Cann swiveled on his stool, greeted them, and that was the last time he talked to Bud for a while. But he watched. Closely, from a distance.
Bud planned a huge Thanksgiving feast for the people who didn’t have family. That included her. But when Thanksgiving came she was sorry she’d taken on so much. By late morning, she’d slid down the cabinets to the floor and was, more or less, wallowing in a tearful puddle.
The heavenly smell of turkey baking had wafted down the hall and caused Cann to think he had to have a snack. When he walked into the kitchen, he was instantly alarmed.
“What’s wrong? Is it the baby? Do you need to go to the hospital?”
In an instant he was crouched beside her, trying to help her up.
She slapped at him. “No. It’s not the baby. No. I don’t need to go to the hospital. Get your big paws off of me.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“It’s too much. I don’t think I can get it all done by myself.”
The lines disappeared from Cann’s forehead as his expression cleared and then softened. “Come on.” He pulled her up, even though she put up some resistance, and sat her on the stool at the end of the island. “Tell me what needs to be done. You know I’m a better cook than you.”
“Who says?” she sniffled.
He handed her a paper napkin to use as a tissue. “Me.”
“All that corn bread and bread pieces need to be mixed together in that tub with the onions and celery. You mash it all up together and add…”
“Water. I know how to make cornbread dressing, sugar.”
He could have bit through his own tongue as soon as he said it, but it was out. There it was. Whether he called her ‘sugar’ or not, that’s how he thought of her. And now she knew it for sure.
He set a glass of sparkling cider down in front of her and told her about how satisfying it was to see what had become of the parts matchmaking business he’d started right out of high school. Brash had hired the right people to take it to a level he’d never imagined.
“That must make you feel really good,” she said.
“Yeah.”
“So is that what you do? When you leave here every day?”
“Things have left me behind. Brash has me working on trying to catch up, but I’m not quite there yet.” He turned and smiled at her. “Not a fast learner like you.”
“I’m not a fast learner. I already knew how to do the stuff I do here. I never thanked you for getting me this job. It’s been so much more than I could have dreamed about. So thank you.”
“You’re welcome. But the only thanks I need is knowin’ that you’re gettin’ what you need from life.”
“I think we can turn the fire off under those potatoes. The dressing’s going into those two turkey roasters. The last oven’s big enough for them if you don’t put the top on.”
“Okay.”
“The green beans…”
“Are in the steamer. They can wait until we’re almost ready to eat.”
“The standing rib…”
“Is ready. But I’ve got to tell you that’s where you crossed the line into the ridiculous. This was too much for one person. I mean maybe if one person was doin’ this for four. But look at this place. You have to cover four times as much ground as most people makin’ Thanksgivin’ today.”
“Well, I see that now. Thank you for helping.”
Between the two of them, they got Thanksgiving on the table.
After people had eaten so much they could barely move, Cann instructed Burn and Axel that Bud had the rest of the day off, that they would be cleaning up and that they’d better do it right. Then he added that they’d be expected to make turkey sandwiches later if anybody got hungry.