“I’ve got more skills than you know, boy,” Curtis retorted with a grin.
“Of course you do.” But donut making? He never would’ve guessed.
Kate smacked her hands on the table, giggling when Buster put his front paws on Travis’s leg, obviously trying to get her attention. That or he was hoping for her to drop some of her Cheerios so he could snatch them.
Kaleb came through the door, ducking low because Mason was propped on his shoulders, his fingers clutching Kaleb’s hair. Zoey stepped in behind him, Kellan cuddled in her arms. Once again, Travis watched until the moment Kaleb realized there were donuts.
“Okay, Mom wins,” Kaleb announced. “The holiday free-for-all award goes to her.”
“Dad helped,” Sawyer mentioned around a mouthful of donut.
Kaleb’s eyes widened and laughter erupted.
Before long, the rest of them trickled in. Ethan and Beau, Braydon and Jessie, Jared and Derrick, along with Travis’s cousins Chelsea, Reilly, Donovan, Stone, Jaxson, and CJ. Even the twins, Kaden and Keegan, Jared’s brothers, had graced them with their presence.
Definitely a free-for-all.
And it wouldn’t have been complete if Travis’s in-laws hadn’t shown up. Joe and Melissa, Kylie’s father and stepmother, were greeted as though they’d been part of the family forever.
Travis finally lost count after a while, taking Kate out of the main path into the house to join Gage and Kylie in the dining room with the others.
“What’s the plan today?” Jessie asked, reaching up to take Kate from him.
“I’m pretty sure Mom plans to feed us all day,” Braydon said.
Travis had heard Kylie mentioning the smorgasbord of different snack foods that Lorrie had stockpiled in the refrigerator, so he would have to agree. And dinner… He knew his mother wouldn’t be able to not cook for them all. It was something she loved to do, and Travis definitely wasn’t complaining.
“Well, I know the boys are gonna grumble, but we’ve got some games,” Cheyenne informed them, looking somewhat shy as she spoke.
And as she’d predicted, every man in the room grumbled. Travis did not particularly care for games. He could get into the spirit just like the next guy, but he had his limits.
“Like what?” Jessie asked, clearly excited.
“Well…” Cheyenne looked at Kennedy.
Kennedy grinned. “We’re gonna fill stockings with candy.”
“How’s that a game?” Brendon asked, downing an energy drink.
“You only get to use a spoon to do it. And the first team to fill their stocking wins.”
Travis grumbled again.
“Sounds easy enough,” Zane told the women.
“Yeah?” V laughed.
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew we had fifty stockings to fill,” Cheyenne told him, a smile on her face.
“Fifty? Why fifty?” Braydon groused.
“After they’re filled, your mom and dad are gonna take them to the church,” Kennedy told them.
Well, in that case, Travis could probably get on board with the idea. Maybe.
“Then there’s a scavenger hunt,” Kylie said with a beaming smile.
Travis narrowed his eyes at her. Clearly she’d been part of this, and she hadn’t bothered to tell him.
“What?” she asked innocently. “You’ve got your secrets and I’ve got mine.”
God, he loved her.
Unable to help himself, he smiled.
“And then…?” Zane probed.
“And then, after dinner, we’ll start the judging.”
Travis met his brother’s gaze. That’s what they were really waiting for.
“Well, we better get a move on. We don’t have all day,” Sawyer said with a wink.
KYLIE STILL COULDN’T believe they’d spent the last two hours filling stockings with candy. Not that it was the actual task that surprised her, but that it took them that long to do it. Then again, the game had been hilarious. First, they’d split the group into teams, separating the spouses from one another. Then, each team had to figure out how to fill the stocking with just a spoon. Kylie would be the first to admit that it sounded a lot easier than it was.
Watching Sawyer and Zane get completely frustrated had been the best part. They’d kept everyone rolling on the floor in peals of laughter while they tried every which way to get the candy into the stocking, failing over and over again.
