---

Author's Note: Picture used with permission from *lavonia on deviantart.

---

 
Chapter 111
 

Jem… Chapter 111

Chapter 111

*Before…

There’s something so pretty about shy goth girl smiles.
We let her out of the van and I’m like… “Molly?”
“Yeah?” She’s looking at me.
“Grab your laundry.”
“Really?”
“Yeah really it’s free.”
Her eyes light up. Yep…I knew her place didn’t have a built in laundry.
She heads inside, I look at Rayne and she kills the engine and we all get out Rayne saying “We’ll help, grab your blankets too.”
The shy smile, the bunch of us getting out of the van doing this at like four-thirty in the morning all together after a gig.
This, I think I love all of this.

*And Now…

Molly is a little surprised and nervous about all of us coming with her and her place is well… It’s a rental house, like everyone renting the place together often done with students but like a lot of places like this because they’re students there’s this tendency for landlords to do as little as they have to.

Y’know…damned kids’ll wreck it anyway justification…or they’re too young to know any better about renting.

The place is run down. Not a complete garbage heap but nothing besides lawn mowing’s been done for years. We go inside and it’s not a whole lot better…though I’m going to say that’s a housekeeping thing.

It’s actually worse than my place when I moved in.

It makes my hands twitch…I got to actually fight the urge to clean.

I…oh my…I see the kitchen and the sink has dishes and so does the counter top and it’s that I’ll do them later.

I can smell ashtrays and butts in the living room. (Frown.)

And then there’s the garbage.

We separate things in town, green and blue bags and there is this pile…this pile of milk cartons and take out stuff and pizza boxes and a whole bunch of other things.

I bite my tongue because it’s not my house but honestly.

There should be Fraggles here asking questions in that corner.

I look at the girls and the only one that looks like this is like bugging them is Carmen.

I think Molly’s embarrassed and Rayne…she’s looking at me and she’s smiling.

“Bugging you?”

“Yes and the stereotypes too.”

Rayne just smirks. “Figured you’d say that.”

Molly’s room isn’t that small but she pretty much has everything she owns in there.

Like I thought…literally everything, not like a kid out on her own from her folks going to school but like someone who took everything she could and left.

Or fled.

It’s still though her room and there’s a lot of computer stuff including a lot of boxes of stuff, parts, salvaged stuff and a whole lot of boxes stacked up and the old standby of plastic milk crates and a lot of Rubbermaid things as well.

Everything else is her bed and a dresser and a desperately overstuffed closet.

She looks at us and she blushes. “Sorry I just don’t have a whole lot of space and stuff.”

I nod. “It’s cool it’s still your space.”

“Yeah but it’s still pretty bad.”

I shrug. “It could use an organizing hand and stuff but it’s doable.”

Molly looks at me. “Nooo…. You’re not cleaning up here.”

“Okay…can I leave the offer open?”

She sort of frowns but does look around. “Yeah okay…”

From then on it’s a look for bags and stuff and then it’s the laundry and stuff and I look at her. “Closet stuff too.”

“Most of that’s old stuff and stuff that I’m like using for winter and stuff.”

“You want to get rid of some of it?”

“Kinda but it’d suck to just throw it out.”

“We’ll take it and we can do stuff with whatever and fix other stuff and anything you really don’t want we can like donate.”

“Do stuff with?...fix?”

“………….My Aunt’s stuff’s still at the house and she had a sewing machine and all the fixings.”

“I don’t sew.”

Rayne nods. “Angel sews.”

I look at her. “No…I have sewn, I’m not like super good at it but I do know how to do it.”

“Like I said you sew, you’re a domestic goddess.” She leans over and she kisses me.

Molly’s looking and she does this sort of sigh and Carmen does a smaller one saying. “Yep…it’s nice to see the real deal but sucks when you don’t have it.”

I look at them. “Sorry.”

Carmen waves us off. “No…we’re just place wishing it’s cool.”

Molly nods but does a little blush again.

She’s crushing on Rayne and has been since the first SLB and I kinda don’t blame her.

But she does seem to be dealing with it.

I mean as Rayne leaves with her arms full of bags Molly gives me this little eye contact and a small little smile.

I small back too just enough to say we’re cool.

Hey, someone that you like ends up dating one of your friends all the time right?

I head out with my bags and I’m still fighting the urge to do or say something to clean the place up and Carmen and Molly are right behind me though and we get everything into the van.

Then we head home and Carmen and I just go into the house and check everything over and we get all the pre-done stuff and we head out again.

I get Rayne to stop at the Superstore (Canadian grocery chain.) since its open 24 hours and I head inside with the girls to get some other stuff.

