Page 45 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice (Wayward Hollow #1)

Nic

“Oh my God, it smells like something is burning.” Lauren sprints past me to the kitchen right as the doorbell rings, a panicked singsong on her lips. “Don’t burn, don’t burn, please don’t buuuurn!”

“One second!” I shout toward the hallway.

Now where is …? Ah. Pumpkin is sprinting toward the couch, and I run after her, quickly scooping her up and making my way to the door while keeping her in a tight hold.

“Sorry to make you wait, but this little menace has turned into an escape artist,” I say with a grin, greeting Kieran with a hug, Caleb with a happy nod, and finally, my boyfriend with a kiss.

“Is something burning?” Kieran asks immediately, and I shrug, trying to keep Pumpkin from wriggling out of my hold. He’s holding a pie dish, and I can’t help but try to take a peek at what he brought to our Friendsgiving. I think it’s an apple pie. Nice.

“I don’t think so, but Lauren just stormed to the kitchen, so …”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Caleb mutters and immediately brushes past me, folding up his sleeves.

“Chaotic afternoon?” Henry asks with a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, and I nod, not able to avert my eyes from his lips.

“ A tiny little bit,” I say with a flirty grin. I kick the door closed behind him and set down Pumpkin before I walk up to him. My hands wander up his arms until I interlace my fingers behind his neck. “But what else is new?” I ask in a whisper, and he amusedly shakes his head.

“True,” he mumbles and leans down for a short kiss full of smiles before I let him go again and gently pat his shoulder.

“Go on inside. I’ll be right there.” But first, I get on my knees to greet my favorite husky. “Are you hungry already, my little hero?” I ask him in a baby voice, catching Henry staring at me from the corner of my eye. “What are you looking at?”

“Just you. On your knees,” he shoots me a wink, and my cheeks flush. “It’s hot.”

“You’re very hot from this angle too,” I admit, wiggling my eyebrows. “Maybe we should revisit this conversation later.”

He leans down, lifting my chin for one devouring kiss before he tears himself away with a sexy smile, winking at me over his shoulder as he continues to the kitchen.

“Damn. Your owner’s going to be the death of me,” I whisper to Jensen and lean my forehead against his.

He lets out one of his signature awoo-woos.

When I go to the kitchen, with Jensen following close behind, I find Lauren leaning her elbows on the kitchen island, watching Caleb with narrowed eyes and a pout on her face as he has taken over the stove.

“Everything was going fine,” she says, annoyance in her voice. “I swear I can cook.”

“Sure you can,” Caleb says over his shoulder placatingly, and I stop Lauren from reaching for an apple to throw at his head.

“God forbid I want a little crisp aroma to my mashed potatoes,” she mumbles under her breath and crosses her arms in front of her chest.

“ Mashed potatoes aren’t supposed to be crispy,” Kieran feels compelled to add, ducking right as she throws a tangerine at him.

“The recipe I’m using is begging to differ. And they’re my mashed potatoes. If you’re mean to me, I won’t share.” She narrows her eyes at him, and he lifts his hands in a defensive gesture as he puts the tangerine back where she took it from.

“Of course, I mean, what an interesting concept.” Sarcasm is dripping from his voice, and the grin on his face is only a tad too wide to be taken seriously.

Lauren opens her mouth to retort, but I quickly change the topic before this Friendsgiving ends in a fight about mashed potatoes.

“How’s the turkey coming along?”

We’ve never really celebrated Thanksgiving with our families, so this is the first time Lauren and I have set out to make a whole-ass turkey from scratch.

Well, minus the raising a turkey, slaughtering it, plucking its feathers, and removing the organs.

We spent days obsessing over recipes, watching tutorials on how to properly cook a turkey and what common mistakes to avoid.

Hell, I even bought a meat thermometer. I printed out the recipe, stuck it to my fridge with a magnet, and we followed it meticulously, step by step, along with a video tutorial.

“Let me check,” Henry says, giving my ass a quick squeeze as he walks past me, much to Lauren’s amusement.

“Get a room,” she whispers, and I only stick out my tongue at her.

“Honestly? It’s looking good,” Henry says, after sticking the thermometer into the bird. He’s much less squeamish about that than Lauren and I—one of the many perks of dating a vet.

“You sound surprised.” I narrow my eyes at him, and he quickly lifts his hands in surrender.

“Just pointing out the obvious, sweetheart.”

“ Sweetheart!” Lauren exclaims in a whisper and excitedly hits my shoulder with a force that makes me wince. “God, you two are so cute.”

“How much longer does it need?” Kieran asks, turning around as he tries to find a timer in the kitchen, but all the times we need to track are in Lauren’s phone.

“Turkey needs another ten minutes,” she explains and lifts herself off the kitchen counter to peek over Caleb’s shoulder.

“What else is on the menu?” Kieran wonders and peeks over Caleb’s other shoulder. “Anything we can help with?”

“There are mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, beans, stuffing,” Lauren enumerates, while Henry takes his favorite spot behind me, laying his chin on my shoulder and hugging me around the waist from behind.

