Once we get the food, we head home, and I texted Maw-Maw to let her know we have food so she can have the kids in the kitchen. Right at noon, we pull into the driveway, the guys carrying the bags of food and the drinks, leaving me to open the door. As we walk into the large room, I see Maw-Maw and the kids seated and waiting for us. Along with Bodie. Oh, shit.
“Sonic? Y’all are eating Sonic?” Bodie accuses when he sees the bounty we walk in with.
“Yes, we are. Your pregnant, hormonal girlfriend wants junk food. I’m going to sit my happy, fat ass down and eat my fucking pickle fries, and you will sit down and shut up while I do it,” I growl out, daring him to argue.
Looking at me with wide eyes, he mutters, “Yes, ma’am.” Then he helps pass out the kids' food and mean mugs it the whole time. I really do love him, even if his disdain for my favorites occasionally drives me nutty.
While the rest of us are digging into our snacks, Bodie stands up and grabs his list for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. We have a bunch of people coming so he, Maw-Maw, and I will be super busy the rest of the day and in the morning.
“Okay, so I already have both turkeys and the hams marinating. Thankfully this kitchen has two huge ovens as well as the one built in with the outside kitchen. One turkey will be in the outside oven. The other Silas wants to deep fry, and I promised he could. Orin and Callum are responsible for making sure he doesn’t blow himself up. I have everything needed for each dish being made in the pan it will be cooked in along with the recipe. I have whoever’s going to be making said dish on the card. Until it is time to fry the turkey, the rest of you are on kid duty. So if everyone is done eating, let’s get cooking.” Bodie claps his hands and shoos everyone but me and Maw-Maw out.
This is mine and the kids’ first real family holiday, and I couldn’t be more thankful for how my life has turned out.
Isla
Iwill never again, in this lifetime or the next, try to cook a Thanksgiving meal with Bodie. Maw-Maw has already tapped out and threatened to murder him with the turkey carving knife. He is a fucking drill sergeant. If he tells me one more time I’m not pouring something right or that I’m mixing something in the wrong order, I will be the one stabbing him.
“Bodie! It doesn’t fucking matter how you mix in the fucking cheese! It’s mac and cheese! If you don’t shut the hell up and baste the fucking turkey, I’m going to lose my goddamn mind!!” I slam down the spoon and throw a handful of shredded cheese at him.
“It has to be stirred in as you add the cheese mix or it will separate funny!” he hollers back angrily.
I flinch at his tone. It doesn't trigger me like it used to since I’m currently preoccupied perving on the man walking into the room. Thankfully, he doesn’t notice, but Callum comes jogging into the kitchen shirtless and in gray sweatpants.Man, I’m horny.I’m hoping next week the surgeon will clear me; I’m still a little sore, but thankfully, my stitches have finally dissolved and it only hurts to cough or sneeze and not just breath.
“Why the hell are you screaming at our pregnant girlfriend?!” he demands seething at Bodie.
“She keeps arguing about how stuff is supposed to be made. Everything has a certain way it’s supposed to be done. It’s driving me crazy!” Bodie snaps.Wow, he’s super serious about this shit.
Callum walks over and cuffs him on the back of the head.
“Stop being a tyrant to Isla, who, need I remind you, is still healing from a fucking gunshot wound!” Callum growls, walking over to kiss my head with a gentleness that doesn’t match his tone.
Bodie bows his head and takes a deep breath, then looks me in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Angel. When I was a kid, the only time I ever felt in control was when I would cook food because it’s the only time my mother actually acted like a real parent. The rare times she was sober were when we would cook together.” He looks so ashamed now that it breaks my heart a little. I hate how hard his childhood was.
I slide off the stool I was sitting on and shuffle over to Bodie. Walking still fucking sucks so I’m trying to take it as easy as I can. I wrap my arms around him and hold him close.Now I feel bad for being such an ass about how he wanted things done.
“I’m sorry for being difficult. I will listen to your instructions while cooking from now on. However, I don’t appreciate you yelling at me the way you did. I’m sorry I reacted poorly. You are so anal about cooking, and I let it get to me. I know I shouldn’t have raised my voice either, and I’m sorry for that. How about we work on being mindful of how we talk to each other from now on? I also don’t want the kids around that behavior anymore. I want them to learn what healthy communication looks like.” I look him in his eyes as I pull him in for a kiss.
He kisses me back and hugs me tightly, being mindful of my tender body. “I’m so sorry, Angel. It won’t happen again. It seems we all need to work on our communication when we have a disagreement. It’s easy to fall into familiar habits. I love you, and I’m thankful I have you to help me cook.”
“I love you too, baby. I’m sure it doesn’t help that we've been cooking since seven o’clock last night, only squeezing in a couple of cat naps. We are tired, and it’s not good for anyone’s sanity. I agree we need to work on how we communicate, but for now let's finish up with the last couple things we need to put together. It's already six a.m., and the kids will be up in about an hour. Breakfast is going to be frozen waffles and fruit since that’s easy. Everyone will be here around noon.”
I look down at the list to see what all we have left to cook. “Okay, so the dressings are put together, they just need to be put in the oven, same with the green bean and sweet potato casseroles. The banana pudding and peach cobbler are in the fridge, and I put the pies in the warmer. Mac and cheese just needs to be browned.” I check everything off as I list it.
“All we have left are the rolls, baked beans, corn on the cob, and I need to debone the chicken and finish the dumplings. So you can finish all the veggies, and I’ll do the dumplings. The turkey will be done by time the kids eat breakfast, and then we can add everything to the warming trays on the buffet tables. The twins are in charge of setting the table.” I finish my list as Bodie starts pulling out the fresh veggies he will be cooking.
Callum goes to the fridge and fixes me a glass of sweet tea, kissing me on the head as he sits it down in front of me. “Do you need me to do anything, Kitten?”
I give him a sweet smile around my glass of liquid heaven. “Can you double check and make sure the kids didn’t leave a mess anywhere and plug in the air fresheners?” I stop and think for a second to see if there is anything else. “Oh, and will you get Silas to help finish putting up all the fall decor?”
“We already put up all the fall decor we bought, didn’t we?” Callum narrows his eyes at me.
“Um, well, I got bored and got on Etsy and Amazon, so there are boxes by the front door. I may have also ordered some Halloween decorations for next year,” I tell him sheepishly.
“Really, Kitten? You have an obsession with decorations, don’t you?” he asks exasperatedly.
“Just slightly, just wait till next week when all the Christmas decorations start showing up. Now go wake Silas.” I shoo him away.
* * *
