“Yep, and I thought, ‘Oh, shit.’” Trulee laughed. “It was a man haven. It smelled like men, looked like hell, and I didn’t want to sit on anything.”
“Yeah,” Walt said with a sigh. “It was missing Momma’s touch, for sure, God rest her soul. The McLin women sure don’t have a long shelf life.”
Kellen nodded. “Thanks for that reminder.”
“Oh, not you, baby girl, Trulee either. Y’all must’ve broken that curse. Trulee’s old, you’re getting old.” Walt shrugged. “See, everybody’s okay.”
Trulee smiled at Kellen. “I’m sure he meant that in a nice way.”
Walt looked a bit confused. “I sure did. Kellen, you need to find someone to share all this with ’cause you’re getting to be a little long in the tooth.”
“Was that him being nice, too?” Kellen asked Trulee.
Trulee waved a hand. “I give up.”
“All I’m sayin’ is Kellen needs to go on and find herself a mate before she goes through the change and gets mean,” Walt explained.
“How deep are you gonna dig this hole you’re about to bury yourself in, Walter?” Trulee asked.
Walt rubbed the back of his neck. “Now, Trulee, let’s be fair. You did drive your car through the back wall of the garage on purpose when you were going through the change.”
“That didn’t have anything to do with hormones or lack thereof. I finally got tired of you fussing at me for not pulling my car into the garage far enough, and on that particular day when you yelled at me, I snapped.” Trulee held her head high. “I still have no regrets. Not only did you stop yelling at me, but I also ruined those nasty turnips you liked to grow back then.”
“The moral of the story, Kell, is that you need to make someone fall in love with you before you turn mean and start tearing up turnips.” Walt nodded. “That’s all I’m sayin’.”
“I’ll get to work on that right away.”
Walt stomped his foot on the floor. “You hear that? It’s good and solid after all these years. Generations of McLins were born and raised in this old two-bedroom house. Those before us kept it simple and poured every penny they had into buying land, and now, we have a whole town. We McLins will all die off one day, but our town is our legacy, and it’ll live on.”
“Lord help us, he’s getting off on one of his death and dying tangents,” Trulee whispered to Kellen.
Walt held up a finger. “The interesting thing is when one of your senses starts to fail, the others get sharper, Trulee. I heard that. I’m just trying to make y’all understand why I’m so protective of what we have.”
“If there’s one thing we all know about you, Walt, it’s that,” Trulee said with a sigh.
Chapter 7
Saturday morning, Stevie awoke to a rhythmic knocking and realized it was coming from her bedroom window. She glanced at her clock and scowled when she noted it was just before seven. When she got out of bed and opened the blinds, she found her father standing outside. He pointed to the back door and headed that way.
Stevie threw on her robe and went to the door trying to stifle her anger at being woken up so early. “Morning, Dad, did someone die?” she asked as she let him in.
“I’m sorry, honey, I thought you’d be up,” Dave said with a kiss on Stevie’s cheek. “Surely, your mother told you about our Saturday breakfasts at Linden’s house.”
“No, she didn’t mention it, and I don’t recall y’all doing that last weekend.”
“It’s a good thing I dropped by then because now you know. We didn’t get together last weekend because Linden had an early meeting to attend.” Dave scrubbed his hands together. “Every Saturday, the whole family goes to your brother’s house for breakfast. Linden and Jesslyn cook up a huge spread, eggs any way you want them, waffles, pancakes, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, and whatever else you can imagine.”
Stevie had no desire to go to what she knew would be a loud family gathering first thing in the morning. “I’m still not much of a breakfast eater.”
“You will make an exception. This is the one time a week the whole family gets together.”
“When did this start?” Stevie asked as she eyed her coffeemaker longingly.
“Last summer.” Dave waved both hands at Stevie. “Go make yourself presentable.”
“Is there a sweatpants exception since it’s breakfast?”
Dave looked as though he’d been slapped. “Certainly not.”
*******
Linden smiled and threw open his arms when Stevie walked through his front door ahead of her parents. “It’s about time you came to my house,” he said and hugged Stevie tightly.
