Page 58 of Red Hot Roaster

I heaved the big-ass turkey into the space I’d made in the Chocolate Lab’s refrigerator and turned around to face Mateo. I’d already found a place for the smoked ham on a lower shelf. Bottles of white wine were chilling in another part of the fridge, and red wine sat on the adjacent counter.

The wines for Thanksgiving were courtesy of Jean-Luc, no surprise. The turkey and ham were my contribution to the cause…and a surprise for Rose. I’d volunteered to pick up the preordered meats from the butcher shop today to free up their coolers for other orders.

Actually, I’d voluntoldRose I’d do pickup duty for a couple of reasons. The brakes had been feeling mushy on her POS car—an easy fix, but it would need to wait until next week. I also wanted to avoid a debate about who was paying for this part of the Thanksgiving dinner.

“Hey, brother, nothing much. Just storing the bulky things here rather than in Rose’s fridge at home. She said she’d retrieve the turkey early Thursday morning when she has her mamma’s stuffing ready.”

“Yeah, you haven’t lived until you’ve had Mrs. Connolly’s cornbread and sausage stuffing. Well, I guess it’s Rose’s recipe now—right?” Mateo raised an eyebrow. “You better get ready, man.”

“Ready? Ready for what?” I’d only had turkey day dinner in the mess hall before, my life lacking big family holiday gatherings.

“For the crowd at Rose’s for Thanksgiving. Upward of twenty-five people—and that’s not counting the dogs. Everybody brings something. They add leaves to the dining table so they can keep adults and kiddos together. We’ve been coming for years, even before Papá died. They take everyone in—family, friends, orphans who don’t have family around. That’s how Jean-Luc got invited the first time. I heard Pete’s coming this year too.”

That’s right. Pete had mentioned that his daughter and grandkids were going to the in-laws, and he didn’t want to drive back and forth to Seattle. He’d see them all here for Christmas.

“Thanks for the heads-up. Rose gave me setup duty for the night before, and now I know what that means. She also said Finn’s in charge of peeling and mashing the potatoes. Sounds like KP duty to me.”

We smirked at each, remembering our early days of KP in the army.

“Do you want to hit Hair of the Dog tonight with Jean-Luc and me?” I asked. “We’re heading there about seven-thirty for some pizza and beers.”

“What? You’re not staying around to have dinner with Rose and her boy?”

“Nope. That’s a family reunion. I’m not part of that.”

I must have sounded a little abrupt. Mateo narrowed his eyes at me.

“Oh. Sorry. I thought that since you’ve been staying with Rose—”

I cut him off. “We’ve been keeping that on the down low, at least from Finn. He still believes I’m living in the garage apartment. In fact, I moved back there this morning.”

If Mateo picked up anything from my borderline rudeness, he was decent enough not to say so. “No worries—I can keep a secret. And yeah, I’ll join you guys around nine. Gotta close up here tonight since Rose will be spending time with Finn and Lauren. Save some pizza for me.”

I gave a chin lift and walked down the hallway to start the afternoon’s roasting.

On cue, all three of us pushed back from our table. The top was littered with pizza scraps and empties.

“I’m out,” said Mateo. “I gotta get up early to open the café.”

Jean-Luc nodded. “Me too. Seems like tout le monde decided to pick up wine orders for Thanksgiving a day early.”

“Yeah,” I added. “I’ve got a full day of roasting ahead.”And I’m gonna take both dogs out for their last walk of the day.

I didn’t say that part out loud. Neither of the guys knew that Rose and I had been walking Princess and Pirate together most every evening for the last two months. It wasn’t a secret so much—doing it more for Rose’s safety than anything else. But still…our private thing.

Tonight I was taking the dogs out by myself. Rose had called earlier to say Finn and Lauren had arrived and to ask—again—if I’d like to join them for dinner. Again, I’d said no, probably too forcefully.Didn’t feel entitled to be part of the homecoming celebration.

She’d said she wanted to take her girl out for drinks afterward to catch up, and Finn was meeting old high school friends somewhere. To not sound like a total sad sack asshole, I’d offered to take the dogs for their late-night walk.

Outside the pub, Mateo headed one way toward his place, Jean-Luc and I the other way. Jean-Luc lived over his wine shop for now and said he’d be looking for a house in the neighborhood when he got around to it.

I thought he was going to ask about Lauren again, but instead he said, “What’s up, Rafe?”

He was my age, maybe a little younger, and wary of me until we’d gotten to know each other better. I didn’t share a lot and neither did he—we were guys, we didn’t spill our guts—but I sensed he had trouble in his history too.

When I hesitated, he repeated the question with a different spin, “Are you returning to la belle Rose after your time in Boise?”

Fuck. Not the roastery, but Rose. Was I that obvious?

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