The Color of Hope by Kim Cash Tate Read Free Book Online Page B

huh?”
    Libby laughed. “No, I’m not. I told you to your face that place was a mess.”
    “I’ll come over and clean it top to bottom for you and Marcus,” Aunt Gladys said.
    “Aunt Gladys!” Libby’s look chastised her aunt. “That’s their problem, people bailing out the poor bachelors. They need to learn how to clean for themselves.”
    Travis nodded at the pans in his arms. “You want to keep lecturing or get these puppies going?”
    Libby smiled. “Let’s head out.”
    “Holler if you need us,” her mom said.
    “We’ll be just fine,” Libby called back.
    They went to an area of the backyard in which her dad and Travis had set up a small outdoor fryer earlier, a few feet away from the humongous fryer being used for the fish.
    “Hey, look,” Libby said, “Dad’s got us ready to roll. Oil’s piping hot.”
    Travis set the pans on a card table and picked up a bag that was sitting on the grass.
    “Where’d that come from?” Libby asked.
    “I put it over here before I went in the house,” he said.
    Travis lifted something out of the bag. Libby wasn’t sure what it was until he slipped one part over his head and proceeded to tie the back. Then her eyes widened.
    “You bought a grilling apron?” Libby bit her lip. “You’re serious, huh?”
    “You think it’s funny?”
    She gave her head an emphatic shake. “Nope.”
    “Because if you start clowning me . . .”
    “Never.”
    “Good. Because you’ve got one too.” He took hers out of the bag. “Turn around.” Travis placed it over her head and tied the back. “Now we’re official.”
    Libby looked at him. “You didn’t have to do this, you know. Not just the aprons. Everything.”
    “I said I would help you this weekend, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Anyway, it’s partly selfish. My mouth is already watering for these hush puppies.”
    Janelle was walking by as he said it. “As long as you don’t get near the fish, we’re good.”
    Travis picked up the tongs and aimed them at her. “Don’t start, Janelle. You should be encouraging my budding skills.”
    “Whether they’re budding is yet to be seen.” She came closer,surveying their operation. “And actually, I’m wondering who sanctioned this idea of you and Libby cooking anything in mass amounts for actual people. It’s kind of scary.”
    “Everybody’s a naysayer.” Libby wagged her finger at her cousin. “You just wait. You’ll be fighting for seconds.”
    “Mm-hm.” Janelle gave them a pointed look. “I’ll give you this. You look cute in the matching aprons.”
    “You know it. Team Wood!” Travis bellowed.
    Libby’s dad heard and looked over. “That’s right!” He pumped a fist. “Team Wood!”
    Travis flexed his arms like he was entering a boxing ring, tongs still in hand.
    Libby laughed, taking in the moment. It was all in fun, but they hadn’t had this much fun in more than a decade. Much as she tried not to, her mind drifted to thoughts of whether the two of them could ever one day really be a team . . .
    “People are arriving in droves now,” he said.
    “Yeah, we’d better get moving. The good thing is it won’t take long.”
    Travis took the aluminum foil off of the first pan. “I think we’re good to go.”
    Libby was suddenly apprehensive. “Did you pray?”
    “Pray?”
    “Over the hush puppies, that they’d turn out delicious—and wouldn’t give anyone food poisoning.”
    Travis chuckled. “All right. Team Wood’ll huddle up.” He put an arm around her, and they bowed their heads. “Lord, you know the two of us can’t cook . . .”
    Libby smiled at the way he talked to God.
    “. . . but this task seemed easy enough even for us. I pray it turns out well, doesn’t make anybody sick . . . And thank You for the friendship Libby and I are building again after all these years. Amen.”
    Her stomach got butterflies. “Amen.”
    “Ready or not,” Travis said, lifting the tongs again.
    He placed several hush