Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Cam was so ready for all these little girls to go to sleep. Or at least to settle in and pretend to sleep while they watched a movie.
The Juniors from the Girl Scout troop numbered seven, plus the twins, Bethany and Brittany, and then Teresa was there with Sarah, and Rachel had picked one cousin, Hannah, to come as well.
Eleven girls all together, not including their three.
There had been pizza, and hot chocolate, and a caramel apple “bar”, and now movies.
Fuck Cam was tired, and he wasn’t sure he’d make it to midnight…
Mark plopped down next to him, face covered in makeup, hair standing up, and glittering and spiky. “I need beer.”
He grinned over. “I don’t know if we’re allowed to have beer.”
“Hey. Listen, man, you’re on pain pills. But I get a fucking beer. I took a hit for the team.”
Cam had to go with that because he detected no lies. “What’s Mitch up to?”
Mark beamed at him. “I think he’s currently setting up three different TVs with three different sets of movies. There is the we-like-cartoons set. There is the we’re-thinking-about-liking-boys set. And then there’s the we-like-to-scare-the-pants-off-of-everybody-we-meet set.”
“Does he need help?” He’d gotten about halfway up when Mark eased him back down.
“No, no. He’s got this. He is in his element. Little girls everywhere, swinging from the ceiling. It’s like that damn Annie movie. He lives for this shit. I’ve never seen him so happy.”
Cam looked over and said, “You think so?” God, he wanted to believe that.
“Are you kidding? He’s got you here. He’s got me here.
” Mark grinned outrageously. “He’s feeling good physically.
He’s got his girls, and they’re having friends over.
He got to be the dad—the cool dad—who provided makeup and chocolate and sticky shit.
And now he gets to be the cool dad who lets them stay up till midnight and see the ball drop. This is a man in his element.”
“Oh Lord. And this is just beginning. They had at least another thirteen years of this nonsense.
It was going to be amazing.
“So what about you, man? You doing okay?” Cam asked.
Mark nodded, bobbing along to music only he could hear. “Yeah, yeah, I’m doing good. After the first of the year, though, I got something to discuss with you.”
“You do?” Cam stared at Mark, a horrible thought popping up. “I’m going to be clear here— we’re not sharing Mitch, and I’m not interested in having a threesome with you. I’m totally a monogamist.”
Mark gave him the hairy eyeball. “One, eww. Two, eww, and three…look, dude, if I wanted to do the nasty with Mitch, I had way more opportunity than you ever did.”
He cracked up, holding his good arm out in surrender. “Okay, okay, so what is it?”
“Actually, it’s a business proposition.”
“A what?”
Mark frowned at him, eyebrows drawing together. “You know, business—that thing that you do that makes money.”
“Don’t make me kill you.” Cam rolled his eyes. “What kind of business could you and I possibly collaborate on?” Mark was an engineer and he was a broke-dick roper.
“Well, you know how I drove your trailer back and everything?”
He nodded. He’d heard about it.
A lot.
“I’ve been working on this thing, and I went out and altered the trailer.”
Wait. What was “messed with”? “You did what?”
“I altered your trailer. Sort of significantly. It’s okay, I can put it back if you hate it. I have a torch.”
He stared hard. “How on earth did you alter it?”
Mark shrugged. “I found a hitch that’s going to be way easier to use, but also I found a way to make it where the back just opens out, and it’s sturdy enough for the horses to walk down.”
“No shit? Just like a ramp, and it’s sturdy and safe?”
Mark’s eyes lit up as he nodded. “Yeah, we tested it — not on your good horses, but we tested it with a cow — and it worked. I think that we could totally sell trailers and have them made, but more importantly, I think that we could start a business where we fit existing trailers either with this new kind of hitch which gives you a lot more control without requiring you have a gooseneck hitch in your truck and/or the accessory for the fold-down gate. Something that is affordable for just people, ranchers, not million-dollar cowboys who don’t have two hundred thousand dollars to spend on a trailer. ”
He frowned at Mark. “But what could you possibly need me for? I’m no engineer or machinist, to be honest.”
“Dude, what I need from you is cred. You’ll be the dude who’d go with me to the shows and says, ‘I’m a cowboy, I do rodeo, I know horses.’ In the trailer, out of the trailer, in the trailer, out of the trailer.”
“So basically, you’re going to hire me to be a pretty face?” Cam didn’t know if he liked that.
“Oh no, no, we’re going to go into business together, and you’re going to be the frontman.
I’m going to be the talented musician in the band.
I need not your cowboy-tude, but your knowledge of the market and where to go to show it off.
” Mark nodded, his smile growing bigger and bigger.
“Because I’m staying. I put my house on the market in Denver.
I had a bad time there, and it was time to come back here. ”
He didn’t know the exact how-it-worked details, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to, but Cam got it. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here until you find a place. Everybody is going to be excited to have their Uncle Mark around.”
“Thanks, man. I need a shower. And a beer. Then I spell you and Mitch until the ball drop, if you want.”
“Ooh, adult time. That sounds amazing.”
He wouldn’t say they hadn’t had any alone time in the last week, because he’d had two hand jobs and a blowjob in the shower that had damn near killed him.
