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“Thank you,” she said, sighing. “Where are we? Who needs help with what? I’m done with my last thing for today.” She looked around the kitchen, which still bubbled and boiled with activity though breakfast had ended long ago. The room was usually cleaned and cleared by now, with the dinner crew coming in about three to finish the prep work the breakfast crew had started that morning.
Now, it seemed like the kitchen here at the Longhorn Ranch ran around the clock, and Gina knew they all needed a break.
As she looked around, she caught sight of Nash exiting Starla’s office, his neck flushed red. The color moved up into his face, and he looked into the kitchen before ducking out the back door. Hestompedhis way outside, and Starla filled the doorway, watching the direction he’d gone in.
She faced the kitchen, and Gina saw the discontent before Starla wiped it away. Their eyes met, and Gina raised her eyebrows. The black plastic door opened, drawing her and Starla’s attention there.
Jesse entered, and he made a beeline for Starla and her office. The two of them disappeared inside, and Starla actually closed the door behind her.
“Wow,” Ashley said, twisting to look at Gina. “What’s going on with them?”
“Nothing,” Gina said, turning back to her messy station. “Help me move this cake, would you?”
Ashley didn’t answer, but she did move to help Gina pick up the huge board on which she’d layered the cake. Only two layers, but the cake along with the board weighed too much for the two of them. “Martin,” she said. “Can we get some help getting this into the walk-in? I already have a spot cleared.”
The cook nodded and wiped his hands. He said something to the cook next to him and then joined Ashley and Gina. The three of them stutter-stepped the cake into the fridge and around the corner to the rack she’d prepared, and Gina admired it one more time while the others left.
The door opened again, and Starla said, “Jesse, I’m not telling him that.”
“You need to,” Jesse said, and Gina pulled in a slow breath and held it. “Starla, he has to know already.” The level of tenderness with which he spoke made Gina want to disappear into a puff of smoke.
“Then why do I need to tell him?” Starla sounded small and wounded, and Gina had never seen her like that. Jesse didn’t answer, and Gina ducked her head. She expected to see the two of them caught in a glaring contest, but instead, she found Starla in Jesse’s arms as he kissed her.
She gasped, immediately pressing her palm over her mouth. She had to get out of this fridge right now. She pressed her eyes closed and pretended to be feline, thinking that if if she couldn’t see Jesse and Starla, they wouldn’t be able to see her.
The door opened, and someone said, “…pudding in here. Just a sec.” Footsteps sounded, and then Ashley said, “Starla, don’t we have more banana pudding?”
“Yes,” Starla said, her voice far lower than normal. Scuffling and movement echoed through the fridge, and then to Gina’s great relief, everyone exited the walk-in. She breathed out, her breath hanging in the air in front of her, and sagged against the wall behind her.
Her phone rang, and she fumbled to get it out of her apron pocket. If that had happened while Starla and Jesse were kissing… She didn’t even want to think about having to face the two of them. That would be like staring straight into a category five tornado and expecting to live.
Ella’s name sat on the screen, and Gina swiped on the call. “Hey, El.”
“Gina,” her sister chirped. “Brody just got into town, and we’re wondering if you want to meet us at the downtown park to go around with the kids as they do their carnival activities.”
“Uh.” Gina looked toward the door, her internal body temperature starting to chill. “I’m still at work, and the chuckwagon dinner is tonight.”
Ella stayed silent, and Gina waited for her sister’s displeasure. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I am planning on seeing you guys at the breakfast tomorrow morning. You’re still coming out here for that, right?”
“No,” Ella said, the word more like a shout. “We’re coming to the chuckwagon dinner tonight. Momma then wanted to go to the fireman’s breakfast, which we’ve done for decades. It’s family tradition, and you’re part ofourfamily, Gina.”
She blinked, unsure of why Ella sounded so venomous. “I…well, I have to work tomorrow morning, Ella.”
“Ask for it off.”
“There is no way I can do that.” Gina left the walk-in fridge, glad she’d given the others some time to vacate the area. She didn’t need Jesse or Starla seeing her coming out of the fridge mere moments after they’d been kissing inside.
She went through the kitchen and out of the black plastic door, saying, “You guys are coming to the chuckwagon dinner? Since when?”
“Since I called your boyfriend and told him we needed tickets.” Ella spoke in her high-and-mighty voice, and Gina came to a complete stop.
“You didn’t,” she said. Her chest hollowed, and her blood turned icy. “Ella, tell me you didn’t do that.”
“I did,” Ella said. “I’ve been telling you for weeks that you need to spend more time with Momma and Daddy. They miss you. I miss you. My kids miss you. You moved back here to help, to spend time with us, and we see you less now than we did before.”
“I—that isnottrue.” Gina’s chest heaved, because she couldn’t quite remember the last time she’d gone to her parents’ house for longer than a half-hour. She’d taken her dad a carton of eggs and a gallon of milk earlier this week, but she’d been on her way to work, and her mother hadn’t been out of bed yet.
Helplessness filled her, and she turned in a full circle, trying to find the right answer. Ella kept yapping in her ear, lecturing her about her neglect, and that she might as well go back to Houston to make her fancy-pants desserts.
