Chapter 2 #2
“That would probably be Mr. Walsh. Come on guys, we’ll go in and have something to drink. They have a full bar in there, and everybody is really nice.”
Topher grabbed his bag and stomped off toward one of the small outbuildings. It looked like maybe a little guest cottage.
They left his stuff in the car and waved to Nick to do the same thing.
That way, at least Christopher would get his reconnaissance of their quarters in before anything else happened.
If he remembered from his admittedly relatively cursory research, Dillon Walsh would be Mr. Walsh, and he was the former entertainer from the Big Bull Riding League.
His dad had been pretty excited about him meeting that guy, too.
They walked into the house and sure enough, it was Dillon Walsh looking like he had when Seamus had been a kid, a bit grayer around the edges with a few more eye lines.
Although that was hard to tell because he’d always been in clown makeup the few times his dad had taken him to a bullriding event in the States.
“Mr. Givens!” Walsh came forward, hand outstretched. “It’s good to meet you. We’re really glad you chose our ranch to come do your training.”
“Seamus, please. Nice to meet you too.” He shook hands. “This place is gorgeous, I’ve got to tell you. You have the best view I’ve ever seen, I think.”
“Thanks. Come in, come in. And this is…”
“Oh shit, sorry. This is Nicholas Pecina. Nick. He is my personal trainer and chef.”
Dillon smiled, and his eyes lit up. His eye lines wrinkled, and he really was a devastatingly attractive man.
“Ah. We were warned about you,” Dillon said.
“As soon as Coke gets back up from the barn, I’ll have him show you where the training room is, and he can show you what’s off-limits as far as the outside kitchen. ”
Nick chuckled. “Gotcha. I promise not to make any big messes or anything.”
“Hey, if it was up to me, you’d have access to everything.
I don’t grill. I do make eggs and bacon though.
So, the inside kitchen here is my purview.
” Mr. Walsh led the way into a sunken living room sort of situation with Saltillo tiles and exposed beams. It was warm and homey, and it had some Texas Longhorn and Texas Star sort of decor mixed in with Native American rugs and comfy-looking furniture.
“I hope you’re not allergic to dogs.”
“No, sir, Mr. Walsh. Neither one of us has any problems.”
“Call me Dillon, please, Mr. Walsh. God. Haven’t been called that since I was an accountant back in the day.”
As they headed for one of the couches, a pair of basset hounds lying on another couch lifted their heads, eyed them with deep curiosity, and then laid back down to snooze again.
“Don’t mind them. These are basset hounds two-point-oh for us, and they’re getting on up there in years.” He pointed to the red and white Bassett, who had a great big, boofy head and chest. “That is Sherlock. And that little black and brown girl over there is Watson.”
God, they were adorable. He wanted to go rub those long, silky ears, so he wandered over, holding out a hand. Both hounds sniffed real hard, tails thumping, but they didn’t bother to get up.
He did exactly what he wanted and rubbed ears, and he got some happy grunting for his trouble.
“What can I get you guys to drink? We have ultra-light beer. We have iced tea. We have lots of diet soda-type things because no one’s allowed to have sugary ones anymore because we’re old.” Dillon winked.
“I would love a glass of iced tea, please. That would be great.”
Seamus looked around this place and didn’t find it lacking at all.
“This is amazing; it’s so beautiful. Seriously, you know what I mean?
I’ve been to New Mexico quite a few times, and I love it here.
Everything is so different all the time.
Like every time I come here, I see new things, and I see new terrain, and it’s simply perfect, but this place, I can tell it’s special. ”
And he wasn’t even bullshitting about it.
“Oh now, we’re going to get along just fine.” That wasn’t Dillon, but it was retired bullfighter Fearless Coke Pharris, who he had researched and did know way too much about, up to and including the three broken necks he’d suffered on the job.
