“Hullo, Teodore.”
“Hi, Poppa. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Yes, happy Thanksgiving.” A long moment of silence while we both searched for something more to say.
“Uh…how has the fishing been going?”
“Is well. We won’t starve.’
“That’s good. Um…”
“How is weather?”
“It’s the usual for November.”
“That is good.” He didn’t ask what the usual was. “I put your Momma on.”
I sighed in relief.
“Teo. Happy Thanksgiving.”
“The same to you, Ma.”
“I am disappointed you cannot come to spend the weekend with us. Will you be seeing William’s family?”
“No, Wills has work tomorrow. He just called his family.”
“And you have tomorrow off?”
“Yeah, Ma. I’m my own boss. I can make my own holidays.”
“Humph. You have enough food?”
“We have plenty. We won’t starve. Is…uh…Is Casey there? I’d like to—”
“Acacia is spending the afternoon with her boyfriend’s family. They will come back here for dinner.”
“Okay. Well, I’d better go now. I have to baste the turkey. Tell Casey I said hi.”
“One moment, please. I wish to speak to your young man.”
“Uh, Momma…” I sent a panic-stricken look Wills’s way. If I had a hard time talking to her, what would my lover find to say?
“What’s up, babe?”
I covered the receiver. “Ma wants to talk to you.”
He smiled and took the phone. “Hi, Mrs. Bascopolis. Happy Thanksgiving.” He glanced at me and made a shooing motion. “I thought you had to go baste the turkey?”
I scowled, but he knew I wasn’t serious, and he laughed at me. I went into the kitchen, took care of the turkey and found some other things to keep me busy. After about ten minutes, when Wills hadn’t joined me, I went back to the living room.
He was still on the phone. “That’s right,” he was saying. “He was the best looking Zorro I’ve ever seen.”…”Yes, even handsomer than Antonio Banderas.”…”No, no one gave us a hard time, Mrs. B. Don’t you think I can take care of my guy?”
Well, damn. His conversation was going as smoothly as if he were talking to his own family. And then I forgot that as I realized he’d called me his guy. I liked that.
“No, I’m afraid we won’t be able to come down for Christmas. The company I work for is a slave driver, Mrs. B. I only have the day off. When I get my vacation, I promise we’ll fly down. Oh, Theo’s here. Would you like to talk to him again?…Okay. It was nice talking to you too. Have a good day.”…”Hmm?”…”Oh, I can promise you that. Our kitchen looks like Theo’s ready to feed an army! Bye, now.” He handed the phone back to me.
“Ma?”
“Your William is a wonderful boy, Teo. You make sure you treat him well, you hear me?”
“Yes, Ma.”
“I must go now. The turkey is not done, but Poppa wants to sample it. It will give him worms.”
“Okay. Bye—”
“Teo, I love you.”
“I…I love you too, Momma.”
“Goodbye, my son.”
I could barely whisper, “Bye.”
Wills took the phone from me and hung up. “You okay, babe?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.” I sniffed hard. Dammit, why was it I cried at the drop of a hat, but Wills never shed a tear? “I…uh…I gotta…Dinner…”
“Come on.” He tipped my chin up and kissed me.
I held onto him for a minute, then ran my fingers down his arm and twined them with his fingers, and we went into the kitchen.
“What can I do to help?”
“Peel and slice the sweet potatoes.”
“How thick do you want the slices?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be putting them through the ricer once I’m done boiling them.”
“Aye, aye, skipper.” He threw me a salute and picked up the peeler and the first sweet potato.
I made a traditional dinner—turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, biscuits, salad, corn, green beans, and three different kinds of pies for dessert, apple crumb, pumpkin, and coconut custard.
Wills had brought home a white zinfandel, and he kept me company while I worked in the kitchen, fetching the ingredients I called for, husking the corn, snapping the ends off the beans, and sipping the wine and stealing occasional kisses.
“Time to set the table, babe.”
“Got it.” He snatched another kiss and strolled out of the room, humming softly under his breath.
He did a great job with the table—the Irish linen tablecloth, the good china and flatware, water goblets and wine glasses, and a centerpiece of autumn leaves, gourds, and mums.
We ate until we were stuffed, then spent the rest of the afternoon nuzzling on the couch and watching football. That evening, instead of having leftovers for dinner, we had each other.
Because Thanksgiving had been so late this year, it was only a few days later that I brought up the subject of Christmas cards.