“Are you seriously wearing a smoking jacket?” Stevie asked as Linden crushed her cheek against his lapels.
“Imported. Jesslyn gave it to me for Christmas. Isn’t it lovely?”
“Sure, it smells like bacon,” Stevie said as Linden released her.
Linden draped an arm over her shoulders. “Come see the kids and Jesslyn. They’re all excited that you’re joining us.”
Linden’s teenage kids Jordan and Emily barely acknowledged Stevie while they ate and stared at their phones. Kenzie, Christine’s youngest, was excited, though, and affixed herself to Stevie’s leg while Jesslyn gave her a hug and a kiss.
Christine didn’t bother to ask Stevie if she wanted a cup of coffee, she simply pressed one into her hand and whispered, “The morning will go smoother if you put a shot of bourbon in this. I left the bottle on the wet bar in the den.”
“Stevie, everything but the eggs is set up on the side table buffet style.” Jesslyn waved at all the dishes of food. “I’ll cook your eggs to order. How would you like them?”
“The formal term is a server, not a side table,” Linden corrected.
“It’s got a tabletop, and it’s on the side of the room.” Jesslyn smiled at Stevie. “Like I said, everything is on the side table.”
Stevie nodded. “Thanks, and don’t go to the trouble of making eggs for me. I can’t eat much in the morning.”
“I like you leg,” Kenzie said, completely wrapped around Stevie’s thigh like a spider monkey.
Christine sighed loudly. “Get off your aunt. No, don’t climb up—no, get down. I said down.” She waved a hand. “I need more bourbon.”
Stevie watched Christine walk away while Kenzie continued to climb her like a cat on a tree.
*******
After breakfast and the women cleaned up, Stevie wore Kenzie like a leg warmer into the den where everyone gathered. Christine’s oldest daughter, Joanna, sat two feet from the TV screen watching a cartoon, and Stevie was pretty sure the volume was set at thunder. The adults didn’t seem to notice; they simply raised their voices to be heard. Stevie observed it all in fascination as Kenzie draped herself over Stevie’s shoulder like a shawl. Christine, Jesslyn, and Joan were sharing the latest gossip, while Dave and Linden had a conversation of their own, and Stevie tuned into it.
“Did you see Walt’s latest sign on the new property?” Dave asked.
Linden nodded. “He’s an idiot. Jordan comes up with better zingers. He and his friends have a regular assembly line going in the garage. He’s costing me a fortune in paint and plywood, but he’d rather mess with the McLins than play video games. I guess that’s a bonus.”
“I’m glad he’s embracing his creative side,” Dave said with a laugh.
Stevie listened in awe. Not only were her father and brother aware that Jordan was taunting the McLins with his signs, but they also obviously encouraged it. Her mother had made it sound as though Dave simply wanted to reach out to Kellen and work with her on the parades and festivals, and she rudely rebuffed him. Nothing had changed since she’d left the town of Sealy, and it saddened and disgusted her that hate was being fostered in another generation of Sealys.
*******
“It’s almost sixty degrees and it’s sunny, we couldn’t ask for better weather,” Trent said as he helped Kyle lower the beer keg int
o a tub of ice on Kellen’s deck. “This was a great idea. I can’t wait to see Stevie and Kellen together. I bet you a hundred bucks those two are gonna end up a couple.”
“Make it a month’s worth of backrubs, and you’re on. I’ve got a lot of kinks you can work out.”
“That wager was a figure of speech,” Trent said with his brow furrowed. “I thought you believed Stevie was Kellen’s moment girl.”
Kyle lowered his voice in case Kellen came outside. “I don’t know if she is or isn’t. I appealed to Kellen’s romantic nature to get her to allow Stevie to come to the party. Don’t get me wrong, I would be thrilled if they became a happy couple, but it’s gonna take a lot for Kellen to see past the fact that Stevie is a Sealy. Plus, there’s gonna be other single women here, so Kellen will have lots of fish to catch.”
“Women are not fish. They’re complex creatures, and a mate has to appeal on many different levels. Stevie has got it all, and no woman that’s coming to this party is gonna measure up.”
