah had conned Cam into keeping that damn dog. Even though it did bite her.
Every time he thought about that, it made him a growly.
Still, Rosie had turned into a good dog—house-trained, good with the critters, and that dog loved the kids.
What surprised him most was that his gothy Sarah would be saying much of anything to Cam’s folks. She didn’t seem the type.
“I know it seems like she’s different,” Scott continued, “but she’ll find her way. She’s a good girl. She reminds me a lot of Kacey.”
Mitch felt his eyebrow lift as if he didn’t have any control over it, as if somebody had tied it to a string with a knot in the bottom. “Kacey seems like quite the cowgirl.”
Scott nodded. “Oh yeah, but she still likes her horror novels and her scary movies and dressing up at Halloween. Everybody’s needs to find their own path, son.”
Another rush of people came in, and Scott looked up while speaking, and his face lit up. He stood and opened his arms. “Diana, girl, you come here and tell your daddy hello.”
With the addition of the oldest Halley, her wife, and their kids? There were seven Halley kids, five Halley partners, and twenty kids.
Twenty.
Mitch sort of sat and stared, finding that he didn’t know what to do.
Bekka came and sat next to him, eyes going wide. “Lots of folks here, Daddy.”
