Tennessee Whiskey AU

CHAPTER FORTY NINE

"You are the air I'm breathing, girl. You are the light I want to see. You're all of everything to me. You are the reasons that I am."

Scarlett's POV

Why the hell did I agree to this. My beautiful kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off. Too many hands do not make light work, more like too many cooks spoil the broth at this point. This is chaos, and nowhere near organised. I need to get this shit under control as soon as possible. With my check list in hand, I move through the kitchen putting everyone into groups of two. I then give each pair laminated sheets of what needs to be done and when. I group Jay with Connor and set them on the spicy rice. Next, I pair Haley with Jase, he wanted to be put to work. I just hope he is better in the kitchen than he was at dancing. I give them the cards for the BBQ chicken and the chicken wings, figuring they should be able to do the two together easy enough. I pair Chris with Rob, I'm hoping Chris' mature attitude can rub off on Rob slightly, or at least calm that little shit down a little. I give them the tasks of marinating the ribs and because that won't take too long I'm also entrusting them to do the Mac N Cheese. I stick Ollie with Louisa, she's probably the only chance I have of keeping him under control and not eat more than he makes. Caleb, Chloe, and Erin are over at the barn setting up the hog roast, making cocktails and setting up what's left to do over there. I give them the task of the chilli, it's something Louisa has helped me with before so she should be ok, even with the distraction that is Ollie. Looking around I see the only two left are Leo and Steve. I can only see this ending badly. Putting these pair of jokers together seems like a recipe for disaster. I going with the potato salad, it should be easy enough that even Leo can't mess it up. The kitchen is not a comfortable place for him. That leaves Sue, Andre and me. We all work regularly together, Sue cooks a lot for all of us and helps out here when needed. Andre has been my sous chef for the past two years and we work really well together. Sue is working on the pork for our pulled pork, she's stuffing jalapenos and also working on the baked mozzarella sticks. Andre is working on the meatloaf, and once that's in the oven, he is going to finish off the desserts I made yesterday. I'm going to be between the two sites, over at the barn making sure everything is ok for the BBQ that will cook the last few bits such as the corn and baked potatoes when the party is in full swing, while back in the kitchen I have prawns to marinate and pasta dishes to make.

Andre is coming to the party late while he runs all this for us along with some staff we have hired. They will take everything over while we are getting ready.

A couple of hours later and I think we have near enough done, we just have a few salads and easy last-minute things to do. Maybe we aren't in too bad a shape after all. Why do I feel like I've forgot something? Like I'm missing something important. I've more ahead of schedule than I though. I've even made garlic bread swirls and coleslaw. I've also had time to make pork pies and sausage rolls. I guess they are more British kind of dishes, but I've made them a few times for these guys, and they seem to love them, so I thought why not. There will also be some finger sandwiches and smoked salmon. A good mix between a hot buffet, more American style and a cold buffet which is more English style. A healthy mix of the two. Four of us are British after all. I decide to leave people to their work, have a bit of faith and trust in them all. This is just as important to them as it is to me. I take a deep breath and try to let some of the stress and control issues leave my body, as I make a late lunch for everyone. Working through the check list has made me hungry. The life of a chef. Surrounded by food but you can't eat any of it.

Jensen's POV

Watching Scarlett take control is always a huge turn on for me, but this is something different. Watching her take charge, put us all into groups. Tell everyone what to do. She's more patient than I thought she'd be. She gives us clear instructions on what we have to do. The look she gave Leo after he made a comment about the laminated sheets with step-by-step directions on has the rest of us keeping our mouths shut. As much as Leo joked, they are actually really helpful. I'm sure even us lot can't mess this up too much. Connor and I have spicy rice. Apparently, it's one of the longest to cook as we have to make something called a base stock first. We've added all the spices in the right measures it told us to but it doesn't taste like the one we ate yesterday. We decide to tuck our tails between our legs and ask for help. She's a lot nicer than I expected her to be considering I think we've fucked up. She adds a few things and declares that should be ok. It does taste better, I have no clue how or what she did it.

"Hey, is this like a lot of the stuff we had last night?"

"Yeah, sort of except more of it, plus a few other things and a cold selection." She answers.

"The brisket was my favourite, is there going to be any of that tonight?" I asked already tasting how delicious it was.

"Shit, that's what I've forgot," and off she flies talking to her sous chef Andre. He seems like a nice enough kid. Not sure I like the way he looks at my girl though.

Connor and I work well together. He's not someone I've spent a lot of time with, but he seems cool enough. I even like the way he makes it clear if I fuck this up, he will put me in a world of pain. Apparently, he has three sisters even if only two are bio-logical ones. We talk about their past a little bit. I didn't realise they had all grown up together in England. How close they were with Sue and Scar's mom being best friends. I think both families felt the loss when they had to move here. Not that any of them would change how it turned out. It warms my heart how these people are with Scarlett. Watching them all joke and mess around while we eat lunch. There's so much love in this bunch. They aren't friends. These people are family. Seeing how they interact with each other. It's how me and my siblings are together.

It something that keeps running through my head as we go to get ready, us guys are getting ready at Scar's house while the girls are getting ready at the big house. So, I don't even get to see my girl until we see them all at the party. As I look at the guys waiting together before it's time to leave my thoughts return to their previous destination. I am fairly sure none of them know details of what she's been through. I'm guessing they know something happened but no details. I know Erin and Rob know a lot of it. Not all but most. No matter who knows what, all of them, every single one would fight for her. It's nice to know she's safe, when I can't be here with her, when she's out in the world, she always has someone she can rely on even when things get dark. I have no idea what distracted her earlier, I hope one day she will let me in completely. That all these obstacles and barricades she has around her heart will fall. When that day comes, I will ask her to marry me. That thought should horrify me, the ultimate commitment from the ultimate commitment phobe. It could take a week, or I could be waiting forever.