Well Rayne and I while Molly and Carmen walk over to the Tim Horton’s in the parking lot’s far side.

Which is still good and since while I’m there I get some extra laundry stuff so Molly can’t complain and I get lots of those cheap plastic containers and whipping cream and a few other things like popcorn and chips and some pretzels but also some Butterfinger bars and the rest of the meal stuff that I want like green beans and mushrooms and fresh herbs and some more veggies and since I know that dad doesn’t or likely won’t have it waxed paper and cling wrap and tin foil.

Y’know I’m going to have to look around the house and see what Dad needs that Dad won’t think that he needs.

What’s really cool is it didn’t even burn through my share of the tip money from tonight and I got a ton of points on my card and since we have a discount on our gas from the groceries and stuff we pull the van around to the gas bar that’s part of the grocery chain and we fill up the van while it’s cheaper and we put it on the band’s credit card.

Molly and Carmen come back with a couple of boxes of doughnuts and stuff and coffees on a tray and some of the Tim’s stuff for brewing at home. I look at Carmen. She shrugged and smiles. “Fuck him; if he’s screwing me anyway I’m going to still get paid.”

I think about it….actually I’m not sure of that and stuff but she’s sort of right until he finds out that she’s with us and turns it off.

Hopefully things won’t turn ugly.

I don’t think he knows quite yet about us and what we’re doing past Mike being in town and stuff and that’s bad enough.

I nod and take my coffee. “Thanks…you know he’s going to cut you off once he figures out that you’re not turning up for y’know things.”

Carmen nods. “Right now, though Angel I don’t care. I just don’t…I’m so sick of him…of all of it.”

I give her a one armed hug.

I so need to talk to her and to talk to Bobby my RCMP guy.

We both share a deep breath and pack into the van and head for Dad’s and it’s actually like getting light by the time we’re pulling in and I didn’t even notice it but as we’re opening the van Billy and Davey pull in behind us on their bikes.

They’ve been shadowing us the whole time.

That’s…well I’m sure those are dodging the cops kind of skills but they were watching out for us and everything and that’s really cool.

More than cool it’s above and beyond really.

And I smile at then as we start taking stuff out and they walk calmly up and they take the heavy stuff from us and head into the house.

Davey does this rub the end of my nose with his knuckles. “We lift you…cook.”

That makes me smile.

It’s damned nice to have that feeling.

We all head into the house and do several trips but we’re all sort of there and stuff and everyone’s up and Rayne kisses me. “I’ll show then where the laundry is hon.”

Hon…yay…

I head in and get the stuff set up in the kitchen or unpacked and then before the laundry gets going I go and shower and the rest of us too.

I get changed while I’m at it and I slip into just yoga pants and an old concert tee from “The Renegades.” and I get my hair back with a bandana and a pair of comfy flats and then I head to the kitchen.

I do stop and check out what the boys have done and it’s a table in the old front room where the TV room and where we used to have the x-mas tree put up and it’s now the dining room with the china hutch in there and this big, big table. It actually looks like our old one but like they somehow made an much bigger insert for it and it’s been refinished so it all matches and dad got some other chairs there that sort of match it well they’re like two sets of dining room chairs from two different sets but they’ve been stripped and refinished to match the table.

I can imagine they did this in dad’s makeshift car painting booth out in the garage. I’m really smiling too because he thought ahead with all of us and all the people that might be here and stuff now that things have changed so much and my heart does another little skip and hop as on the floor dug out of storage is all of mom’s thanksgiving day stuff for the house.

Big smile and bite my lip happy almost tearing up yays.

So the very, very first thing I do is go and take out the bag of potpourri and I go and get some hot water and I get it going and set some in the kitchen and some in the new dining room and in the new living room and all over getting this scent of pumpkin pie spices and cedar drifting throughout the house.

I see dad with the big roaster. It’s the biggest one that we have and the turkey is huge and he’s setting it on the kitchen table.

I go and hug him and give him a kiss. “Everything looks great dad.”

He smiles. “We have a lot to be thankful for this year and I kind of want this…I kind of want the house to be that house your mom made it again…”

I hug him tighter because…yeah some of this is going to be great but there’s some of it that is going to kinda hurt too.

“Well I’m so planning on channeling her today.”

“You do that all the time kiddo.”

He gives me a super tight squeeze. “I’m going to get the barbeque going.”

“Good I have a turkey to stuff.”

And that’s not an understatement either there’s a lot to do and the bird comes first because it’s a twenty plus pound bird.

I get the potatoes all put on and the bread and sage and herb stuff we made and then get the ovens pre-heating and I dig out all of mom’s slow cookers and get them on the kitchen counter…I’m making extras…extra for here for our place since I’m cooking all day any way and stuff for Molly to take home and stuff.