“And there’s pumpkin pie, pecan pie, your apple pie, and some kind of strawberry tiramisu recipe I found online for dessert,” Lauren continues, eyes darting around the room.

“TikTok?” Kieran asks, with his eyebrow raised up to his hairline and Lauren nods solemnly.

“TikTok.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Caleb asks over his shoulder, the skepticism in his voice making Henry chuckle.

“That means it’s either going to be amazing,” Kieran starts.

“Or horrible,” Lauren adds with a giggle. “Then again, the ingredients didn’t make it sound disgusting, so we’ll see. I hope you all brought containers for leftovers.”

We shoot the shit for a few more minutes until her timers go off one by one. Then the guys play rock-paper-scissors on who has to get the turkey out of the oven without letting it fall.

Lauren and I shoot each other a knowing glance. It’s not as if this thing weighs thirty pounds. Even we managed to lift it without too much difficulty.

“ Be careful!” Kieran exclaims when Caleb pulls it out unceremoniously, but he only rolls his eyes as he sets the whole thing down on the kitchen island.

“Do I really look like I would let a turkey fall?”

Kieran’s eyes pointedly jump to his broad shoulders, and I catch Lauren staring at Caleb’s biceps.

“You’ve got a point,” both of them admit at the same time, and I shake my head at their antics. From the corner of my eye, I see Cinnamon sneaking closer to the kitchen door, eyes on the turkey, so I quickly rush everyone along.

“Come on, everyone. We set our Friendsgiving up in the living room.”

Lauren and I might have gone a little ham on the decoration.

It looks like an autumn-bomb exploded in my living room.

Garlands are hanging everywhere. The table’s set with little pumpkin decorations and orange bouquets, leaving just enough space for all the pots and dishes we’re bringing to the table in a food parade.

As we sit down, Jensen takes his usual spot by the window while he lets the evening sun shine on his pretty brown fur. Cinnamon is walking under our chairs, rubbing herself against our calves and shins, her miserable-sounding meow an indicator that she’s hoping for some scraps.

Meanwhile, Pumpkin is trying to climb up the leg of my pants. I scoop her up, press a kiss to the top of her head, and put her into a box that is high enough that she can’t jump or climb out of it.

“You’re going to jail, little one,” I coo to her as I set her down. “Because otherwise, you’re going to find a way to climb up the table to walk over our food. And Lauren and I worked too hard to have your little dirty paws in everything.”

“You’d think you don’t feed her with how she’s acting” Kieran points out with a chuckle when I return, and I roll my eyes.

“ God, you should hear her if her food is a minute late. She’s such a drama queen.”

I sit down next to Henry and Lauren, happy that the cooking portion of the day is finally over and we get to eat now.

“Can we please not do the thing where we go around the table and state what we’re thankful for?” Caleb asks gruffly, but Lauren’s eyes sparkle as if she hadn’t had that idea before.

“No, I think we should totally do that.”

“I’ll go first,” Kieran volunteers, eyes darting around the table solemnly. “This year, I’m thankful for new friendships.” Then he glances to his left, where Lauren is seated.

“That’s a good one.” She nods and taps her chin as she thinks. “I’m also thankful for new friendships, new strength and for this food.” She grins and turns toward Henry.

“I’m thankful for old friends”—he looks at Caleb—“new friends”—his eyes dart to Lauren and Kieran—“and the best girlfriend in the world.” He lifts my hand and presses a kiss to the back of it, making me blush and giggle nervously.

“I’m thankful for a new chapter, found family, and the best boyfriend I could ask for,” I add. I purse my lips for a kiss, which he happily gives me, even if it makes Kieran groan and Lauren whisper, “get a room.”

Finally, everyone looks at Caleb, who has his arms crossed in front of his chest, his expression anything but amused.

“You are all ridiculous,” he mumbles and shakes his head. “I’ve got nothing to add to that.”

I see Lauren open her mouth, probably to tease him, but I quickly shoot her a glare that makes her remain silent, though not without a pout.

“Fair enough,” I say pointedly. She narrows her eyes at me, but all her pouting is forgotten when I say, “Let’s eat before it gets cold.”

And as we eat a meal that turned out amazingly good, joking around and playfully fighting over the wishbone, a warm fills me fro m within. The feeling makes the smile on my face stretch wider and brings tears to my eyes.

A feeling of belonging.

A feeling of home. Of family and a future that is so damn bright, I wish I had it in my wildest dreams.

“What’s that?” Kieran asks, and everyone at the table suddenly goes silent. Lauren and I shoot each other a glance.

Kieran jumps up, trying to follow the scratching and whines. He comes to a stop right by my window front, his eyes widening.

“Nic, I don’t want to alarm you, but there are like three kittens out here. And a puppy.”

“Happy Thanksgiving, Chaos,” I say with a giggle as Henry jumps up to take a look at them.

And as everyone huddles around the adorable little creatures, cooing at them and already coming up with names, I know that this is my place.

Here in Wayward Hollow, with friends, animals, and a little ghost cat sneaking around my calves.

Thank you so much for reading A Love Like Pumpkin Spice!

I hope you enjoyed your time in Wayward Hollow!