Page 68 of Bailey

“Come on back, Boston,” he called, and then he moved to go see what he could help bring inside.

Boston carried professional-grade cookware in his hands, which meant he’d brought something from the Silver Sage Mountain Lodge restaurant. Harry certainly wasn’t going to complain about that. Cora also carried a bin of equipment, and it looked like the fancy burners that would be set up under catering at a wedding or party to keep something hot.

“What’s this?” Harry asked.

“I had the kitchen make sliders,” Cora said. “Boston said there’d be room for them on the table outside.”

“There will be,” Belle called, and they headed that direction.

Harry heard Cash’s voice through the still-open front door, and he decided maybe he better just set up shop on the front porch. He hugged Cash as the man came up the steps, with his fiancée, Lark, right behind him.

“You didn’t make donuts?” Harry asked as he took in Cash’s empty arms.

“I ran out of time,” Cash said with a grin.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “Is everything okay out at Cousins Creek?”

“Yeah, great.” Cash pulled back and reached for the pile of pale pink boxes that Lark carried.

She moved into Harry and hugged him next. “Things are fine at Cousins Creek,” she said. “Cash is just still trying to get all the way moved in, and my parents are coming home this weekend.”

“Ah, I see,” Harry said. “Busy, busy.”

“That’s an understatement,” Cash said. “But we stopped by the bakery and got desserts that’ll be way better than what I can make anyway.”

“That’s not true,” Bryce said as he joined Harry in the foyer. He hugged Lark and then took two of the boxes off the top of the stack Cash carried. “Belle says everything’s going outside right now.”

Harry let them go ahead, because Adam and Joey had just arrived. After Adam had opened the door for his wife, he glanced up to the house. “We’ve got drinks,” he said. “I’m just going to take them straight into the backyard.”

“I’ll come help.” Harry jogged down the steps and along the sidewalk to his massive driveway.

He and Belle had built this house, so he’d been able to think through everything he wanted, communicate it to an architect, construction manager, home design agent, and interior designer to get as close to what he and Belle wanted as possible. He loved hosting parties and wanted to do it at his house, so he had a three-car garage with an RV pad or boat storage area along the side that meant it spanned four car widths at a minimum.

He’d set the house back off the road about two hundred yards with cameras at the gate, and every fifty yards until the house came into view through the trees. He wasn’t making records or touring anymore, but his popularity remained high because of his online presence across various apps, which reached tens of millions of people.

He helped Adam carry cases of lemonade, soda pop, and water into the backyard. When they returned for the ice, Harry found Cole and Rachel just getting out of their truck, as well as Beth walking with Corrine and Liesl as they neared the front steps. With them, that meant everyone had arrived who would be coming to tonight’s outdoor movie shindig.

Harry had started inviting Eric this year, as the boy had turned sixteen last summer and could drive himself, but he’d taken a job with a local janitorial company, which cleaned office buildings at night, and he had to be there tonight. As Harry watched the younger female cousins enter the house, he once again thought about inviting OJ to these parties.

It was something he and Bryce had argued about in the past, and honestly, Harry didn’t have the mental capacity to do it tonight. OJ was only fourteen and not a product of his father’s first marriage—Harry’s stipulations for those coming to these cousin nights.

Bryce’s argument was that OJ was plenty isolated from the rest of the Youngs, though they’d all known him as their brother and cousin for his whole life. He knew he was adopted, as did everyone else, and Bryce worried that OJ felt as much like an island because of that, the same way Harry did because he was fifteen years older than his nearest half-sibling.

He shook the thoughts from his head and focused on Cole and Rachel in front of him. “So glad you guys could come tonight,” he said.

“So are we.” Cole reached for Rachel’s hand. “We’re finally feeling more settled now that the wedding is over, and I’m all moved in up at Whispering Pines.”

“Yeah, Belle and I still need to come see your new place.” Harry grinned at him and then pulled Cole into a hug. “Isn’t married life the best?”

Cole laughed and clapped Harry on the back. “Certainly nothing to complain about.”

Harry stepped back and then hugged Rachel too.

“Thanks so much for inviting us,” she said, and then she spun back to the truck. “Oh, Coley, we forgot the chips.”

Harry grinned at the sweet nickname for his cousin, and let Cole and Rachel return to the truck to get the various bags of potato chips and corn chips they’d brought. He followed them into the house and finally pulled the front door closed behind him. He heard some chatter in the back of the house, but when he arrived there, he found Beth and the other girls headed outside.

“Looks like we’re all out there,” Harry said as he caught sight of Reggie and Kassie too. He’d missed them coming in, but gladness filled his heart that they felt comfortable enough to simply walk into the house and make themselves at home.