I mean we’re going to be busy and stuff so I really might as well and I look through the deep freezes and take out a bunch of stuff and fill a big steel bowl with things and Rayne takes it from me and she kisses me again.

“You’re not going to stop today are you?”

“Probably but while we are doing stuff we really might as well do stuff.”

“Oh…no you mean you.”

“Okay….Rayne this is our first Thanksgiving together it’s my first as me and it’s one of my mom’s favorite things and….”

And she kisses me again. “And you’re really feeling it?”

I smile. “Yeah.”

“Okay but I will be hauling you away once in a while when everything is like going and stuff.”

“Please do.” I kiss her back.

She actually leaves and dad’s doing breakfast on the BBQ which is grilled toast and grilled bacon and grilled tomato slices and stuff. All the things that you can use to make BBQ grilled bacon sandwiches.

I drop off some stuff from the bowl and he looks at me. “Hamburger?”

“Deer I think and some of the sausages and here’s some hot dogs when you get that stuff done can you do those up too, the hamburger just needs some grill marks really and if you can grill me some onions too that would be cool.”

“What are you making?”

“I’m cooking and you have the grill going so the sausages and ground venison are going in chili for the slow cooker and the hot dogs are for baked beans.”

“Angel you don’t have to.”

“Actually dad I want to and it’s good for all of us and since the kitchen is going to be going full tilt all day I thought we might as well.”

He kisses my cheek. “Thank you.”

I grin at him. “Just bring me a sandwich when you get them done and don’t turn off the Q when it’s all done.”

“What else are you going to cook there?”

I grin. “Take out the top racks Dad and the roaster will fit in there and we can free up the bottom oven for other stuff.”

He nods. “That’s…that’s a good idea.”

I actually smile and skip back into the kitchen and dig out the rest of things like the food processor and the stand mixer and I start with the bread…I’m making bread and rolls so first thing is getting the dough made and to raise and proof.

I get bowls for that and I nuke some raisins in water while I’m doing that and once the first batch of white dough is done I make a second and add that with some egg yolks…yes I’m separating as I’m going because I’m making meringue for pies and stuff later but egg yolk…and the water from the raisins beaten until it’s thin and then the yeast and some brown sugar…yep I do up a batch of raisin brown bread.

Hey…I’m making baked beans.

And with that in mind I go into the pantry and dig out our pressure cooker and I dump the beans in that with water and get them going.

Seriously a huge cheat when you’re working with dried beans.

Bread getting ready I do the biscuit dough and pie crust next and Kimmie comes in drinking a Red bull and she looks like she’s ready to cook.

“Carmen’s helping Molly with her stuff Brook’s flaked out and Mike’s doing stuff with the stuff from the show and Rayne’s helping him I think.”

“So you want to lend a hand?”

“Yeah, I want to know how to do all of this stuff and it’d be cool if I can actually cook for like reals. I mean unless my little sister took a sudden interest in Home Ec over like her music studies and stuff I might be the only girl in my family who will actually know how to cook since like my grandmother.”

I nod. “Awesome, and it won’t hurt with the guys either.”

She shrugs but smiles. “Well there is that.”

I pass her an apron and yes I’m wearing one and I start explaining what I have going on and stuff and what we’re going to be making and stuff.

I explain as I go like why we do stuff the way that we do and why it works like buttermilk in biscuits helps them rise from the acid reacting with the baking powder in the self-rising flour and that we add a bit of sugar just to sweeten the dough and the salt to keep it from tasting flat comes from the grated salted butter we grate into it and we grate the butter because when all those little bit melt and stuff in the oven the trapped water vapor gives the dough even more loft.

Kim looks at me as we’ve got he biscuits rolled out and letting them set up and we’re starting the pie dough’s. “They don’t teach that in school, I mean it’s this recipe in Home Ec. And that one and don’t burn this but they don’t explain like why…it’s why I kind of sucked because I couldn’t get what I was doing wrong half the time.”

I grin. “I watched a lot of TV when I was in the hospital, and I liked the Food network stuff and so did mom. I kind of kept watching it sometimes even after. It all really helped too learning stuff after mom died too and it was just Dad and me.”

“You’re really good at it.”

“Thanks but I’ve been doing it a whole lot more too with all of you so it’s like I’m using it more so I’m remembering it more and checking out more stuff and reading mom’s recipe books.”

“My mom bought them for like show, like her kitchen had to have nice hardcover cookbooks.”

“Oh…no I meant this.”

