Chapter 37

Scott came three days later with enough bags to look like he was staying for six months. He was grinning though when Kashi's uncle called her into the house from where she'd been lounging outside in the bright sunshine, soaking up the last of it before Autumn's chill came in. Already the few trees dotting her uncle's ranch were turning shades of red, yellow, and orange in anticipation of Fall. Kashi liked the way they looked against the gold fields and the blue sky with its dotting of white clouds like baby sheep.

It had been a long while since she'd seen him. He finally outgrew the lanky teenage look he'd sported for many years even after entering his twenties. Scott looked just like their uncle Hudson, Kashi realized as she came in through the back door.

"Kashi! Good to see you!" He said, his voice echoing through the living area. He hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground to spin her in a circle. "Wow you've really grown up since I last saw you."

"Well it's been a few years." Kashi laughed as Scott set her back on her feet.

"Yeah but the last time I saw kashi, she had braces and those awful bangs that Sierra convinced you to let her cut and—"

She whacked him on the arm playfully, "You make it sound like I was the most awkward gangly thing around. I was part of the prom court junior year with those braces I'll have you know."

"Fine, I get it." he laughed, "I forgot how small this town is. Does the entire high school still go to prom, Kashi?"

She confirmed. The high school was so tiny, the upperclassmen didn't get a prom to themselves, there would be fifty people, so all four classes were invited. One year they had the eight graders come just to hit one hundred people. That was why Kashi had gone five times. She'd been invited by her boyfriend at the time anyway, who had promptly dumped her after a good three weeks of dating. She chuckled to herself. "Small town as ever. Maybe smaller."

"Well you came just in time for dinner." Auntie Cee said from the kitchen as she pulled a pan of pork from the oven. "I invited James and Felix. James said he'll drop Felix off, so he'll be here any moment."

Kashi watched as her uncle Hudson and Scott exchanged uneasy glances. She frowned. She didn't really know why Scott and her dad were angry with each other. While her dad and her uncle had a falling out, it had been a long time. It didn't sit well that they weren't all together. The last time they'd been happy… Kashi remembered a few times when they'd been on tentatively good terms at special events. There was a Christmas when Kashi was little that she remembered her uncle bringing over a peace offering in the form of Auntie Cee's pies and his first batch of home-brewed beer.

They'd clinked glasses and took long sips before her uncle started to choke on it and her dad grimaced hard, swallowing it. But they both laughed uproariously at the utter failure of the beer, her dad laughing so hard he was wiping tears from the corners of his eyes. But there was enough pie in the house to completely erase the taste of the beer. But all four children had been there, her mom, her dad, her uncle, and Auntie Cee. That was definitely her favorite Christmas.

Scott had taken her on a trail ride early that morning in the snow, her other two brothers not wanting to get up that early. They came back to waffles and heaps of bacon and scrambled eggs. It was the only food her dad knew how to make, but he was good at it, and her mom appreciated the chance to sleep in. The kids tore into their stockings being forced to wait until after breakfast to do so, celebrating the little trinkets and candies their parents put inside. That was the year the four of them pooled their money to buy their parents a new cribbage set with the coordinates of their house burned into the wood. It was still hanging on one of the walls of her dad's house, Kashi knew. Her mom and dad had been avid cribbage players. They'd been so excited to give it to them. Scott had gotten his driver's license so he'd come and taken them all to the general store where they special ordered the board from Mr. Tenners, a family friend of theirs. Looking back on it, the four of them definitely did not have enough money to pay for such a pretty gameboard. So in a way it was a gift from Tenners too.

"...You boys need to get over it though," Auntie Cee was saying, grunting as she lifted the heavy pan to the center of the dining room table. "I'm gonna be outside to see if I can't convince James to stay for dinner and not just leave Felix." She marched towards the front door, sliding her shoes on and shutting the door firmly behind her.

"I see she hasn't changed a bit." Scott said in an effort to lighten the mood."

"Not a bit." her uncle said, a smile creeping onto his face. "I knew she'd be a handful, but from the first date I knew she was a handful I'd never want to live without."

"Funny, she says the same about you." Kashi smirked, earning a laugh from both men and truly shattering the unease. "But it also goes along with stubborn, grouchy, sometimes smelly…" Kashi started listing items on her fingers.

"Alright, alright I get it!" Her uncle chuckled. "It's a wonder you two aren't related by blood. You're so similar."

Kashi chuckled. They did act similarly. But her Auntie Cee was a squat Welsh woman as pale as the moon with a short nose, and blue eyes. Kashi was lean, with brown sun-kissed skin, and dark brown eyes. They looked as different as could be. "Maybe I've been spending too much time with her."

They heard a car door slam. "I'm wondering if we should go out there and save dad from Auntie Cee. she'll drag him in by the ear if she has to."

But she came in with only Felix a moment later.

"Summer's mom brought me." Felix said, before running over to greet Scott. As annoyed as Felix had been with his brothers before, he certainly seemed excited to see one of them now.

Though they were missing Nathan and her dad, maybe the five of them could still have a good family meal.