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“Do you need help with anything?” he asked.
“No,” April said. “Come sit. Sit.” She patted the place next to her while her husband sat at the head of the table. “The girls will bring it over.”
Kyle cast another look over his shoulder, but Maddy was busy pulling something out of the oven. It smelled toasted and browned, and his stomach grumbled for it. He walked over to the table and sat beside her momma. “How’s the hip healing?”
“Good,” she said, her voice pitching up a bit the way it did when someone fibbed. “After this, I’ll take a nap, and then I have a book to finish in the garden.”
“Outside?” he asked with a chuckle. “You must be one brave woman to sit outside in the afternoon.”
She barely smiled, and that made Kyle’s laughter dry up. “I like the heat,” she said. “It warms my bones.”
“Oh, sure,” he said, not sure about anything at all. Certainly not what he’d say next. He pressed his lips together, suddenly feeling parched.
“You make good money?” Harvey asked. “Being the entertainment manager for your family ranch?”
Toddy looked past April to her husband, somewhat shocked at the question. “Uh.” He didn’t know what to say to appease the man. “It’s a fair salary, yes.”
“You’re happy there?”
“Yes, sir,” Kyle said, deciding to dismiss the river of unrest in his soul. It was a trickle anyway, and he might never make it to the stages of America. He’d come to terms with it once, and he could do so again.
“Do you live on the ranch?”
Before Kyle could answer, the back door opened, and a tall cowboy walked in. He looked at the table, then the kitchen, and said, “Y’all didn’t start without me, did you?”
“Of course not,” April said at the same time Maddy and Tammy did. “Come sit,” Maddy’s mom added. “And meet Kyle Stewart.”
He had to be Dave, and Kyle rose from his chair to greet him. He looked familiar, but Kyle couldn’t place where he’d met him before. Tour? Here in town at some point in the past several months? Up in Chestnut Springs?
He didn’t know what the man did for a living, and Kyle had been a lot of places in his lifetime.
“Howdy,” he said to Dave. “I’m Kyle.”
“This is our son, David,” April said.
“Good to meet you,” Dave said. They shook hands, and Dave went into the kitchen to wash up. Everyone came back to the table at the same time, the three of them carrying plates and bowls of food. People and things bumped around until everyone had found a seat and all the food sat on the table.
Everyone looked at April except for Kyle, who watched Maddy for his cues. He finally turned his head to her momma, and April gave him a curt smile. “For lunch today,” she said, and she’d very clearly been waiting for his full attention. Foolishness filled him, and it took all of his willpower not to squirm in his seat.
Maddy put her hand on his leg, and he dang near jumped out of his skin. He banged one hand on the underside of the table, which sent the dishes clacking and the silverware singing. “Sorry,” he said.
Maddy’s touch burned through his khakis, but he didn’t dare move again. No one smiled at him or assured him that he hadn’t caused a problem. April blinked a few times as if she couldn’t understand what had just happened, and then continued with, “We have oven-baked chicken, roasted brussels sprouts, rolls, creamed corn, scalloped potatoes, and honey butter.”
She sounded so proud of herself, and Kyle gazed at the enormity of the food in front of him. It was like a Thanksgiving feast, when he was used to grabbing a boxed lunch and eating it as he walked somewhere.
“Wow,” he said.
“Momma worked way too hard on this,” Maddy said, her tone filled with displeasure. “No wonder she needs a nap after lunch.”
“I’m fine,” April said.
“Did you help with lunch?” Maddy asked Tammy, completely ignoring her mother.
“She wouldn’t let me,” Tammy said.
“She did the creamed corn last night,” Dave said.
“Creamed corn takes ten minutes,” Maddy said. No one moved to pick up any of the food, and Kyle wondered if he should. He decided he had no idea how things ran in Maddy’s family, and he practically sat on his hands despite the way his mouth watered for one of those golden brown rolls.
