"Thank you, Daisy. It looks great, but what is it?" Kenna asked as she pointed to the plate in front of her.
"That is a Kentucky Hot Brown. It's an open-face turkey sandwich covered in a yummy rich Mornay sauce, then topped with bacon, tomato, and some parmesan cheese. Tradition around these parts. Thought it would be the perfect dinner for you tonight considering this is your new home."
Kenna felt her eyes start to sting. After an initial interrogation that stopped just short of waterboarding, Kenna was now being accepted as a true member of the community. She felt like she was finding a family again. "Thank you so much, Daisy. And you too, Violet. You all have made me feel so welcome."
"You just eat up now. We need to get some meat on your bones. And save room for dessert. Violet made you a bourbon pecan pie." Daisy gave her a wink and then hurried off to serve the other tables.
Kenna cut into the sandwich and took a bite. "Oh my God." She couldn't help it. It just slipped out as she chewed the first bite of the Hot Brown. "This is amazing. It's like a cheesy heart attack on a plate and worth every artery-clogging bite," she said as she popped another bite into her mouth. Paige laughed and they dug into their dinners.
They sat in a comfortable silence while they ate. But as they lingered over the pie, Kenna wanted to learn more about her new friend.
“You know all about my family. Tell me about yours.”
“My parents have a farm out in the country. I grew up helping harvest corn, soybeans, and a little tobacco. Went to school here, but then as any teenager thought I just had to get out of this town. It takes getting used to, people knowing all my business and everyone else’s, too. It wasn't until I was in L.A. at design school that I realized how much I missed it: the support of the people, the ribbing, the rivalries, and the community gatherings. It was my junior year and I sat in my dorm feeling lonely. It just hit me, how much I missed Kentucky. I missed church potlucks after the service, I missed everyone in town knowing who I was dating and giving me unwanted advice. I missed men opening doors for me." Paige gave a little laugh. "I was once walking to a building with a man on each side of me. Both looked to me to open this heavy metal garage door to the studio. One even asked me what's wrong and why I wasn't getting the door. I realized what I thought of as macho by my brothers and boyfriends was just good manners. I thought they were patronizing me when they offered to carry things for me, as if I couldn't do it myself. But out there, it hit me that it was done out of respect. I missed the food, too. I missed the farm and the open air. As a teenager it seemed like nothing but wasted space. Then, after two years in smog, I couldn't wait to run through fields again. So, I decided to load up on classes and I graduated by the end of my third year. Moved back here, designing clothes and hats for a couple of years, selling them at church functions or online before I saved enough to open my shop. And the rest is history, as they say."
"That's really amazing. How big a family do you have?"
"A big one. My parents still live in the main farmhouse. I have four older brothers and one younger brother. We're all two years apart, except for the youngest. He's three years younger than me. They all continued the farming tradition. The oldest, Miles, started a farming corporation and bought up land around my parents’ farm. He lives on the neighboring farm and is currently building a house there. Number two Marshall thought it was a good idea and bought some property to the south. He and numbers three and four, Cade and Cy, live there, even though they both bought property connected to either my parents’ farm or one of the brother’s. But Marshall’s place is the ultimate bachelor pad with the three of them there. Then Pierce is the baby. He's at UK getting his master's in agriculture."
"I can't imagine having that many brothers!"
"Even though they are all wildly overprotective, it was a lot of fun. They never let me get away with screaming and freaking out over spiders, worms, and muck. And boy, can I fight, swim, and throw mud with the best of them! They still laugh at the fact that I own this really girly shop yet have a rifle in the back of my truck," Paige snickered. "It's always fun to confuse men, isn't it? Speaking of men, I thought Will would be here. Have you talked to him at all?"
"No, I haven't talked to him. Tom did tell me that Will talked to him about hiring me. That's all I was hoping for, so I'm sure I won't be seeing him too much, especially with Whitney here to see him. I'm not the type of person to get in the middle of that. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be too busy setting up my own practice and studying for the bar to have time to worry about men and their intentions. So," raising her glass of ice tea, "here's to girls, their rifles, and law degrees."