Kyle grinned. “I forget sometimes that you have intimate knowledge of those creatures.”
“I may not be attracted to them like other men, but I am fascinated by the way they think and weigh shit, and that’s one of the things I really like about you.”
“Are you saying I’m like a woman?” Kyle asked, sounding slightly indignant.
“You’re all man, but you think a lot like a woman. That’s why we have eight bottles of laundry detergent. One is better on whites, and another is better for stains, the laundry list goes on. You can multitask. I’ve watched you cook dinner, talk on the phone, make a grocery list, and fold towels all at the same time. You think about feelings and worry that someone might’ve taken something you said wrong. You get turned on when I talk about deep things, I get turned on when you walk through the room. Dude, you have a woman brain. I just want food, sex, and beer.”
Kyle cocked his head. “Are you saying you don’t care about my feelings?”
“Aha! Woman brain.”
“All right, all the food is set up, and my kitchen looks like a buffet,” Kellen said as she walked outside.
Kyle spun on one heel and asked Kellen, “Do you think I think like a woman?”
“More than I do. I don’t think my kitchen needs fresh-cut flowers to make it look bright in the winter,” Kellen said. “I need a drink, is the beer tapped?”
“Stick with wine, beer will bloat you.” Kyle frowned at Kellen’s sweatshirt. “You can’t wear that. Go put on your burgundy boy pants, plaid shirt with the burgundy and light blue in it, and your navy blue sweater. Don’t tuck in the plaid shirt, skip the boots, and put on your navy Converse shoes.”
“What about underwear?” Kellen asked sarcastically.
“Yes, and make it a thong, you don’t want panty lines.” Kyle turned to Trent when Kellen went inside to change. “Don’t you say a word. I may think like a woman, but you believe in fairytales with happy endings just like my sister. That makes us all women.”
*******
Stevie was late and flew down the highway toward McLin. The family breakfast led into lunch, and Stevie feared it would go right into dinner. She couldn’t very well tell her parents she needed a ride back home so she could dress for Kellen’s party. When Kenzie, amped up on sugar and carbs, ran through the den and accidentally tackled a lamp, Stevie found her escape with Christine, who promptly packed up her kids and left before Kenzie did more damage. Stevie had raced into the shower when she got home to wash syrup from her hair and spent extra time applying mascara to the grays her mother had spotted to hide them.
As soon as she crossed the line of Sealy’s town limits into McLin’s, her phone chimed, indicating she had a text, and her GPS warned her she was nearing her turn. She ignored the phone and slowed as the GPS became more insistent. She wondered if it was wrong because all she saw was woods, but she eventually came to a driveway she’d never noticed on her other trips to McLin. Stevie turned off the highway and followed the gravel drive deep into the woods, and she’d begun to really doubt her GPS as the road seemed to go on forever. Her phone rang, and she noticed Trent’s name on the ID.
“I’m late, and I think I’m lost,” Stevie said when she answered. “I’m on some gravel road in the woods.”
“You turned off the highway just as you came into McLin?” Trent asked.
“Yes.”
“Good, you’re on Kellen’s driveway then. I told you she likes the woods,” Trent said with a laugh.
“Obviously. I just made a curve, and I see some cars in the distance.”
“Park along the side of the driveway. With all the rain we’ve had lately, the ground is really soft. I’m walking toward you. What took you so long?” Trent asked.
“I was kidnapped and forced to go to breakfast and lunch with my family. I was always on the fence about having kids, but after today, I’m sure I don’t want any.”
“How do you feel about just carrying one?”
Stevie looked stunned. “As in on my hip?”
“Like having a baby for me and Kyle. I asked Kellen once, and she hit me in the face with a dinner roll, so I took that as a no. It’s probably for the best. Kyle told me what she was like as a child, and I don’t think they make enough bubble wrap for that. I don’t ever remember you thinking it was a good idea to jump off a roof with a towel as a parachute.”
