Page 53 of Priestly Sins

I want to say there are no airbags and she’s sitting two feet away and the same laws don’t apply here, but instead I let mother and daughter hug while I give Killian a hand shake and a slap on the back.

“How ya doin’, lad? Never mind. Better than las’ time, I see.” He nods at Sirona and grins.

Twenty-Eight

“We don’t have a turkey.” Sirona stands in the new kitchen staring at the barren refrigerator and the empty pantry.

“This is true.” What else do you say? We don’t have a turkey.

“What are we going to do?”

“Um, eat something else?” This is the all wrong answer.

“It’s Thanksgiving!”

“Ah.”

The replying stare means that, too, is the wrong answer.

“Ah? That’s what you’ve got to say?” Her hands fly to her hips and her eyebrows tell me that she expects a response.

“You’re cute when you’re all fired up. You know that?”

Her harrumph is accompanied by her eyes bugging and her arms flailing. No other sound comes out.

I laugh. I shouldn’t but I do, because seriously, she’s cute like this.

“I… But…” she sputters.

“What do you need?”

“Turkey!”

I laugh again. Her eyes slit and I laugh again.

“Okay, sweetheart. Turkey and what? I can go to the store. I can’t promise to find everything but I’ll look.”

“But it’s not ready and it’ll be too late when you get home.”

Aside from her sadness, I smile because ‘home’ on her lips is nice.

“Let’s see what we can do. Want me to get on my way and you can text me a list or want me to wait while you write one out?”

“But we don’t have anything.” She’s swinging the doors wide and pulling the drawers out to their full extension.

“Sirona? You know that toughness you’ve shown the whole time I’ve known you?”

She nods.

“Channel it for a second. How do we make this what you need? “

“A chicken, some potatoes, sweet potatoes and salad fixin’s.”

“On it.”

I lean down, kiss her cheek, and head for the garage. I dial Killian along the way. His old house phone ringing and ringing and ringing until I get a begrudging, “Aye.”

“Killian. We’re going to have some semblance of an American Thanksgiving. Hoping you’ll join us. Also hoping you have a chicken or, better yet, a turkey in your freezer.”