“I do hope so.” He walked up to Coke Pharris. “Mr. Pharris, it is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Coke, please. Everybody calls me Coke or Gramps. Welcome to the ranch. You’re going to be here for six weeks, and I think you’re going to have a ball. You’re going to learn a lot.”
“I hope so. I honestly do. The studio is funding me. So I get to be here, to learn and relax a little bit on my time off, and just really immerse myself in this experience.”
That was what he was in this for—just experience. He loved his life.
“Son, that is the best kind of work if you can get it.” Coke winked at him. “You got a glass of iced tea for this old man too, babe?”
Dillon chuckled. “I do indeed. You guys go ahead and sit down. I’ll get drinks and stuff.”
Before he knew it, there were four glasses of iced tea, a plate of halved sandwiches, cookies, and other kinds of carby things, plus some meatballs. He felt as if Nick would approve of the meatballs. They looked like they were made out of turkey, jalapeno, and maybe cranberry.
Dillon had an energy drink, not the kind that gave somebody kidney stones, but kind of Gatorade-like stuff. “So…your security guy…”
“Christopher, he’s very intense.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “Incredibly.”
Dillon sighed softly. “I hope he can relax and understand that we’ve got nothing but your best interests at heart.”
“Christopher just needs to throw his weight around, and then he’ll calm down. I don’t think he’s used to being quite this remote. He’s accustomed to us driving out to a set and then driving back and staying in a hotel in the city. But this? This is way more fun.”
Nicholas rolled his eyes, muttering “kiss-ass” under his breath.
Maybe he was a little bit, but he wanted— hell, he needed people to like him. It was very important to him. He needed to know he was loved by people, and when they didn’t like him, it disturbed him on a deep, personal level.
If that made him a kiss-ass, then he was a kiss-ass. He could deal with that. He was also very self-aware.
“All right, he was just very unhappy with the situation, and I told him that we had cleared everything with the production company.”
“No worries, trust me. Y’all are bonzo. I’ll keep him in check.”
That made Nick laugh out loud, and he swatted him on the butt really quickly.
“Be nice. I’m trying to make a good impression.”
Dillon cracked up. “Oh, trust me, you’re doing fine. You like the dogs. You didn’t fuss about them being on the sofa. You’re eating the food and drinking the tea without complaining, and you knew who Coke was. It’s a win-win.”
“Dad is a huge rodeo fan, but bullriding especially. I’ve been to a few events when I was younger, and a couple in Australia and a couple here.”
Coke grinned at him, expression sharp, curious. “So are you Australian or a U.S. citizen?”
“Oh, I have a dual citizenship. My dad is from Australia, out near Perth, and my mother is from L.A.”
“Well, that’s neat. Who’s your mom?”
He chuckled softly, because this name drop was always so fun. Mom was brilliant, funny, beautiful, and he loved her to death. “My mom is Katherine O’Houlihan.”
Both Coke and Dillon’s eyes went wide, then Coke said, “Seriously? The lady who was in Walk Softly and Same Day Pickup?”
He nodded. He wasn’t going to deny it. “Yeah, that’s my mom. She’s a director now, of course. Really neat lady. Genuinely. Both of my parents are.”
Nick cleared his throat. “His dad is Hugo Givens. He’s not as well-known here, but—”
“Hugo Givens.” Coke stared at him, leaned forward, then leaned back. “Ain’t he that guy, cowboy, who did the comedy show with the bear that we saw when we were down in Australia? Real friendly? We drank a few beers and chatted.”
Seamus chuckled because, yes, that was one of Dad’s schticks in his variety show. But he got the confusion.
He had Dad’s features, but where Dad was sort of on the smaller side and black-headed, he was tall and had Mom’s gold hair and bright blue eyes.
“I can see it now. I can totally see it. Well, now that’s too cool.” Dillon shook his head. “You don’t sound Australian.”
He shook his head. “No, I grew up in Hollywood. I’ve been in Australia a lot, so every so often something pops out of me. And I do love accents, so I use them a lot in my work. I’m going to be listening a lot to how you guys talk. Try to pick some stuff up.”