“If I had a roll, I’d throw it at you, too,” Stevie said with a laugh as she parked her car. “I’ll assault you with something else in a sec, bye.” She grabbed the bottle of wine she brought and got out of the car just as Trent approached.
Trent held up both hands. “Do not hit me in the face with that bottle.”
“I wouldn’t dare, this is my favorite wine.” Stevie smiled and kissed Trent’s fuzzy cheek.
Trent held out his arm. “I came to walk you up to the house, so you wouldn’t have to face the party alone. There’s a shitload of people here.”
“Thanks. One of the other reasons I’m late is I changed my clothes about ten times. I went with the flannel shirt and brown jacket because I was trying to look woodsy,” Stevie said as she wrapped her hand around his bicep.
“It’s a good look, and I especially like your hair down. When we were kids you always had it in a ponytail.” Trent tossed his head to the side as though he had long locks. “I had the same problem. I didn’t know what to do with my hair. Was it black ball cap or blue? Finally, Kyle vetoed the hat and picked out my clothes.”
Stevie laughed. “Good, because you never knew how to match anything. I still remember you wearing those purple pants and that orange sweatshirt.”
“I was a nonconformist, not a nonmatcher. Now look, there’s a woman here named Leigh, she’s wearing a jean jacket and she has blond hair. She’s making a play for Kellen big-time, so you gotta get in there and shut that shit down.”
“Is Kellen into her, too?” Stevie asked as a wave of disappointment hit her.
“I don’t care if she is. Leigh isn’t right for her. I don’t see her going for walks in the woods with Kellen. Take her ass out.”
“What do you want me to do—hit her over the head with a log?” Stevie asked.
“Yeah.” Trent grinned. “Go be you, and you won’t have any problems.”
“Didn’t you tell me this was a no-pressure, see-if-we-like-each-other situation?”
“Stevie, you’re dwelling in the past. I said that the other day. Now I’m totally Team Stevie and Kellen—or Stellen, Team Stellen,” Trent said with a laugh.
Stevie’s heart skipped a beat, and she tightened her hold on Trent’s arm when they rounded the corner of the rustic-looking house and she saw the crowd covering the large deck and spilling over into the yard beyond. Her gaze went right to Kellen seated on the steps talking to a couple of people who sat with her. Kellen looked right at her, and an indecipherable expression swept across her face. Stevie relaxed a bit when Kellen smiled and stood.
“Everybody, this is Ste
vie,” Trent yelled over the music and pointed at her and a chorus of “Hey, Stevie” broke out.
“So you made it,” Kellen said and gestured for Stevie to follow. “Let me show you inside where the food is.”
Kyle appeared as they wove through the crowd and gave Stevie a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, babe, glad you could come.”
“Thanks for the invite. Is everyone here from McLin?” Stevie asked as she looked around.
“Oh, no,” Kyle said with a laugh. “A couple of them grew up here, but we have to import the gays.”
Kellen opened the back door and held it for Stevie. “We’ve got everything from seafood to sandwiches. Are you hungry?”
“Uh, just a little.” Stevie stepped inside, glad to have Kellen’s attention.
“Let me open your wine for you then.” Kellen took the bottle from Stevie and gestured to the kitchen table. “We have all kinds of dips and snackables if you’d rather nibble.”
“Speaking of the dip, Kellen, which ones are seafood?” a woman asked and put her hand on Kellen’s arm.
“Oh, Leigh, this is Stevie,” Kellen said.
“Nice to meet you,” Leigh said with a smile and led Kellen away.
Trent made a noise that sounded like a deep growl. “All right, I’m going in.”
“Trent,” Kyle said with a warning tone as Trent walked over to the pair and wiggled right in between them.
“Let me tell you about the dip,” Trent said loudly and shoved Kellen back toward Stevie.
Kellen resumed opening Stevie’s wine and poured it. She handed a glass to Stevie, opened her mouth to say something, and Leigh appeared again. “I was going to tell you I’m allergic to seafood,” she said inches from Kellen’s face.
“Oh, did Trent get you lined out on which dips you should avoid?” Kellen asked with concern.
“I did,” Trent said, looking irritated.
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