Thankfully, they’d brought that game to a close, helping Curtis pile the stockings into the backseat of his truck so he and Lorrie—along with Kylie’s parents, who’d volunteered to go along for the ride—could take them down to the church while everyone else set out on the scavenger hunt. Travis’s cousins, Reilly and Donovan, had agreed to hang back at the house and watch the kids. With them out, that had left twenty-one people since Greyson, as well as Beth, another of Travis’s cousins, had arrived at the last minute. To make it easy, they’d broken into teams of three.
Of course, she’d insisted that she be paired with her husbands.
Then they had:
Zoey, Kaleb, and Stone.
Kennedy, Sawyer, and Greyson.
Cheyenne, Brendon, and CJ.
Ethan, Beau, and Jaxson.
Braydon, Jessie, and Jared.
V, Zane, and Chelsea.
Keegan, Kaden, and Beth.
The excitement was buzzing in the air while everyone waited outside, ready to hop in their vehicles to get moving.
“Who has the lists?” Kaleb asked, causing everyone to look around.
The sound of an SUV pulling up could barely be heard over the drone of conversation.
“Who’s that?” she asked, directing her question to Travis.
“No idea,” he replied with a shrug of his wide shoulders.
The Escalade came to a stop in the empty space off to the side of the driveway. The windows were tinted, so she couldn’t see who was inside.
Three doors opened and out came…
Kylie smiled when she saw Reese Tavoularis, along with Reese’s brother, Z, and Z’s husband, RT.
“Well, I’ll be damned!” Brendon hollered, making his way over to his high school friend. “What the hell’re you doin’ here?”
“I heard y’all needed some help,” Z said with a giant grin. He held up a stack of papers, waving them teasingly at the group.
“Oh, hell,” Braydon grumbled. “Please tell me y’all did not get to pick the ideas for this hunt.”
“We did,” Z confirmed.
RT grabbed a few sheets of paper from Z and glanced down at them, distributing them obviously in some sort of order. And when he got to the last one, his gaze traveled the group until it landed on Travis.
“Shit,” Travis groaned when RT’s smile widened. “You might not wanna be on my team.”
Kylie couldn’t hold back the laugh that bubbled up. She knew RT was looking to get back at Travis for the teasing he’d done in the past. Back when RT had been denying his feelings for Z. It only seemed fair that RT would get him back; she just hadn’t expected this.
“This, my friend,” RT said to Travis, “is for you.”
Travis took the page but didn’t bother to look at it. Kylie tried to take a peek, but he hid it before she could. Then Gage was behind her, wrapping her in his arms. She felt the vibration from his chest when he greeted RT. “Good to see you, man.”
“You might not think that if you’re paired off with this one,” RT said, his eyes dancing with mischief.
“Let’s get this show on the road so we can be back here for dinner,” Zane hollered loud enough to be heard over everyone.
“Hold up!” Brendon called out. Turning his attention to RT and Z, he added, “Since the three of you are here, and someone obviously knew about this whole setup”—his eyes cut to his wife suspiciously—“then it’s only fair that y’all have to participate as well.”
Holding a few more papers in his hands, Reese peered down at them.
�
��Nope,” Braydon said, snatching the papers away, “you don’t get to pick what you do.” Braydon skimmed the papers, then smiled before handing one back to Z. “Good luck with that.”
“Before you go,” Cheyenne said, “everyone has four hours to complete this. Be back here no later than five thirty or you forfeit. The team with the most items on their list wins. Good luck!”
Kylie had barely gotten her feet moving when Gage was urging her toward his truck, Travis leading the way, still clutching the paper in his hand.
“What’s on that list?” she asked as she climbed into the backseat.
“You don’t wanna know,” Travis murmured when Gage hopped in and started the truck.
Dust swirled around them as the cars, trucks, and SUVs fled the driveway, all in a hurry to get the items on their list.
Kylie simply wanted to see what was in store for them.
Clearly Travis wasn’t in a hurry to show her.
