Welcome to Last Chance (15 page)

“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.”

A
fter 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?”

On the back porch, Lainie drew deep breaths of cold piñon smoke–scented air. She could still hear the sounds of laughter and conversation behind her in the warm, brightly lit house, but it was muffled and seemed a world away. A gust of wind blew up and rattled the bare branches of the cottonwoods overhead, and Lainie shivered. Ray pulled her close and rubbed her arms.

“Cold?”

She nodded. “A little, maybe.”

“I'll run and get you a jacket. Be right back.” Ray ducked back through the kitchen door.

When the door opened again, Lainie turned around expecting to see Ray and found herself face-to-face with Steven.

“Hi. I thought I saw you come out here. Where's Ray?”

“Right here.” Ray followed him out holding a warm oversized jacket. “This might be big—I think it's Uncle Joe Jr.'s—but it was
the first one I found.” He draped it over Lainie's shoulders and wrapped her like a cocoon, pulling her close.

Steven grinned. “You're going to wind up falling on your face like that.” He took the jacket and held it while Lainie slipped her arms into the long sleeves. “There. Now you can move.”

Ray pushed a sleeve back to find Lainie's hand and enveloped it in his own, and the three stepped off the back porch and started across the yard to the road that led to the corrals. Steven fell in on Ray's other side.

Steven took a deep breath. “Man, I missed the way this place smells. I didn't even realize it till I got out of the car this afternoon—the smoke, the horses, something else I can't even name. It's just home.”

Ray clapped his shoulder. “Glad you're home, bro. And you're here to stay this time.”

Steven didn't say anything.

“So what are your plans now? You want to bunk with me? I don't have a lot of room, but we can manage somehow.”

“Nah, thanks anyway, bro, but I don't want to crowd your space. Gran said I could use the daybed in her sewing room. In fact, Gran
told
me I was using the daybed in her sewing room. Seems someone else has the guest room.” He grinned at Lainie.

“There's no rush, but you know the bar's ready when you are.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. I know you had to put your own stuff on hold. It'll seem weird without Dad, though. He and I always planned to run it together.”

“Well, he wanted you to have it, anyway. I'll bring you up to speed as soon as you're ready. Maybe sometime in the next week or so?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Sometime next week.”

They walked to the end of the road before heading back to the house. Lainie turned the collar of the jacket up to block the
wind. Warm lights shining from the windows of the ranch house beckoned, and she tried to move Ray and Steven on a little faster.

The pie had been served when they stepped back into the cavernous living room. Everyone held a plate with a whipped cream–topped slice, and mugs of steaming coffee rested on every convenient surface.

“There you are!” Nancy Jo appeared in the kitchen doorway. “Gran called Rita to tell her you were home, and she's called back three times trying to reach you. Here's her number.” She handed Steven the cordless phone and a slip of paper.

Steven peered at the number and started slowly punching in numbers. “Why am I calling Rita now?”

“Didn't Ray tell you? She's going to declare Steven Braden Day and give you a big parade and everything. Now, do you all want pumpkin, pecan, or mincemeat?”

Light poured from the windows of the Dip 'n' Dine and the smell of coffee and sausage enveloped her when Lainie got to work early the next morning. Fayette was carrying a tray laden with steaming plates across the room toward a table where four men in work boots sat cradling mugs of coffee. Lainie glanced at the clock. The diner wasn't due to open for another twenty minutes. Fayette caught her glance.

“I know. But they were here, I was here, and Carlos was here. I didn't see any need to keep them sitting out in the cold when they could be inside with a cup of coffee. Now run and get your uniform on. Another truck just pulled into the parking lot.”

It was nearly eleven before Lainie was able catch her breath. She ducked into the kitchen and found Fayette hanging up the phone.

“I had to put in an emergency order up to San Ramon. I don't
know why I didn't see this crowd coming. Seems everybody is taking the day off and coming in here for breakfast. How's it looking out there?”

Lainie craned her neck to look. “Pretty quiet. Rita's still in her breakfast meeting with Steven, but I think he quit paying attention an hour ago.”

She walked up to their table with the coffeepot and put the check on the table. “Need another refill?”

“None for me. I've got to get going.” Steven got to his feet and held out his hand to the mayor. “Rita, it's been a pleasure. I've gotta say, though, I'm blown away by all this. I sure don't deserve it.”

Rita jumped to her feet and reached up to give him a hug. “What do you mean, you don't deserve it? You bet you deserve it! And you represent all the other young men and women out there fighting for us. If you don't want this for yourself, take it for them.”

Steven grinned at Lainie over Rita's head. “Well, if you put it that way . . . Hey, there's Ray. I need to see him about something.”

Across the road Ray slammed the door of his truck and waited for Steven to catch up. Lainie could see the smile light Ray's face. Steven was a charmer, all right. Lainie just wished he didn't make her feel so uneasy.