My Broken Soldier (Love Conquers Life Book 2) (16 page)

Chapter 16

Carter

It's Thanksgiving morning, and Patty has planned everything out. Everyone is getting here at two, and she plans to have the appetizers ready by then. She told me she'll be taking the turkey out of the oven no later than three forty-five so we can eat at four-thirty.

I shake my head as I shave. I never knew she was so detail-oriented, but it's kind of nice. I hope she'll relax once everyone gets here.

I wipe the remaining shaving cream from my face and quickly get dressed. I promised Patty I would keep an eye on things while she showers and gets ready. The turkey is already in the oven because it’ll take about six hours to cook.

I walk out into the kitchen. “Baby, want me to peel the sweet potatoes for you?”

“That would be awesome. Thank you, honey. I'm going to take my shower and get ready. The turkey should be fine, but I need the potatoes and carrots peeled.”

“I'm on it. I'll have it done by the time you get out of the shower.”

I kiss her, and she heads off to get ready. Before I start peeling, I decide to send off a quick email to Officer Phillips to let him know about Patty’s concerns for tomorrow. I give him her website and tell him about the blog post she sent out. The blog post says which stores we will be at and asks her readers to stop by and see her. I end my text by telling him to have a nice Thanksgiving.

I find a bag to put the peels in and get to work on the potatoes. As I’m peeling, I notice she already has little napkins out with the appetizer plates for when our guests arrive.

After I've finished my job, I wash my hands and search for my girl to find out what else I can do to help. I find her in the bathroom pinning her hair out of her face. She already applied her makeup, and she's dressed in skinny jeans and a really nice maroon top. I love that she picked our clothes so we would match.

I step up behind her and kiss her behind her ear. “Baby, do you need me to do anything else?”

She smiles at me in the mirror and says, “Nope, I'm good for now, but I would like to take a selfie for our first Thanksgiving together.”

“Okay. Where do you want to take it? “

“I don't know, out there somewhere,” she says, using her chin to point toward the living room.

We decide to sit on the couch for our picture. She posts it online with the caption:

‘Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!’

“That’s a good picture of us.”

She says, “I thought so too. Hey, would you put on some nice music? Derek and Bella should be arriving soon.”

“Sure. Is there a specific channel you want?”

“Nah, I don’t really care. Choose something calm and soothing.”

I go through the stations and select the Simon and Garfunkel channel. It's music our parents appreciate, and Patty and I like a lot of the songs on that channel too.

When I walk into the kitchen, she's putting appetizers into the top of our double oven. There's a knock at the door, so I look through the peephole and see Derek’s big head. I open the door and our friends come in with the dessert they promised to bring. They wish us a happy Thanksgiving.

While I place the pie on the counter, the girls hug and say, “Hi.” Patty pulls her cell phone from her back pocket to take a few selfies of her and Bella.

“It smells really good in here,” Derek says as he gives her a hug and thanks us for the invite.

“Hey, man. Want a beer?” He gives me a worried look, but it’s gone in a second.

“Sure, I’ll have a beer.”

“Bella, I have wine in the fridge.”

Bella grabs a wine glass and helps herself to a glass of Moscato. Patty’s telling Bella all about our afternoon of bowling. She informs her that we plan on adding competitive bowling to our list of games.

“What did you do to this girl?” Bella says. “She went from sweet and innocent to tough and competitive.”

Derek laughs as the Bella and Patty talk about bowling and who will beat who.

A short time later, we’re laughing and having a good time when the buzzer rings on the oven. It’s time to take the appetizers out. She slips the sweet potatoes and carrots in next, then starts putting the appetizers on a platter when there’s a knock at the door.

Bella shouts, “I’ve got it.”

“Check the peephole!” I shout.

She looks. “It’s Sandra and Richard.” She opens the door to let them in.

“Hello, Bella, darling,” Sandra says as she walks into the apartment.

Sandra air kisses her cheeks. Then she turns to me and does the same. She introduces me to Richard and thanks me for having them. I walk them into the kitchen so Patty can greet her as she’s putting out shrimp cocktail. She kisses both her mother and her stepfather while I take their coats and hang them in my coat closet. When I return, Patty is pouring them a glass of wine and Bella is telling Sandra to try the mushroom caps.

“These are so good,” Bella says. She puts an arm around Patty and hugs her.

It’s really nice to see my place filling with family. There’s another knock at the door, and that will either be my parents or Patty’s father. When I check, I see it’s both. I open the door and welcome them in. Everyone's civil as they greet each other and wish one another a happy Thanksgiving. Patty is busy getting drinks while I hang coats.

“I’m going to show my mom and Richard the apartment.” Patty kisses me and walks away with them in tow.

Derek nudges me. “Is it me, or does Sandra look nervous?”

“I thought so too, but I don’t want to say anything because Patty really wants today to be perfect. She was so stressed yesterday about our first Thanksgiving together going off without a hitch.”

He shakes his head. “I hope, for Patty’s sake, she’s not up to no good.”

“Me too. Trust me, I’m keeping a close eye on her.”

Patty returns with her mother and stepfather. Her mother picks up her wine and, in a very snobby tone, she says, “This is nice place you have. I’m glad to see you have a doorman for security. I wanted Patty to have that, but she chose not to.” She sips her wine as she and Richard walk into the living room to have a seat together.

Patty is busy in the kitchen mixing the boiling potatoes and preparing the remaining side dishes. I can’t believe her mother doesn’t even offer to help.

My mother approaches Patty. “Dear, is there something I can do to help?”