“Well, now we know why you talked to Packer about bullriding and stuff.” Dillon raised an eyebrow. “You had an in because he’s an Aussie.”
“Yeah, and that was brill. I got him to call my dad, who was so excited he could hardly stand it.” He popped a meatball in his mouth because that way Nick wouldn’t yell at him when he had one of the sandwiches or maybe a cookie.
He thought maybe Jess was still in the kitchen eating donuts.
That girl could eat her weight in them, and she was trying to give them time to bond.
“He’s a good guy, a little bit of a horn dog, but good.” Coke winked at Dillon, who grinned back.
“So are we…how does this whole personal chef thing work?” Dillon asked.
“Because seriously? We usually have a family meal once a day—supper, although we can do breakfast or lunch. Nate, who is Coke’s business partner in this whole wild thing, his wife does a lot of the cooking.
Coke does most of the grilling. I just kind of need to know what you need us to do. ”
Nick smiled, turning on the charm. “I don’t want this to be a problem.
Honest. It just will make life easier. How about I hang out for a couple days, see what the food situation looks like, and then if I need to make some tweaks on the meals that you guys aren’t cooking, then that’s where I’ll make them?
He’s pretty much Keto. Every so often he’ll get some carbs, but he doesn’t do a lot of sweets or breads. ”
Seamus threw himself back on the couch, one hand over his forehead. “I’m so abused,” he said.
“Yeah, you know how much money you make to be beautiful all the time? They really only want you for your six pack.”
“Not so! It’s also these gorgeous peepers.” Seamus fluttered his eyelashes.
Dillon cracked up and winked over, and he grinned back. He was willing to make fun of himself. Who wouldn’t?
He was a nepo baby, for fuck’s sake. And he happened to be lucky enough to love his job, love his life, and be good enough at it that people didn’t spend a ton of time accusing him of cheating or gaming the system
Coke snorted softly. “There’s a gym; it’s really well-equipped.
Lots of treadmills because we tend to do a lot of running.
Also, there’s a swimming pool outdoors. It gets a little chilly at night, so there is an infinity pool with a treadmill at the bottom with heated water.
It’s very nice, I use it a lot. After three broken necks, sometimes that’s the only way I can get any kind of exercise in. ”
Dillon nodded. “Yes, but please don’t go running around after dark in the desert. It is dangerous out there with the arroyos.”
“And there are wild animals — coyotes, bobcats, the occasional bear, the more than occasional mountain lion. So just be careful.”
“Somehow I don’t see Christopher letting me run around in the middle of the night.”
“No? You think he’d object to you running amok?”
“God, yes, he can be completely joyless that way.” Then he cracked himself up. Christopher was dour sometimes, but never joyless.
Jess came in holding a plate of donuts, and she offered him one. Nick scowled at him, but he stuck his tongue out and grabbed one anyway. It looked so good, and it smelled like heaven.
“Well, good deal. Soon as your man comes back from looking at the cabin over, you can go get settled and have a nap or whatever you want to do,” Coke said. “We can show you the weight room, too, and you can look around the kitchen, Mr. Nick. Dillon, is there anything else I’m missing?”
“Just the part where you were introducing him to Dawson, babe. Were you planning on doing that today? There’s plenty of time.”
“Shit. Of course I should do that. In fact, I should probably let Dawson be the one to show you around, Mr. Seamus.” Coke gave him a wry grin. “I get the cart ahead of the horse sometimes.”
“No worries, I don’t mind at all. Who’s Dawson?”
Seamus thought about telling Coke not to call him Mister, but it didn’t seem to matter.
Coke was going to do it anyway. He also heard Jess chuckle a little bit, and he gave her a sideways kind of look, but it didn’t matter.
He was going to have to deal with whatever it was she found so funny regardless.
“Dawson? That’s going to be your instructor on how to be a bullfighter.” Dillon gave him a wide grin. “You’re going to love him.”