Welcome to Last Chance

by Cathleen Armstrong

  By carefully fitting some pans together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in the trunk, balancing others on their laps, and holding still others between their feet, they managed to get all the food and themselves squeezed into the car.

  “Here, be real careful with this. I don’t want it sloshing all over.” Fayette handed a bowl to Matthew, who was slouched in a corner of the backseat with a sullen expression on his face. He rolled his eyes and gazed out the window while the dish wobbled precariously on his lap.

  “Matthew! I said be careful!” Clearly, she and Matthew had exchanged words before they arrived.

  “I said I’ve got it, okay?” Matthew muttered something under his breath.

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing.”

  When they passed the church, Elizabeth broke the silence that shrouded the car.

  “You know, I sure was sorry when they stopped having a Thanksgiving morning service. I never could come, of course, since I was up at the ranch trying to get dinner on the table, but now that I’m in town and could go, they up and stopped having them. Last night’s service was nice, though. It did us all good to think about all our blessings.”

  She looked at the sullen faces around her and broke into laughter.

  “Well, I have to say this is the sorriest group I’ve ever been around on Thanksgiving. Here we are with more to be thankful over than you can shake a stick at, and we sit moping like our last friend just took the dog and stole the car. Now, I for one am thankful I have a car full of good food and I’m going to my family. What about you, Fayette? Tell me something you’re thankful for.”

  Fayette didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she sighed and glanced in the rearview mirror. “Sometimes I want to just shake him till his teeth rattle, but I thank God every day that he gave me Matthew.”

  “Lainie? What about you?”

  Lainie thought about all that had happened since her car started overheating out on the highway last summer. She surely wasn’t grateful then, but gradually, almost without her noticing, things had begun to change. And this morning, in the warm comfort of Elizabeth’s kitchen, for the first time she had recognized gratitude.

  “I don’t know. That I met you guys, I guess.” Just because she was aware of it didn’t mean she felt comfortable talking about it.

  “Well, we’re thankful we met you too. What about you, Matthew?”

  Matthew grunted something unintelligible and continued looking out the window.

  Elizabeth acted as if he had spoken. “You’re right, Matthew. You have a good roof over your head, plenty of food, and a mother who loves you and cares how you turn out. You have a basketful of blessings to be thankful for.”

  “I didn’t say any of that.” Matthew brought his attention back to the conversation.

  “Didn’t you? I’d swear that’s what you said. That and the music lessons you’ve taken in my living room for the past eight years? Didn’t you mention them too?” Laughter spilled from Elizabeth’s voice.

  “No.” An unwilling smile tugged at the corner of Matthew’s mouth.

  “Well then, what about this?” Elizabeth reached down, plucked a cinnamon roll from the pan at her feet, and tossed it over her shoulder into the backseat without looking. Matthew almost grinned as he caught it in the air. He stuffed it into his mouth.

  “I’ll take it that you’re thankful for cinnamon rolls.”

  “Matthew . . .” Fayette sounded tired and exasperated, but Elizabeth reached over and patted her arm.

  “We’re doing fine here, Fayette. Let’s not go back to where we started. Now, why don’t you give us something else that you’re thankful for?”

  Fayette thought a minute, then laughed. “Well, there are times you’d never get me to admit it, but I’m thankful I have that old diner. I don’t know what Matthew and I would do without it. And I’m thankful for all the people who come in and keep me running my feet off all day.” She caught Lainie’s eye in the rearview mirror. “And I’m thankful the Lord brought Lainie to Last Chance. I don’t know how I managed without her.”

  “Now, that’s just what I was going to say. I’m thankful the Lord brought Lainie into my life too. And not just because I seem to be seeing more of my grandson, either. Lainie, you want to add anything?”

  Lainie ignored the bantering tone. “I’m thankful I’ve got a job, I guess. And that you took me in.” She nudged Matthew’s foot with her own. “Come on, Matthew. You need to come up with something too.”

  “I’m thankful I’m not a turkey.”

  Lainie grinned at him. “Well, that’s a matter of opinion.”

