“Oh hear we go…” Colton got up from the table. “I’ll be outside.”
“Are both your parents still alive?” He nodded. “I bet they spoil her rotten.”
“Billy’s from a pretty big family.” Ian said. “He’s the eighth of twelve.”
“Twelve?” Tippy almost spit her food out.
“I only remember my Mom pregnant until I was well in to high school.” Billy started to take a drink but thought he’d wait just a while longer. “All but me and my younger sister, already have bushels of kids. At this point my parents think the grandkids are gnats they have to buy Christmas presents for.”
“And they’ve already get what five great grandkids?” Ian asked.
“Seven.” Billy told him. “Junie’s oldest just had twins. First in the family.”
“In a hundred years the Jarvis’s won’t be a family, they’ll be a minority.” Ian put a lid on a large chaffing pan. He looked at the clock and back to the table. “Okay, down to business. Breakfast is taken care of. Let’s talk lunch. Billy…”
He put down his fork. “I think those old refrigerator shelves will work, and Kellen found some more cinder blocks. So we’re good to go.”
“You have enough burlap bags?” Ian asked as he checked down his list.
“Eight of them. We shouldn’t need that many. All I need is an hour once I get the fire started.” He went back to finishing up his plate.
“I got the permit.” Reese added. “We got the corn ready last night. Jesse and I have set up all the rental stuff. You just need to come out and check it.”
“Oh, I already did.” Tippy said. “It looks just fine.” She picked some chocolate off a donut. “But I know the rules, you come out and check again. Do you need me to take the corn over to my house and boil it? I can do that when I go over for the cheesecakes and the rest of the desserts.”
“Thanks, Tippy, but no.” Ian checked a few more things off his list. “We’re going to roast it, the old fashioned way.”
“You can slaughter a pig and roast corn?” Tippy smiled.
“Well, yes, but the man who taught me how to roast it, is sitting right beside you. Why get an amateur when the pro is on the premises?”
Tippy looked at Billy. “I’m just gonna put this bluntly. If it doesn’t work out between you and Reese, I have another son.”
Billy looked up at Ian. “That’s comforting…I think I’ll run outside and see if there is anything else out there that needs to be done.”
“Okay, that leaves you two with me.” Ian said ripping out pages from his notebook for each of them.
Tippy and Reese cleaned up from breakfast, while Billy, Jesse and Colton helped moved furniture from the Shores backyard to Ian’s. Ronnie was on garbage detail, picking up whatever trails anyone left behind.
Tippy supervised where everything should go, and then Ian moved it. In plenty of time it looked as though there would be enough for a crowd of fifty or more to eat, relax and brainstorm in comfort.
Just before 9 am, Ian filled a large bowl full of Cheetos, while a protesting Tippy watched. He placed them on the table with everything else. When the first doorbell rang he was pleased to see Wella and Blake show up in jeans and tees. He smiled at Tippy as Wella made a beeline to the Cheetos and filled her plate full.
“A very wise and sexy Miss America once said during an interview a little poor boy watched on a friend’s TV—a good host always knows what their guests enjoy.” Ian boasted as he pranced past Tippy and opened a cabinet door that had been hiding two huge plates of chocolate doughnuts.
Tippy slitted her eyes. “You told me I ate them all!”
“And a wise farmer always knows where to hide the feed bag from the hog!” They laughed and finished up making Ian’s special potato salad. And the party began….
One by one Ian’s team trickled in, by ten o’clock almost everyone was there, many with dates, spouses or significant others. Ian was pleased that so many showed up and was delighted to meet their families. He was even more pleased that he had ‘family’ to introduce as well.
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