She sighs. “Oh, since about two forty-five.”
“I was gonna guess two thirty.” I laugh.
“Yeah, well, with your Dad’s snoring, I couldn’t do much other than think about everything we had to do today.”
“It’ll be alright. We manage year after year. Plus, we get smarter every year too.”
“I know but it takes me a minute to get in the groove again.”
Waterfowl season is only from September to the beginning of December. And in April there’s a short season for snow geese. So, during those times, we do this almost every day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—we cook and bake the days away. We have it down to a pretty good system, rotating the meals strategically so that every group that comes in has something new, but we make the same ten to fifteen things on rotation. We also do a lot of prep over the offseason—summertime—which helps. We also use a lot of deer meat, because my brothers have no issue keeping our freezer full of that.
Five a.m., on the dot, a storm of camouflage walks in—Jesse and Cody with a slew of hunters behind them. Most are middle-aged men, and a few are around my age…probably their kids.
“Everyone grab a plate and head right around the island. There’s silverware and drinks already on the table,” Mom announces and everyone files into a line.
I stand back and just watch them all fill their plates, making sure we don’t run out of anything or have any problems with the serving utensils. Everyone who walks by me nods with asmile and a thank you before proceeding to sit down.
* * *
“Addison!” Cody’s voice echoes from the foyer and the front door slams shut behind him.
Mom and I stop bagging the sandwiches we just finished making to look at each other. My heart sputters, and I step away from the counter. Cody comes around the corner. He didn’t even bother to take his boots off. His eyes are dark and his shoulders are stiff.
I feel my face go numb. “What?”
“When you checked Rockmans last night, exactly how many geese did you see?” His voice is tight.
My heart rate quickens. “I don’t know, like…four?”
“Four?!” he shouts. His arms fly in the air before smacking his legs.
“Is that not okay?!”
“Addison Jennings.” He curses. Lifting his hat, he rubs a hand through his hair before he looks back to me. “There needs to be like a thousand! Four might as well been none!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know!”
Mom cuts in, “Cody, you can’t blame her.”
“We drove all the way out there for nothing!” he argues, waving his hands around.
“Andyouknow that had she seen enough geese last night, it still doesn’t guarantee seeing anything the next morning!”
The look in his eyes doesn’t get better, even though he knows Mom’s right. He’s still mad.
“Okay. Whatever. But you are banned from scouting.” His finger is pointing right at my face. “Never again.” He walks out, shaking his head. “Good grief.Four. Four my ass,” he mutters, the door slamming shut behind him.
I turn back to Mom and she lets out a deep sigh. “Ignore him.”
“He didn’t have to yell,” I point out.
“No, you’re right. He didn’t,” she says and carries the tray of sandwiches outside for all the hunters.
I feel overwhelmed, on edge. I’m tired of people continually getting mad at me for things I can’t help or things I didn’t know. The last thing I want to do right now is put on a smile and serve everyone.
So I get started on the dishes, with this dark cloud over me.
“Hey,” Jesse’s voice sounds from behind me. I look over my shoulder to see him standing in the archway. I didn’t even hear him come in.