And I go to my bag and I take out this palmtop sized spiral ringed notebook that you’d get at a dollar store and I show her. All these things in mom’s handwriting and stuff and stains and smudges and messy bits.

She’s looking at it really slowly and then she hugs me tight. “I’m so sorry!” (Sniffle.)

“Why?”

“Because your mom was like awesome!” (Sniffle.)

“Yeah she was.” (Sniffle…dammit.)

I wipe at my eyes and smile at her and we’re both rescued by Dad coming in with a platter of sandwiches for our breakfast.

“You two okay?”

Kimmie holds up the cookbook and Dad’s face softens and he goes over and he hugs us both after setting down the stuff.

It’s the Dadmazing hug.

The both arms around both of us and pulling us close to him and holding us really tight like with real love and with real strength. “God girls she’d love this.”

Then he kisses Kimmie on top of her head. “She’s have loved you too Kimberly.”

(Kimmie-sniffle-sob.) “Really…” and she buries her face in his side.

That’s…that my Dad….

It’s such an I’m so proud to be his daughter, so proud to see him being that guy I’m crying.

It last a few really powerful moments before Kimmie. (Snuffle.) “Is that bacon?”

We all laugh and he hugs us again. “Yes, yes it is I made you two some breakfast.”

She hugs him again. “You know you’re awesome right?”

He hugs us a little tighter. “No, but I’m damned lucky.”

He lets us go and he takes some of the sandwiches with him into the rest of the house and leaving us with ours and the stuff I needed grilled, done too.

I wipe at my eyes and look at Kim and smile and… “Just a second.”

I take the potatoes off and drain them in the sink and then get my sandwich. “Let’s take a break.”

We take our sandwiches out on the little brick side deck where the BBQ is and sit on the bench swing and we dig in.

Dad’s a Dad…some can cook great, some can bachelor cook but usually dads have a thing or things that they can cook really well.

Dad’s bacon sandwiches are one of those things.

It’s bread grilled and just lightly toasted on the grill but not enough to make the bread hard just sort of scrapy sounding when you put something on it.

That something is Dad’s bacon sandwich spread which is HP Sauce and Miracle Whip and A little stone ground mustard and then it’s just bacon done on the grill so it has those grill marks and it’s about three quarters crispy and slices of tomato that are sweet and soft because he grilled them and there’s black pepper on them and they’re juicy and there’s salt from the bacon and the smoke and then the sauce which is just right.

We’re both doing the foodgasmy yum-grunts as we’re eating and not like stereotypical girl bites nope we’re two handing them and our fingers are getting messy and we’re doing that suck and lick they clean because it’s that good thing.

It’s felt like forever since I’ve had one of these and I could make it a hundred times and it just wouldn’t be the same.

Kim’s like. “Wow…oh that was amazing…man my dad’s an asshole.”

I reach over and hug her and she grins and picks a piece of bacon off my apron and eats it. “I love this y’know Ange.”

“I know, you know you’re my best friend right?”

She looks at me. “I am?”

“Well yeah, I mean Rayne sure but her and I are lovers, me and you this all started with us.”

She grins and hops up from the swing. “Fucking cool…c’mon let’s do this.”

She offers me her hand and she pulls me off the swing and I kind of needed that because I had the I just ates.

We mash the potatoes up for the turkey…add in the sage and bread and summer savory to the mixture and stuff the turkey. One batch goes in the bird another in a corningware dish and that goes into the oven.

We take two whole bunches of celery and some carrots we’ve peeled and put them in the bottom of the big roaster and set the turkey on that and then take it out to the BBQ and I add in water and some chicken stock and some fresh thyme. We lid it and we let it go at full blast. I’ll turn down the heat in a few.

It’s the other stuff after that…panning bread and cutting out the biscuits and putting them in the oven. A lot of the veg and stuff’s done like the carrots and the turnips and the potatoes for the mashed potatoes but that’s all stuff you serve hot so what we are doing is…cranberry sauce.

Cooking some of the pie fillings like the pumpkin pie and the lemon pie filling and the coconut cream all needs to be done on the stove. The mincemeat Kimmie does the crusts and stuff for and we get those in because that’s already done and I made a lot of it.

One regular sized pie…and two dozen of those meat pies you buy in the store…mom save the tins because they’re bigger than tart tins and I make a dozen and those go right into a container and in the deepfreeze.

Dad can have those later and just take one out and pop it in the oven.

The other dozen go on baking sheets and I cook those right up.

My pumpkin pie is cheating it’s I’ll admit right out of the can and if I had thought about it I’d have liked to have made it fresh but I do cheat. It’s in the stand mixer with two cans of filling and some melted butter and some fresh nutmeg and I microwave two sweet potatoes. A sweet potato in the microwave won’t act like a regular potato it will get cooked through and it will get softer like after say five minutes give or take you can knife through it like butter.