Chapter Nine
SINCE IT WAS clear Travis wasn’t interested in sharing their scavenger hunt items, Gage stole the paper from him, then handed it back to Kylie as he drove down the road that would lead them into town.
“Read it off,” he instructed.
There was a silent pause, followed by several chuckles before Kylie let out a booming laugh. She tried to talk, but it took her a minute to calm down.
“Okay, we’ve got fifteen things.”
Fifteen? That shouldn’t be too hard.
“Just wait,” Travis mumbled.
“Okay, it’s broken into three different lists: items, pictures, videos.”
Gage glanced over at Travis to see him shaking his head.
Kylie continued, “The items are a restaurant napkin, a receipt for sixty cents’ worth of gas, a buy one, get one free coupon, root beer lip gloss, and a disposable toilet seat cover.”
“Oh, hell,” Gage said, chuckling.
“In the list for pictures, we need one of all three of us sitting with an unknown family at a restaurant, one of a team member hugging a stranger, one of a team member putting gas in a stranger’s car, a member of the group handcuffed to a police officer, and the last one is a picture with someone who is at least eighty-five years old.”
Gage took the turn to take them to the center of town, not sure where they planned to start. “And the videos?” he asked.
Kylie giggled. “Travis singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with a kid.”
“Travis? It says that?” Gage asked, darting his eyes to Travis again.
“It says that,” he confirmed.
“Okay, go on,” Gage said, pulling the truck into the one and only gas station in town. When a car pulled in behind them, stopping in front of a gas pump, he smiled. “Hold that thought. You better get your phone out, though.”
Jumping out of the truck, Gage strolled over to the car, trying not to look like a complete psychopath as he approached the young woman.
“Do you mind if I put gas in your car for you?” he asked.
Her eyes widened in confusion.
“We’re doin’ a scavenger hunt, and I need to get a picture putting gas into a stranger’s car.”
The woman’s eyes traveled the parking lot briefly, and Gage turned to point at his truck. “My husband and wife are in there. I swear, I’m not gonna do anything weird.”
“Husband and wife?” she asked, her eyes growing to the size of saucers.
“Long story,” he said, smiling to himself. The woman was approached by a stranger in a gas station parking lot and that was the one thing she questioned. Figured.
“Okay,” she finally said, swiping her credit card and then stepping back out of the way.
It took five minutes to fill the tank, but then he thanked the woman and walked back to the truck. Taking out his own credit card, he swiped it, then gently squeezed the pump, aiming for sixty cents’ worth. He had to do it twice before he got the right number, and he doubted he got but a drop of gas.
“Two down,” Kylie said cheerfully when he hopped in, holding her phone out for him to see.
After handing her the gas receipt, Gage put the truck in drive, heading back to the road. “What were the other videos?”
Kylie’s sweet chuckle filled the air. “Gage getting a drink out of a water fountain with Travis on his back.”
Travis groaned. Gage laughed. He had to give RT and Z credit, these were pretty creative.
“In Mama’s Diner, Travis has to put on a tiara and wave to the people there, saying ‘I am the queen of England.’”
Gage thought he might wreck his truck when he was overwhelmed by laughter.
“Fuck off,” Travis groused.
“Hey, it’s gonna be funny.”
“Gonna be?” Travis asked, his head snapping toward him. “You actually think I’m gonna do that?”
“Yes,” Kylie said matter-of-factly. “We’re gonna win this thing.”
“What else?” Gage inquired, pulling the truck into Mama’s Diner. He figured he might as well get that one out of the way. And they could get the restaurant napkin at the same time.
“The last two,” Kylie said as Gage opened her door for her. “A video of one of us buying cookies with pennies only, and then one of us carrying a stranger’s groceries to their car.”
Gage closed the door, then watched as Travis grudgingly came around to meet them.
“Y’all are really gonna make me do this, aren’t you?” he asked, watching them both intently.
“Yes,” Kylie said, leaning up on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. She lowered her voice, but Gage could still hear her. “And if we win, then Gage and I will make it up to you tonight.”