  Fayette hooted in laughter. “I am so thankful for Matthew’s sense of humor. He can make me laugh like nobody else.” She pulled the car up under the trees that in summer shaded the long, low ranch house and turned off the engine.

  Elizabeth headed for the front door, balancing a pie on each hand, and Fayette opened her trunk. Lainie filled her arms with more dishes and followed her. Behind her she heard Matthew mutter, “Sorry, Mom,” and she smiled to herself. She had never thought much about Thanksgiving being all about giving thanks, but it did add a whole new dimension.

  “Come in this house!” Nancy Jo, Joe Jr.’s wife, met them at the door wearing an apron that covered her brown pants and autumn print blouse. “My gracious, how much food did you bring? I thought you were bringing a couple pies and the rolls.”

  Elizabeth turned up her cheek for a kiss. “I did. But as long as I was at it, I made a couple other things too. I don’t think it will go to waste.”

  “Not with this crowd. I’m just hoping they’ll last till dinner’s ready. They’ve already eaten just about all the dip and whatnot I put out for them.” A roar erupted from the back of the house, and Nancy Jo looked over her shoulder. “Sounds like somebody must have scored a touchdown. Matthew, you can go on back and join the men after you drop that off if you want to.”

  Lainie stood in the wide entry holding her pans. The house was redolent with the aroma of roasting turkeys and full of people, most of whom she had never met. A boy of about seven pursued by another a year or so older raced by and bumped against her, nearly knocking her off balance.

  “Jacob! Michael James! If you’re going to run, go outside.” Nancy Jo watched them disappear out the front door and turned back to her guests with a shake of her head. “Welcome to the zoo.” She peered out the open door. “Where’s Ray? Didn’t he come with you?”

  “He’ll be along later. And don’t get me started on that.” Elizabeth led the way to the kitchen, where she was greeted with hugs by three young women who were peeling potatoes and cutting vegetables.

  “Well, hello, sweet girls. I don’t know if you’ve met my friend and housemate, Lainie. I know you’ve heard a lot about her. Lainie, these are two of my granddaughters, Kimberly and Sarah, and my granddaughter-in-law, Bethany. You met Kimberly’s boys, Jacob and Michael James, in the hall, and Bethany here is going to be giving me my first great-granddaughter just after the first of the year. How you feeling, sweetie?”

  The two blue-eyed blondes and the petite, curly-haired brunette smiled and murmured greetings, but Elizabeth didn’t even pause for breath.

  “I made some cinnamon rolls thinking folks might like a bite this morning to tide them over till dinner this afternoon.” She gestured toward a pan Matthew had left on the kitchen table. “But I don’t know how well they’ll go with dip. Maybe you want to save them for another time.”

  “Are you kidding?” Nancy Jo pulled a platter out of the cupboard and began piling it with still-warm pastries. “Your cinnamon rolls? Why don’t you carry these out to the guys and I’ll put the coffee on. We can have ours in here where it’s a little quieter and we can keep an eye on dinner. Kimberly, grab some mugs out of that cupboard, and Sarah, why don’t you and Lainie carry those pans on the table out to the service room? I’ve set up some tables out there for the overflow.”

  With the coffee brewed and the turkeys
basted, the women gathered around the well-scrubbed table, chatting and laughing over their coffee and rolls. Lainie listened to them talking about events that she had never heard of and people she didn’t know, but their eyes and laughter and the occasional explanation for her benefit drew her into their circle, and she found herself feeling one of the family.

  Nancy Jo got up and peeked at the two turkeys roasting side by side in the huge oven. She ladled a few spoonfuls of drippings over the browning birds and returned to the table with the coffeepot.

  “You know, I don’t care what anyone says, I just love this part of the holidays, when all the women are in the kitchen and the men are entertaining themselves somewhere, watching TV or something. I know it’s not a bit up-to-date, but there you have it.”

  Sarah caught Lainie’s eye behind her mother’s back and rolled her eyes. “So Gran, what do you hear from Steven? Any idea when he’s going to get home?”

  “No, I haven’t heard word one. I guess he’ll just get here when he gets here. Rita calls me every blessed day to ask what I know.”

