While Irene unpacked her suitcase, Olive sat on the corner of the bed with her legs pulled under, chatting with her sister and catching up.
“So, tell me about this guy you invited tomorrow?”Irene asked.
Heat flooded Olive’s face.“Argh!”
“Argh?Why Argh?”
“It was so spontaneous.”Olive covered her face with her hands.“We just finished chatting about Thanksgiving, and then he texted me, and I was sleepy, and I just invited him without thinking about it.”
Irene playfully shoved Olive’s shoulder.“It’s a good thing!I approve.”She slipped a dress onto a hanger and put it in the closet.“It’s been a long time since Bryan.Have you even gone out with anyone since then?”
She’d met Bryan at her father’s church when they were five.They didn’t attend the same schools, they had church, and their families spent a lot of time together growing up.He asked her out during their senior year of high school.As soon as they started dating, people around them talked about marriage.He encouraged her to apply for an ROTC scholarship with him, and they both received one.Once they got to Auburn University, something inside of him changed.He started partying, drinking, and the more he drank, the meaner he got.She broke up with him very quickly.He dropped out midway through their sophomore year.She had never seen him again.
“No.Well, a lunch or a coffee here and there, and then nothing.I mean, obviously, being surrounded by so many military men.I do get asked out.A lot, really.There was just never any desire to date anyone.I didn’t want any fraternization to affect me or my career.”She smiled.“There was this one doctor in Germany, though.I will admit I was tempted.”
Irene closed her empty suitcase and plopped on the bed.“I would be interested to hear about the man who almost made you break your own rules,” she said with a giggle.
Olive toyed with the end of her braid and told anecdotal stories about Germany.
An hour later, she left her sister getting ready for bed and moved quietly through the living room so as not to disturb her jet-lagged brother, Freddy.
Working nights for the last two months threw her off her sleep schedule.In her kitchen, she’d organized the dishes for tomorrow.She had grouped dry ingredients with their serving containers.On index cards inside each serving dish, she had listed required refrigeration and wet ingredients on one side and recipes on the other.She flipped the oven on and started on the pies.
Normally, when she cooked, she had music pumping through the speakers above the cupboards.In deference to her sleeping family, she slipped earbuds in and turned up the music.While she measured and poured, she danced and moved.
Just as she put a pumpkin pie into the oven, her back door opened and her mom came into the kitchen.Olive pulled the earbuds out.Her mom glanced at the organized ingredients on the counter.
“Oh, I was coming in to do the pumpkin pie myself.You beat me to it.”
Olive turned the kettle on and gestured at the collection of sugars and nuts next to a glass pie plate.“We still have to do the pecan.”She opened the fridge and pulled out the plastic-wrapped crust she’d made.“I made a double piecrust when I made the crust for the pumpkin.”
Her mom slipped on an apron.“Perfect.If you roll it out, I’ll mix the batter.”
They worked in silence and very quickly had the pecan pie in the oven as well.Olive poured them each a cup of herbal tea, and they sat at the little table.
“As much as I loved my time in the Army, I sure wish all my holidays could have been spent with you guys.I’m really happy you’re all here.”
Her mom rubbed her back.“You have a beautiful home.I’m glad you’re so happy here.”She blew on the surface of her tea.“I mean, obviously, I’d be happier if ‘here’ was in Alabama.”
Olive shook her head and chuckled.“Did Freddy ever have a second date with that one girl?”
Her mom shook her head.“No.They still work together, though.My understanding is there was no chemistry.”
“That’s too bad.He seemed to have high hopes.”
As if sensing their conversation, Freddy appeared in the kitchen doorway.His tousled red hair gave him a mischievous look.“Delicious smells woke me.”
Cinnamon and nutmeg swirled thick in the air, laced with the caramelizing sweetness of browning sugar from the oven.
“You’ve been asleep for hours,” Olive said, glancing at the clock and performing a quick calculation to determine her brother’s normal local time in the UK.“We were trying not to wake you.”
“I’ll be fine.It’s just jet lag.It’s mid-morning in London.”He joined them at the kitchen table.“I don’t mind getting woken up.I don’t get to see y’all very often.”
The timer for the pumpkin pie dinged.Olive checked it, pulled it out, and set it on a wire rack.
“Dad’s putting the turkey on the smoker at seven.What time did you tell your friend to come over?”
Nervous energy darted through Olive’s stomach at the ready agreement Jerry gave to her invitation.Why had she done that?“Uh, noon.He has duty at five, so we had to do early.”
