Page 65 of Loving Trent
Thirty-One
TRENT
“Come on, that’s bullshit,” Zak yells at the TV for the third time, and all of us fall silent. Waiting. When the sound of a spoon being slammed against the stove comes from the kitchen, a grin starts spreading on my face. Glancing around the room, I see the same grin on Emilee, Tiffani, Sammy, and Carly’s faces. I continue my look around the room and find Adam, Levi, and Parker shaking their heads and motioning for Zak to run, but he’s still staring at the TV. He is hyper-focused on the football game, and while he can’t help it thanks to his ADHD, that is about to get him in trouble.
“Zakary Haines,” Nana says calmly as she emerges from the kitchen. My eyes widen when I see that she is holding a wooden spoon in her hands. At least this isn’t the one she used to stuff the Turkey earlier this morning. I think.
We all watch as Zak finally pulls his attention away from the game. His eyes widen, and a second later, he’s off the couch, almost tripping over his feet in his race to get to the front door. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he says as the door opens before he can make it there. Boe quickly assesses the situation and moves out of the way.
My stomach muscles hurt from how hard I’m tensing them, trying not to laugh. When the wooden spoon goes sailing through the air and hits Zak right as he makes it through the door, we all lose it. Guess I wasn’t the only one holding in my laughter.
“I told you to watch that mouth of yours,” Nana scolds him, and we all laugh harder.
Levi leans over and tries to whisper, “As if her mouth isn’t just as bad.”
I quickly stand up because no one in this family knows how to whisper, and I’m not about to get hit if her aim is off. Adam has the same idea because he also quickly moves out of the way. Nana turns her icy blue eyes on Levi and rests her hands on her hips. Levi throws his hands up and says, “I’m just gonna…” right before he gets up and follows Zak out of the house.
Nana turns to Adam and Parker and says, “You two turn off that TV and take your butts outside. The girls are going to put the babies down for a nap, and I will be damned if you hooligans interrupt their naps.” Everyone listens to her instantly. Adam and Parker turn off the TV and then head outside. Emilee picks up her and Parker’s son, George, and heads outside, as he doesn’t really nap anymore. Tiffani, who was already carrying a sleeping baby Emily toward the main bedroom, turns around and continues on her way.
Carly looks at her and Adam’s older son, Adam Jr., and asks, “Do you think you could be a big boy and carry Faith for me?” He nods and picks up his sleeping sister as Carly picks up Faith’s twin, Hope. Sammy stands up with Axel and follows Carly out of the living room.
Nana looks at Boe, and I guess she didn’t notice him because her eyes light up. “Oh, Boe, you made it. Bring those pies over here, and then you and Trent can help me make biscuits,” she says before leaving us behind.
I look over at him, shrug my shoulders, and nod toward the kitchen. “Where’s your mom?” I ask as I push up my sleeves in preparation.
“Harley, Dylan, and Sadie stole her away as soon as we got here,” Boe says as he sets the pies down and copies my movements with his shirt. “They were all excited about Harley’s school dance coming up and wanted to show her a dress.”
I grunt and stare at the counter at the reminder of Harley’s dance. Stupid Andie Wright. “Trent,” Nana’s hand comes down on my arm. “Are you okay? You just growled at the bowl of flour.”
Boe chuckles, and I want to punch him in his face. “He’s just mad because a boy asked Harley to go with him to the dance.”
I stop giving the flour my death glare and train it on him instead. Nana chuckles and says, “I didn’t know you boys had met before.”
Boe grins at me before moving closer. He slaps a hand on my back and says, “Yeah, Shawn brought him and Harley over yesterday to help Mom make the pies. We got to know each other.”
Got to know each other!More like he grilled me for thirty minutes about my intentions with Shawn. I swear he was worse than any of the Hills, but after he told me about some guys that used to work with him on Shawn’s building, I got it. I guess two guys said some homophobic things toward Shawn and Boe handled them. Boe said he wanted to make sure that whoever Shawn was with could handle things. I didn’t hide the truth from him and told him what I did to Shawn’s ex. After that, we slipped into conversations about him and growing up on a ranch.
“That’s amazing. I’m so glad that all my children are friends,” Nana says before placing another bowl of flour on the counter. “Now this is how you make my biscuits, and you better not mess it up.”
Twenty minutes later, at least fifty biscuits are cut and waiting to go into the oven. Boe excuses himself to check on his mom. I have to say that I get why Shawn and he became fast friends. He is a pretty fantastic guy who will give you the shirt off his back and deserves the world, which is why I ask Nana, “So how was your most recent trip?”
She got home from somewhere yesterday but won’t tell anyone about where she went. Everyone is almost certain that she is going to see Bec, the girl that Boe is in love with, but fucked it all up when he hid the fact that he was poor and about to lose his home to the bank. When Bec found out and wanted to help, Boe didn’t take that too well and blew everything up.
Nana is checking the turkey in the oven as she says, “It was amazing, but I’m glad to be back home just in time for the holiday.” While she is saying that it was terrific, I pick up on a hint of sadness. But before I can push her, she shuts the oven door and spins around, pinning me with a stare that has the hair on my arms standing up and the urge to run like Zak did clawing up my legs. “But I don’t want to talk about me. I want to talk about you.”
“What about me?” Those claws sink deeper as my stomach churns violently.
Nana leans against the sink, opposite me, and crosses her arms. “When you have as many children as I do, you develop this skill of picking up when one of them is struggling. Now it might have failed me in the past, but I’ve learned how to listen to it since then, and right now it’s screaming that something is going on with you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m an open book.”
I’m really not, but she knows enough about my history that I’m sure she has put two and two together and got that I’m damaged. The front door opens, and the sound of laughter filters through. Even though there is a mass of people outside huddlingaround a fire that Adam built, I still pick up on three individual laughs. Shawn’s deep laugh. Harley’s little giggle. Lastly, Betty’s snorting laugh, which she has had since she was little.
Uncle Joey shuts the door, and our gazes collide. I guess he sees something in mine that worries him because he heads straight toward us and wraps his arms around me. “What’s wrong?” he whispers in my ear, and I lose it for the first time in his presence. I don’t know what is different about this situation, but I can’t regain my control over my emotions. My hands grip his shirt. I pull him closer, and tears stream down my face, landing on his neck. His big hands rub my back as he continues reassuring me that everything will be okay.
That’s the problem, I know it is. For the first time in my entire life, I’m surrounded by a huge family that wants me around. Almost everyone, minus Nana and Mrs. Aldridge, knows my story. Yes, I told Boe yesterday, and just like the rest, it didn’t change how he saw me. I feel it, their love, and it’s overwhelming. Thanksgiving with Josiah and Eve was nothing like this. We didn’t celebrate any holiday, not even Christmas. The same thing happened when I was at camp. I didn’t have a real holiday until I was with Uncle Joey. He made it as memorable as possible, but something was always missing. The rest of our family. We were both outcasts. The unloved members. The family that no one wanted. But here with the Hills we’re wanted, loved, and cared for, and it's too overwhelming for me.
“Trent,” Nana’s voice is soft and thick as she wraps her arms around my waist. “Tell me so I can make it better.”