  Sarah got up and bent to give her grandmother a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Gran. I didn’t mean to upset you. I won’t ask anymore.”

  Elizabeth patted the hand Sarah rested on her shoulder. “It’s okay, baby girl. I think I’m just worried. I didn’t mean to snap.”

  At 2:30 exactly, Nancy Jo went to the den to call the men to dinner. The turkey had been carved and lay in neat slices on large turkey-shaped platters. Casseroles of candied sweet potatoes and green beans in mushroom sauce were brought golden and bubbling from the oven, and bowls of mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, cornbread-sausage stuffing, ambrosia, scalloped corn, and several things that Lainie didn’t recognize covered every inch of the two long tables in the spacious dining room.

  Joe Jr. extended both his hands, and one by one every family member and guest took the hands of another until all were standing with heads bowed in a circle that ringed the large room. He offered a prayer of thanksgiving, and everyone joined in the “amen.” Ray still had not come.

  When everyone was seated, Lainie found herself halfway down the table headed by Joe Jr. and Nancy Jo’s oldest son, Justin. Ray’s empty chair was on her right, and one of the ranch hands sat on her left.

  “Man, this is good turkey. I don’t know how anyone can eat those farm ones.” James, Joe Jr. and Nancy Jo’s youngest, speared another slice of dark meat. “Where’d you bag this one?”

  “Out by Rio Seco. Got him the last day of the season. Here, need some more gravy?” Justin passed the gravy boat down the table.

  Lainie stopped eating and looked at the food on her plate with dismay. She had admired the wild birds she had seen while out riding with Ray. She had no idea people actually killed and ate them.

  James caught her look and guffawed. “What’s the matter? Never had wild game before?”

  Lainie tried to smile. “I’d just rather look at them than eat them, I guess. I mean, why kill live turkeys when you can buy them in the store?”

  The ranch hand at her left shifted his mouthful of food to his cheek and, without looking at her, spoke to his plate. “You think them store birds started out in plastic bags?”

  Everyone laughed, and Lainie felt her face flush hot.

  “Come on, you guys, leave her alone. Not everyone’s crazy about hunting, even those of us who appreciate the game.” Bethany smiled down the table at Lainie. “Don’t pay any attention to these guys. Squeamish girls make them feel manly. They’re really just a bunch of third graders.”

  The indignant protests at her statement were cut short by the sound of crunching gravel, and Lainie looked up to see Ray’s pickup disappear around the house.

  At the other table, Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed and her lips tightened. Ray’s absence at his promised arrival time had not gone unnoticed. Lainie turned her attention back to her plate, refusing to look up as the door opened.

  She heard a second of absolute silence before the room erupted in a riot of pushed back chairs and cries of welcome. Glancing up, she saw Elizabeth moving across the room at a pace Lainie didn’t know possible, and a tall, blond young man take three steps into the room and sweep her off her feet in a whirling hug. Behind them in the doorway, Ray stood grinning and watching the scene play before him.

  “Well, somebody call Rita.” Kimberly crossed the room with outstretched arms. “She can plan that parade now, ’cause look who just came home.”

  16

  After the rest of the family claimed Steven’s attention, his grandmother wiped her eyes and turned to Ray, still standing in the doorway.

  “Is this where you were? Here I’ve been worried about him for weeks and so mad at you this morning I wanted to shake you, and you had this planned all along?”

  Ray shrugged, but his grin never left his face. “Don’t blame me. This was all Steven’s idea. He wanted to surprise everybody and didn’t even let me in on it. He landed in El Paso early this morning and called and said he was catching the bus for San Ramon. I drove up and got him. I thought for sure we’d be here earlier, but the bus was late.”

  Steven, with Jacob hanging off one hand and Michael James hanging off the other, looked over the heads of all the family members gathered around vying for hugs and handshakes. When he found Lainie, his eyes lit with interest and his smile widened. He made his way over to where she still sat in her chair at the dining room table. He held out his hand, and when she took it, he held it in both of his and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

  “Hi, I’m Steven. I know I haven’t met you, but if you’re here you must be family, or just about.”