Travis’s eyebrows lifted. “How so?”
“Whatever you want,” she said with a sweet smile.
That earned a grin from Travis, and Gage knew without a doubt that they were about to win this thing. And probably with an hour to spare.
TRAVIS WANTED TO kill RT and Z, but mostly RT. He still couldn’t believe the things they’d managed to get him to do over the course of the day. And yes, because of Kylie’s promise for later tonight, he’d eagerly performed every single task, including putting on a tiara—which they’d had to pick up at the small independent toy store in town—and telling everyone inside Mama’s Diner that he was the queen of England.
He wasn’t sure he would ever live that one down.
But now, as he perched on the arm of the couch in his parents’ living room, listening to all the crazy things the others had done today in order to complete their list, he didn’t feel quite so bad.
“Do you know how hard it is to get the front page of the Coyote Ridge Gazette?” Ethan asked. “No one reads the paper, and we weren’t allowed to buy it.”
“How’d you get it?” V asked.
“We went door to door,” Beau said with a grin.
“At least you didn’t have to convince a stranger to let you taste their food,” Kaden said.
Beth chimed in, “What was funnier is that when we did find a woman who was willing, she insisted that both Kaden and Keegan do it at the same time, since they’re twins. And then she took her own picture.”
“You didn’t tell them the best part,” Keegan said with a smirk.
Beth’s cheeks turned pink. “She told them the only way she’d allow it was if they took their shirts off.”
“I’m sure that’ll be up on the Internet before long,” Zane said. “You’ll have your own fan club.”
“That would’ve been great…” Keegan said. “When I was twenty.”
“How old are you now?” Zane asked their cousin.
“Thirty-two and counting,” he answered with a frown.
“And still not married,” Sawyer teased. “What a shame.”
“Hey, if I recall correctly, y’all won’t be married until tomorrow night,” Kaden countered.
“Tomorrow, y’all. That was the key word there. Seriously.” V stated. “How can the two of you be so calm? I was a
wreck for a week before my wedding, and you’re just sittin’ here like it’s just another day.”
Kennedy smiled up at Sawyer. “Oh, it’s not just another day, but I think we’re ready for it to happen.”
“That way we can start makin’ babies,” Sawyer said teasingly.
“Nope. No way,” Ethan called out. “Do not want to hear that shit.”
The group laughed, and Travis sighed. This was a good day. Maybe he wasn’t into the whole game thing, but he had to admit, spending the day acting like a fool with Kylie and Gage… He couldn’t remember ever having quite as much fun.
“Did you get it?” Z asked, his attention turning to Cheyenne and Brendon.
“Which one?” Brendon asked.
“Singing with a police officer,” Z said.
“We did,” Cheyenne said with a grin. “But that one was easy.”
“How’d you do it?” Jessie asked.
“I went into the police station, asked who wanted front row seats to her next concert, and the three guys inside all lined up.”
“They did not,” Jared said in disbelief.
“They did,” Brendon said, beaming with pride as he held out his cell phone, which was playing the video of Cheyenne singing the national anthem with all three of the deputies at the sheriff’s office.
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Okay, so we’ve tallied everything up,” Donovan announced when he stepped into the room. He’d volunteered to check off all the items on the lists to see who’d done the most.
“And?” Braydon asked.
“We’ve actually got a tie,” Donovan noted. “But each of those teams is missing one item. So, if you’ve got the videos for me to see, then I’ll be able to announce the winners.”
“Who?” Beau questioned, his eyes lighting up.
“Ethan, Beau, and Jaxson” Donovan told him, looking their way. “I have yet to see the video of the two of you skipping through the toy store, carrying Barbies while screaming, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s really a Barbie.’”
Travis laughed, imagining Beau and Ethan doing just that.
“Who’re they tied with?” Kaleb inquired.
“Travis, Kylie, and Gage,” Donovan answered. “I need the video of Travis singing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” with a kid.”
Because Naughty Holidays Can Be Oh So Nice 2015 Page 6
