Page 61 of Chef
“Yep. Turns out, the apple doesnt fall too far from the fucked up tree and they love my skills here.” I grin as I wave to Nell and River sitting on their porch watching Greer and Loyal’s girls playing together.
“You better not be trafficking people Sage Yvonne Landry.”
I roll my eyes. “Not that side of the fucked up tree. Sheesh, give me some credit.”
“Well, I’m not fucked up. I’ll have you know that me and your uncles are the normal part of the family tree. Even if we aren’t genetically related,” she huffs.
“Mom, it’s hard to not be related when your family tree is a fucking circle,” I reply drily. “Technically, we are cousins.”
“Yes but I had a wonderful mother and that dilutes the crazy.” Mom pauses a moment. “To be honest with you, I think your biological mom was a little crazy too, so in fairness, I’m amazed you aren’t even more fucked up.” I scoff as Mom cackles down the line, and I’m not even going to argue.
She’s not wrong. After what I did to Nathaniel, which let’s face it, was far more lenient than he deserved, I slept like a baby.
“Oh, baby, Tess is pooping on the damned floor. Have fun in church and we’ll talk later!”
Shaking my head I stare down at the black screen and huff out a laugh. A notification pops up and I tap to open it, finding a gif of a puppy dog with huge eyes and love hearts shooting out of its butt with Takoda’s message below it.
“Want to sit next to me at church? Y/N?”
I snort, typing back a Y and then jump a mile when I bump into someone.
“Whoa, you good?” Jason asks, hand hovering just above my arm.
“Oh yeah, shit, sorry, I didn’t see you.” I reply, shaking my head and taking a step back.
“Story of my life,” he huffs.
“Huh?”
“Oh,” he shrugs, “people don’t really notice me, much.”
I study him for a moment. Jason is built like a brick outhouse. “I don’t know how. You’re a pretty big thing to miss.”
Something passes over his face before he gives me a tight smile. “Have a good day, Sage.”
“Yeah,” I reply, watching as he walks away. “You too.” I frown after him for a moment, before shrugging it off.
I have places to be and Dex has started charging people for being late to church after TumTum and Flack had a wild hair about brewing their own beer for the BBQ Shack. Turns out those two like to taste test a little too often.
“There she is! Queen of the leather strap, wo-psshhh!” Damien says as I step into church, beelining for the empty seat next to Takoda.
“Hey babe,” he says, pressing his lips to mine.
I’ll never get over the butterflies I get from being around Takoda. Yeah he was a dumbass for a while there, but damn he more than made up for it. Every day I wake up knowing that there isn't a man on this earth who would love me better than Takoda.
“Aw look! She’s gone all gooey eyed.Again,”Joe teases, making high pitched kissy noises.
I cannot wait for her and Justice to get their shit together. When they do? I’m going to tease the shit out of her like she does to me.
Dex eyes the room, making sure we’re all here. The room is filled nicely with all the people who make the Keep what it is. A dysfunctional family of sometimes dumbasses with really big hearts.
The gavel slams down and Prez takes a seat. “First off, I just want to say how proud of you all I am. What happened the other day is the first of hopefully, not too many shit storms.”
“Good luck with that, Prez,” Flack says under his breath, but loud enough for us all to chuckle.
Dex glares at him before carrying on. “You all pulled together and I have to say, I wouldn’t want another crew at my back. Thank you all.” Hoots and hollers sound out while the men bangtheir fists on the table, only stopping when Dex holds a hand up. “Twins?”
Jay clears his throat, and I shuffle in my seat a little. I know that we’re about to be hit with some shit. Just not sure whether it’ll be good or not.