“Thank you, Mia, but I’ve got it. I’m almost done. I need to take the turkey out in a few minutes and then throw the green beans and stuffing in to warm up. Then I’ll cook the biscuits when I take the sweet potatoes and carrots out of the top oven.”

“You’re good at this.” My mom winks and gives her a warm smile.

“I spent a lot of time watching Celia in the kitchen. I enjoy cooking, and as a child she taught me a lot about it. I’m glad I did, because now I can cook for my family.”

I can hear her mother mumbling about how Patty doesn’t belong in the kitchen and that Celia should be cooking. I roll my eyes and shake my head.

“Carter, can you give me a hand pulling this turkey out of the oven?” she calls from the kitchen.

“Of course, baby.”

I hurry into the kitchen and put the large oven mitts on my hands. Reaching into the oven, I carefully pull it out and place our huge turkey on the rack Patty has placed out on the counter.

“It’s perfect,” she says as she stares at it. The popper is up, and the skin is a beautiful golden brown. Patty places the casserole dish of green beans and a pan of stuffing into the lower oven to warm. After removing the sweet potatoes and carrots from the top oven, she puts the biscuits in the oven and then joins the conversation with our guests. My mom has gone to join Richard and Sandra in the living room. She’s making conversation with them since they’ve separated themselves from the group.

“Dad, will you take a picture of the four of us?” she asks, handing him the phone.

“Sure, pumpkin.”

He takes her phone. I stand on one side of Patty with Bella on the other side and Derek on the end. We all smile, and her father takes a few shots to make sure he gets a good one.

Patty takes my hand. “I’m going to have a glass of wine. Do you want to try a beer?”

I look at Derek, and he nods, offering his support.

“Sure, I’ll have one.”

Patty’s glowing as she pours herself a glass of wine and hands me a beer. She holds it up and says, “To new friends.” We all repeat it and clink glasses and bottles.

Troy approaches Patty. “Do you want me to carve the turkey?”

“That would be great, Daddy.”

She hands him a platter as she gets to work on pulling sides and biscuits out of the oven.

“Carter, come here, son. I’m going to show you how to properly carve a turkey. Someday this will be your job,” Troy calls to me, and I gladly walk over to get my turkey carving lesson.

A few minutes later, Patty announces that dinner is ready. The plates are on the counter, so everyone takes a plate and picks what they want. We were torn over whether to put the food on the table and do it family-style, but we decided that would be tight since Patty made so much food. There’s turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, glazed carrots, and green bean casserole. Plus, she has cranberry sauce, two types of pickles, and olives all out on the table. It all looks so good. I don’t even know where to start.

When everyone is seated, Patty and I stand at one end of the table. “We want to thank you all for joining us today,” I say. “Patty and I are very excited to have our first Thanksgiving together with all of you. We’re also happy to announce that Patty has informed her landlord that she will be moving in with me.”

Sandra gasps. “Don’t you two think it’s a little soon for that?”

“Actually, we don’t, especially with everything that’s been happening with Ben.”

Her stepfather wrinkles his brows. “What’s going on with Ben?”

“Hasn’t mother told you? He’s been stalking me. He broke into my apartment and keyed my car.”

He looks at her. “Why haven’t you told me? Are the police looking for him?”

“Mother, you told me you talked to him about the situation. I can’t believe you lied to me!”

I’m seeing red and I can tell Patty is too.

“It wasn’t a topic I wanted to discuss with the holidays here, so I had to tell you that.”

Her mother is on the verge of tears, and my poor parents are trying to figure out what to do.

Patty gives her mother a disgusted look before she says, “Excuse me. I need a minute to compose myself.”

She runs out of the room, and I feel awful because I can tell she’s on the verge of tears.

Bella stands. “For once, can you think of someone other than yourself?” She looks at me. “I’ll go check on her.” Bella storms out of the room.

Richard looks at Sandra. “What have you done?”

“Please, Richard, can we talk about this at home?”

“You better believe we will. You owe your daughter and all of these good people an apology for making dinner awkward.”

“I’m sorry everyone. I just wanted to enjoy dinner with my daughter.”

She shuts up after that, and everyone continues eating. I’m really hoping Bella can get Patty to come back into the dining room, but I have a feeling she’s embarrassed and won’t want to. I take another bite of my food as I look around at everyone eating in an uncomfortable silence.

My mom is the first to speak. She’s awesome. “This is really good. Patty did an excellent job.”

As she’s finishing her statement, Patty walks back into the room. “Thank you, Mia. I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

She takes her seat next to me. I lean in to kiss her. “I love you.”

“I love you too, honey. How is dinner?”

“It’s perfect.”

I sip my beer as she starts to eat.
She closes her eyes and moans.

I laugh. “Is it good, baby?”

“It is, if I do say so myself.” Her smile has returned, and it makes me so happy. Damn her mother for almost ruining our day.

My mom takes her empty plate into the kitchen to start cleaning up. Derek picks up his plate and helps clear the table as our guests finish their meals.

The table is almost cleared when Richard says, “Patty, I’m really sorry about how today went. Your mother and I are going to take off. We need to have a discussion about what’s going on. Clearly, she needs to fill me in on whatever it is she was supposed to tell me.” He looks at her with total disappointment. “Thank you for having us. I’ll call you next week to discuss this situation with Ben.”

Patty nods. “Thank you, Richard.”

They leave the room, and Sandra says absolutely nothing to Patty as she does. We all get to work cleaning up the leftovers. Patty packs some food for her father and my parents to take home. When the house is clean and the leftovers packed, we sit around the living room, catching up and enjoying dessert.