  He was taller than his brother and bigger, with broader shoulders. Lainie felt the cool roughness of his cheek against hers and inhaled the slight muskiness of his presence. He pulled back just enough for her to be taken by the striking blue of his eyes. They made Lainie think of the way the ocean looked early on a morning when the sun wasn’t shrouded by fog.

  “And you are?” He gazed down at her as if she were the only person in the room, and when he smiled, his white teeth were dazzling.

  “This is Lainie.” Ray appeared at her side. “I’ve told you about her.”

  Steven stepped back, but his eyes never left Lainie’s. “Don’t think so, brother. I would have remembered.” He cocked his head to one side and smiled his blinding smile.

  Ray placed both hands protectively on Lainie’s shoulders. Steven broke the tension of the moment by laughing and looking away. “Hey, James, how’s State doing this year? That new quarterback any good?”

  Lainie became aware again of the bustle of the room. Everyone was going back to their chairs and full plates, and Nancy Jo was busy directing the addition of another chair and plate at her table.

  “Here’s a place right next to Gran, Steven. Come get some turkey. When’s the last time you had a home-cooked meal?”

  “One like this? Not since the last time I sat right here. No one can set a table like you and Gran.”

  Ray took the empty chair next to Lainie’s. Steven, at the next table, still held the attention of nearly everyone. Only the ranch hand on Lainie’s other side was more interested in his dinner than he was in the returned warrior.

  “Well, you are just full of surprises.” Lainie passed Ray the turkey. “How long have you been keeping this secret?”

  “I didn’t hear a thing till this morning. He’s been back in the States for about three weeks, visiting some friends in California.”

  “Three weeks? And he didn’t call your grandma? She’s been afraid to even go to the grocery store for fear he’d call while she was gone.”

  “Well, that’s Steven. He doesn’t mean to be inconsiderate. It just never occurs to him that the rest of us aren’t suspended in time when he’s not around.”

  Lainie looked over at Steven sitting next to his grandmother. Elizabeth was handing him dish after dish and urging him to take larger portions of each. He looked up and caught Lainie’
s eye and winked. She quickly looked away. Why did her face feel so warm? He certainly wasn’t the first full-of-himself guy she had ever met.

  “You guys don’t look much alike. I would never have thought you were brothers.”

  Ray looked up from spooning stuffing onto his plate. “Nope, he looks just like my dad—and has Dad’s personality too. I take after the Cooley side of the family. They say I look more like Uncle Joe Jr. than my own dad.”

  “Did you get a chance to talk on the way here about him taking over the bar? Do you have any more of a timeline?”

  “Nope. He’s been through a lot and I didn’t want to rush him. I’ve kept up with the bar this long. A few more weeks won’t make any difference. I’ll give him to the first of the year, anyway.”

  The sun had slipped behind the rocky hills by the time the last of the platters had been passed and passed again and finally sat empty on the long tables. The conversation slowed.

  “Anyone ready for pie?” Nancy Jo stood up and was met with a chorus of groans. “Okay, we’ll wait a while. Joe Jr., why don’t you throw another log or two on the fire, and we’ll get some of these leftovers under wraps.”

  Everyone slowly got to their feet, and the men moved off toward the den while the women grabbed empty platters and stacked plates. Lainie shot Ray a look.

  “So you guys go sit like slugs and the women keep working? What kind of deal is that?”

  Ray shrugged and grinned. “Hey, who am I to buck tradition? Here, don’t forget this.” He tried to hand her a casserole dish that had held scalloped corn, but she shoved it back in his hands.

  “Come on, you can help bring this family into the twenty-first century.” She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him into the kitchen. “Nancy Jo? Do you have an extra apron? Ray feels so bad about holding up dinner that he really wants to help with the dishes.”

  Nancy Jo looked over her shoulder and laughed. “Yeah, that’ll be the day. No, we’re doing fine. It won’t take us fifteen minutes. We can do this in our sleep. We got most of the pots and pans washed before dinner. Why don’t you two go walk off some of that dinner?”