WILDER
“What the actual fuck?”I bark, alarmed.
“What is it now?” Zander groans.
Dropping the tree, we hurry across the yard to the back porch, where Carson, Jensen, and Owen are trying to put out a fire in the grill.
Shit, shit, shit! What’s in the grill?What’s in the grill?
“What the hell is going on?” I demand to know when we reach the guys.
The three look up at me with wide eyes and guilty expressions. No. No, they didn’t…
I look into the grill and my stomach drops when I see that my turkey is surrounded by flames, burnt black.
“What. Did. You. Do?” I snarl through gritted teeth.
“It was Carson’s idea,” Owen blurts.
Carson turns wide eyes on him. “You little bitch!”
“You’re all idiots.” I look down at the knobs on the grill and quickly switch them off, then close the lid to try and smother out the flames. When I open it again, the fire is indeed out, but goddamn it, my perfectly brined turkey is ruined! What am I going to tell Mrs. Clay when she calls to ask about this weekend?
“You guys fuuuucked up,” Zander says with a low whistle.
“You don’t know that!” Carson insists. “Yeah, the outside is… crispy… but the inside might be all right.”
“Or it’s as dry as Skyler will be when she sees this,” Zander snickers.
Carson glares at Zander and points a finger at him. “Oh, yeah? What about you, Mr. Perfect? Where’s the tree?”
With a flourish, Zander extends his arm to point to where we dropped the tree at the edge of the yard.
“Right there!”
Carson raises his brows, looking almost impressed. “Well, shit. You guys actually got a tree. Good job!”
“Come on,” Jensen says, sounding exasperated. “Let’s just get the turkey inside and see what we can salvage. Grab the tree.”
“Carson, Owen, you’re helping this time,” I grunt, all done with lugging this damn thing between two people. I grab Zander’s arm — can’t let him think he’s getting away — and tug him back toward the tree. Between myself, Zander, Owen, and Carson, we easily pick the 12-footer up and drag it into the house.
When we get inside, we find Jensen staring at the turkey on the kitchen island with an exhausted look. He turns his focus to the tree as we move to set it up in the living room.
“Uhhh…” Jensen suddenly mutters, looking around. “We might have a problem.”
“What now?” I snap.
“Do we have a tree stand?”
We all glance around at each other and slowly, panic starts to settle over the group.
“Did we not bring a fucking tree stand?” Owen gasps.
“Are youkiddingme?” Zander lets go of his side of the tree and drops to his knees. He lays face-first on the floor. “Done. I’m done. I can’t do this anymore…”
Jensen starts to chuckle. We all look at him with surprised expressions.
“What’s so funny?” Zander groans, his voice muffled by the floor.
