Taking What Is Mine by Abby Brooks & Will Wright

Author:Abby Brooks & Will Wright [Brooks, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Bird Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-09-13T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Chet

I cradle a bowl half-filled with flour and sugar in the crook of my left arm while I try to blend the ingredients together, but most of the contents end up on the floor of Mom’s kitchen.

“Chester Wade Wilde, what have you done now?” My mother gasps. She takes a breath to calm herself before speaking again. “I know you want to be a help but honestly the way you bumble about in my kitchen is only making more work for me, why don’t you go spend some time with your brothers?”

Gabe, overhearing our conversation, calls from the living room, “Yeah brother, come on in here with Hank and me, you can tell us all the rules we’re supposed to follow tonight with your guest. Again.”

“I’ll clean this up, don’t you worry. I spend more than enough time with those two as it is. How about if I stick to something a little more basic—need any vegetables cleaned or chopped? Or, I’ll start cleaning dishes, how’d that be?” Given the two overgrown boys in the next room, I can’t exactly explain to our mother how I’m boiling over with nervous energy and that I need some outlet to burn it off. The truth is I couldn’t sit still for two seconds right now. Christy’s joining us for supper tonight and I’m equal parts excited and sick to my stomach with anxiety over how things will go when she arrives.

I spend most of the next two hours in the kitchen trying to stay out of Mom’s way as she bustles back and forth between the oven, checking on and basting the turkey, to the island counter where she preps her homemade green bean casserole or starts over on the cake I attempted before. I dutifully tend to whatever task she assigns, currently smashing at a pot of steaming potatoes, being certain to keep it firmly on the counter at all times and remaining a safe distance out of her path. The distraction has helped to quell the nerves pushing my stomach up into my throat—until the doorbell rings, anyway.

“I’ll get it,” Hank calls out. God help me. I guess she was going to meet him one way or the other, at least this way she has one last chance to turn and run.

“Well he-llo beautiful,” he says when he opens the door. He’s not wrong, she is stunning, dressed in a simple white dress, appropriately conservative, but nonetheless alluring with its short hemline and spaghetti straps. Her blonde hair, usually straight and cascading is different this evening, loose curls tumbling down and stopping just above her shoulders.

“Hello yourself … Frank? Did I guess right?” she asks.

“Hardly,” Gabe replies. “Frank is successful and intelligent. That’s Hank—he’s neither.”

“Ahh, I see. Nice to see you again, Gabe.” Christy looks down at her feet, still standing on the porch.

“Henry! Gabriel! Where are your manners? Invite the young lady inside, will you?” Mom chides while she wipes her hands with a dish towel.

“Yes, of course. Please do come in milady.

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