And I scoop out the hot and kind of dry sweet potato into the mixer and turn it all on and after like three minutes I add a drizzle of molasses only like a table spoonful really and two eggs.

The eggs will help it set up in the oven and the molasses is just a flourish by me. It’s not brown sugar and it’s pretty strong a flavor and after I taste the filling it’s pretty good for like “Homemade.”

I put the beans off to cool and hit the steam release for the slow cooker and then go out and turn down the turkey to like medium.

Then… Apple pie…It’s just baking apples cut into wedges…just cut it into sixths and then… powdered gelatin and brown sugar and cinnamon and some all-spice all tossed together just lots and lots of apples, people like to get all pretty and fancy but you want a really good apple pie then you stuff it until no more apples…the sugar with the gelatin will have this whole glossy thing going on and you don’t want to cook the heck out of it.

But don’t put the top crust on it…bake it until you can stick a cake tested into the apples and you have like just a little bit of raw apple in the center of each bit. The take it out and put your crust dough on. Be careful because the pie’s hot but this way when you put it back inside the apples are done perfectly and not mush by the time the top’s brown and the bottom in cooked as it should be.

Then Lemon pie… I’ll confess I use the boxed mix for my lemon pie because it’s a really good base but I bump it up with uncolored frozen lemonade with the pulp. Because you get the little pulpy bits and it just works really well and an extra pack of gelatin because you want to make sure it sets up good that’s it really just really whisk the stuff so you don’t get clumps.

Then the Coconut cream pie… I’m making this sort of from scratch using Bird’s Custard Powder and I am using canned coconut milk…not coconut water but the milk stuff that you can get pretty much anywhere now and some real cream but I have sweetened shredded coconut from the baking section of the supermarket and I put it in the Magic Bullet I brought from home and I reduce it to powder. It’ll thicken it all up as the powder absorbs some of the moisture and it’ll boost the whole flavor too.

It smells really good, and Kim’s helping too she’s taking out baked stuff and putting in on the side boards and she’s putting in the breads and rolls and taking good care of the biscuits and watching everything so it doesn’t like burn.

She’s having fun and asking questions and she’s a huge help.

But one my lemon and coconut cream pies are done and baked we start the beans and the chili.

My baked beans are the ones from the slow cooker and dry mustard powder and brown sugar and some chopped dates. That’s it once they cook down I’ll chop up the grilled hot dogs but mine are pretty simple and I don’t add onion because some people don’t like it or can’t have it. Baked beans the real thing is time…and the slow cooker is perfect for that.

Chili…well that’s the grilled off venison burger and the sausages and a couple of cans of red and white kidney beans and a can of tomatoes but this I add the grilled onion to just because it’s chili and I think it’ll taste good and some chili powder and some BBQ sauce and I just let it cook too.

I look around and it’s just looking after everything now…some of the other stuff we’ll cook when it’s closer to the time for supper but now it’s just the baking and taking that stuff out and the new stuff in and stirring stuff.

Kim and I tidy up and we get a coffee and go out and basted to turkey some and them we head in to look for the everybody after the done baking comes out and the new goes in and I set my watch.

Dad’s in the office doing stuff and Mitch is somewhere as are Billy and Davey and Carmen’s with Molly in the laundry room which has a love seat from someplace in it now and they’re wrapped in a blanket and I get a sleepy nod from Carmen. Mike’s nowhere to be seen as well as Brooklyn so I can pretty much guess where they are or what they’re doing and Rayne’s on the couch semi dozing and watching TV.

Kim looks at me and she has he phone out. “I’m…going to go back to the kitchen and text Max and stuff…you go ahead and chill.”

I look at her. “You sure?”

She grins as I hear her get that little be-doop from her phone. “Yep I’m definitely sure.”

We do this girl fist bump and I walk over to Rayne slipping out of my apron and she smiles looking up at me and I sit down or slide down onto the couch and into her arms.

“Tired hon?”

“A little.”

She wraps her arms around me and pulls me into this snuggle…smells me… “Mmm…you smell awesome.”

“Thank you, I’m glad you approve.”

She kisses my neck and whisper nibbles my ear. “Definitely.”

“Yayness.”

“Mmm…you wanna take a nap?”

“Here? With you?”

“Mmm…hmm.” Oh I can literally feel the smile-curve of her lips on my skin.

“As long as you hold me and keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Done…I’ll hold you Angel as long as you ever want.”

…….. (Sleepy-happy-feeling-special-sigh.)