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“Ouch,” Weston repeats before setting Kaela on the couch.
“It’s good to see you, Zoey. I was just telling Morris here just how much we’d love to see you,” he chokes out.
Zoey gives him a tight smile.
He brings his wide eyes to me. “I didn’t see Pop’s truck outside. I thought you said he was picking Zoey and her people up?”
“I came up early to help with the cooking,” Zoey says.
“That was thoughtful. Come on. Let’s go find a wine opener, shall we?” Anna suggests.
She walks over and hooks Zoey’s arm with hers and leads her back into the kitchen.
“Thanks, asshole,” I say.
“Shit, man, I had no idea she was here. I wouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re lucky her mom and dad aren’t here.”
“No,you’relucky her mom and dad aren’t here.” He grins.
I just shake my head and scoop Kaela up into my arms. “You wanna watch some football with Uncle Morris?”
Morris
Everyone trickles in, and by six thirty, Pop is arriving with Zoey’s parents and her coach.
Taeli and Ansley set the table in the formal dining room. It seats twenty-two—ten on each side and one at the head and one at the foot—which is the perfect size.
Mom and Leona set all the dishes out on the huge island in the kitchen. Pots of potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed corn, yams, macaroni and cheese, homemade cranberry sauce, and three types of stuffing. The dessert side has Anna’s pecan pie, pumpkin pie, caramel apple pie, hummingbird cake, and carrot cake. Baskets of garlic cheese biscuits and yeast rolls are placed on the table as well as the three turkeys, sliced honey-baked ham, and roast beef.
Graham is tasked with opening a selection of red and white wines, and I fill glasses with sweet tea and ice water and put them at each place setting.
Pop and Langford do the honor of carving the turkeys.
Weston fills four gravy boats and sets them on the table between the bread baskets.
Everyone is pitching in and doing their part.
Once all is in place, Pop gathers the crowd and quiets us so that he can say the blessing.
“Please, everyone, let’s bow our heads,” he requests.
One by one, we link hands, including Zoey, her parents, and her coach.
“Lord, thank you for another year of health and prosperity for our family and Balsam Ridge. We are grateful that you have blessed us by adding to our fold with the additions of Isley, Anna, and our baby girl, Kaela. We are grateful for our new friends as well. Please help Zoey and her family feel welcome in our town and at our table. We thank you for the food we are about to receive and ask that you bless it to the nourishment of our bodies and our bodies to your service. In Jesus’s name, we pray, Amen.”
“Amen,” we say in unison before letting go.
“All right, everyone, the plates are on the cupboard. Please take one and select your sides before making your way to the table,” Mom calls.
We line up on both sides of the island, guiding Zoey and her parents and Tobias to the front. Everyone loads up, and then we find a seat in the dining room with Mom and Pop taking the head and the foot.
Then, it’s a free-for-all. We dig into the bread baskets and add turkey and ham to our plates. The gravy is flowing, wine is poured, and butter, salt, and pepper are being passed around while we all laugh and tease.
“Why do they call you Mayor Gentry?” PJ, Zoey’s dad, asks.
“Because I was mayor for many years before I retired and the hat passed to Isley over there. The name just stuck,” he replies.