But one thing he would say is that being a stepdad-slash-father-figure-slash-Daddy Cam—whatever it was that he was—meant that unless they were in their bedroom and the door was closed, they were available for public consumption.
And they did a lot of their happy adult stuff in the shower, because the door could be locked there, not shut…
“Daddy Cam.” Rachel came to climb in his lap, so careful. She leaned on the good side of his chest. “Would you be mad if I went to bed? Hannah is already asleep.”
“Why would I be mad at you, baby girl? If you want to go to bed, you can. Or if you want to lay on the couch with Hannah, and we’ll just cover you both up, and you can do that too.
Or I can even…your Daddy can probably pick up Hannah and put you both in the bed.
” There was no way he could risk picking her up.
Not when everything was knitting back together.
She pursed her lips, her eyes damp. “I wanted to three-two-one Happy New Year, though.”
Oh, no tears. “Hey, you and me, we could just three-two-one Happy New Year right now.”
“Oh!” She lit up for him, and he felt about ten thousand feet tall. “Does that count?”
He nodded. “It absolutely counts.”
She grinned like he was something magical. “Okay.” She grabbed his hand in both of hers and looked deep into his eyes. “Are you ready? Do we start at five?”
“Let’s start at ten.” He knew she was trying desperately to learn her numbers.
“Okay. Ten, nine, eight.”
He counted with her, and so did Mark. “Seven, six.”
And then suddenly Mitch was there. “Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Happy New Year!”
All three of them cheered, and Rachel kissed him right on the cheek. “Daddy, did you see? Cam, and me did Happy New Year. I’m tired, Daddy, and I want to go night-night.”
“Cool, baby girl. You wanna go in your bed or you want to lay down here in your sleeping bag?”
She heaved a huge sigh. “I think I want to be in my own bed. Can you bring Hannah?”
“I can bring Hannah. Kiss Daddy Cam goodnight and Uncle Mark. I’m gonna grab her. I’ll be back in a minute. Cam, you want a beer?”
“Better not, but thanks.” He watched Mitch hurry off to fetch little Hannah, as Rachel waved and crawled down off his lap.
“Love you, Daddy Cam. Night!”
“Love you too, baby.”
With that, Mark stood. “Okay, I’m gonna get that shower. Be back in a sec. You got this if they need something?”
“I do.” He could sit and keep an ear out. And hell, Rosie was turning into a great kid herder. He steered the girls away from a lot of stuff.
It didn’t take long for Mitch to get back and come sit on the sofa.
“The two little girls are ensconced in bed, the two gothy girls are also in bed, but I’m pretty sure that they’re summoning demons or trying to get the dog possessed.
” Mitch leaned in, that poor back popping.
“I’m not sure, but Rosie is in there with them, so should they open up a gate to Hell, I assume he’ll bark. ”
Cam started laughing, the joy bubbling out of him. “And…and the big girls?”
Mitch had a warm, fond expression on his face. “Oh, they’re fine, they’re makeup-ing and watching YouTube videos.”
“You do have the teen lock thing on, right?”
“Yeah, totally. I mean, these girls are smart. If they wanted to get around it they could, but I can look on my phone and see their history. No big deal. They really just want to watch makeup videos, so far. I have the feeling tomorrow is going to be making slime, but we’ll see. Twelve may be too old for that.”
Mitch grinned and Cam had to admit the man looked as happy as he’d ever seen. “How you doing, babe? You having a good New Year’s Eve?”
“I’m having a ball. We should have a New Year’s party every year. I think that Rebekka liked her cake, don’t you?” Mitch had been hilarious.
He’d bought a gigantic white sheet cake, and then gave the girls tubes of icing, so the girls could decorate the cake. It was stunning.
“How about you? Are you having fun?” Mitch asked, stroking his arm.
“I would be having more fun if the collarbone was knitted,” he admitted. “But yeah. I’m having a very good time. This is going to be the best New Year ever.”
Mitch arched an eyebrow. “You think so?”
“You know what? I do. I’m thinking about going into business with your best friend who’s moving here. I have three girls, eighty-seven thousand nieces and nephews, a momma and a daddy who are very good to me, and you.”
“Do you now?”
“I do. I love you, Mitch Gonzales.”
“I love you too, babe.” Mitch smiled, took a deep breath. “So…you’re going into business with Mark? You like the gate improvement he did?”
“I like what he said. I’ll see it in action tomorrow, but really?” God, he missed being able to shrug. “I really like the idea of being on the road less and being here more.”
“Me too.” Mitch started massaging his hand, the pressure making his eyes cross. “I can so get into having you around a lot. In fact, you’re the best thing to happen to this old man in quite a few years.”
“Quite a few, hmm?” He could take that for the truth it was, and he understood. Love was boundless, endless, and it gave and gave.
“So…Mr. Halley, are you gonna three, two, one, Happy New Year with me?”
“I am totally gonna three, two, one, Happy New Year with you.”
It was only nine-thirty, but surely if they did it at ten no one would notice.
And if they did, well, that was what it meant to have a family, a life. A man just buckled down and did things over until he got it right.
Because to working men like him and Mitch, what mattered in life was having someone there to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty with. It didn’t matter if it was horses, houses, or a bunch of kids with makeup.
It didn’t suck to have a man to clean up with either.
THE END