Page 65 of Boston
“Kassie and Reggie are two minutes behind me,” Bryce said. “And I heard that Liesl is bringing one of her friends, so she’ll definitely need a big ole cowboy welcome out here.”
He thumped Harry on the bicep. “Oh, and I know you don’t check your family cousin texts, but Rosie said Cole got a job today, and that we need to make a big deal out of it.”
“Isn’t he on the cousin text too?” Harry asked.
“He’s worse at checking them than you are, brother.” Bryce grinned at him and then turned and went to the corner of the garage and down the sidewalk that led into the backyard.
Harry should follow him, but Kassie and Reggie pulled up in that moment, and fine. He could admit that he wanted everyone to feel extremely welcome at cousin night.
Reggie got out and opened the back door, where Harry expected him to bend in to get out their darling little girl. But instead, he emerged with a giant, three-foot tall bag of buttery popcorn.
“I got the good stuff,” Reggie said.
“Oh, man.” Harry mock groaned. “Now my sour grapes aren’t going to be nearly as special.” He moved over and gave Reggie a hug with Matthew between them. “Where’d you get that?”
“We stopped by Michelle’s coffee shop and got it,” Kassie said. She unclipped their baby and came around the front of the truck. Savannah and Matt were only a month apart, but Kassie and Reggie’s baby looked to be about half the size of Matthew.
“She called us and said we could stop by and get it if we wanted for tonight,” Reggie said. “I stopped for that.”
“Reggie said he was going to leave it in the truck.” Kassie gave him a look and continued toward the house.
“Liking popcorn is not a crime,” he called after her.
“Eating seventy-five gallons of it is,” she called back.
Harry couldn’t help laughing, and he looked at Reggie. “Seventy-five gallons? Do you think that’s how much is in that bag?”
Reggie shook his head and laughed. “I have no idea, but Ilovemovie theater popcorn.”
“You and me both, brother,” Harry said. “I think everyone’s headed around back.”
Reggie nodded, and he took his popcorn in the same direction that Bryce had gone.
Another sedan pulled into the driveway and Harry waved, then picked up Matthew’s hand and waved it for him at Beth who drove, and Liesl, who rode in the passenger seat, and another teenage girl with reddish brown hair in the backseat. They all waved back, and then Beth jumped out and came toward him.
“Can I take him?” she asked. “He is just the cutest baby alive.”
“Sure,” Harry said, and he slid Matthew into Beth’s arms. “How you doing, Beth?”
“Good.”
“You’re surviving a Wyoming summer and not being in Maryland?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Beth said with a sigh. “It would be easier to be there, I think, in some ways, but they don’t pay my housing, and I can’t really afford to live there without it.”
Harry was pretty sure her daddy would pay for anything she wanted, but Beth had always been practical and down to earth, even as a little child.
“Howdy, Harry,” Liesl said, and Harry drew his quieter cousin into a tight hug.
“Hey, Liesl, what have you been up to this summer?”
“Just a little bit of this and that,” she said, and she sounded so much like Uncle Gabe. He knew she worked a lot at her step-momma’s store, and when she wasn’t cataloging furniture, she helped Aunt Sterling with her accounting and website appointments.
“This is Hominy,” Liesl said as she stepped back.
“Howdy, Hominy,” Harry said. “So glad you could come tonight.”
“Me too,” Hominy said, her cheeks already turning a little bit red. Harry had dealt with a lot of people who had crushes on him. And though he wasn’t quite sure that that was what this was, it sure seemed like it.
