Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Dillon waited until Coke and Nate were out of sight. Then he turned on Tracy.
“Okay, what was that about?”
She blinked at him, eyes laughing. “Quite possibly the cutest thing on earth, but you have to promise not to tease, because I’ll hurt you if they stop.”
“If it’s that cute, I’ll just watch and smile.”
“The boys—mostly Nate and Coke, but I’ve seen Fred and Coop play, too—get lit and play Rock Band. I mean, the whole thing—guitars, microphones, drums. Dancing, laughing.” She winked at him. “It’s adorable. Coke does a mean Back in Black.“
How did he not know this?
“Wow. I mean, I’ve heard Coke rock out to Shook Me All Night Long in the shower…” Oh, God. He had to go get a Rock Band set. Now.
“Well, this is less naked, but possibly more fun. Nate plays the drums more than the guitar, but Coke? Man, his fingers are smart. It’s bizarre.” Tracy scooped up the littlest one, who was tugging at her jeans.
“Yeah?” Dillon grinned at that. “So. Who wants to go into town? I mean, I know you just got here.”
She grinned at him conspiratorially. “We could leave the boys with the kids and go…”
“Oh, we could.” Dillon plucked the little one from Tracy’s arms and swung him around. “Let’s find Daddy.”
“Da!”
Tracy chuckled. “That’s right. Daddy and Uncle Poppy.”
Dillon whistled, heading for the back door, knowing Coke would be filling Nate in on all of the plans he had for an outdoor living space. They were gonna freeze.
Coke glanced up as he opened the door, arms already open for Hailey to jump into. “Howdy, y’all.”
“Mommy says to find you!”
Coke kissed the little girl on the nose. “Good job. What’s up, cowboy?”
“Tracy and I need to run into town. She forgot something. You two can watch the kids, eh?”
Coke was so happy. Nate and company were a good thing.
“Of course. We need some snacky things, huh?” Coke’s smile just heated him up, made him feel more at home than he’d ever been.
“We do. We’ve just been thinking in terms of two.” Dillon winked. “Anything special you want, babe?”
“Tracy makes a snack deal with cereal…” Coke looked charmingly hopeful.
“You up to that, hon?” When Tracy nodded, Dillon grinned. “Then we’re on it.”
“Come on, Nattie. I’ll make some coffee for us and hot chocolate for the wee beasts.” Coke herded everyone back in. “We’ve got a feast planned for Thursday, I swear.”
“Yeah? I hear that Dillon’s sister is a good cook.” Nate winked over Coke’s head.
He rolled his eyes, but Coke nodded. “She’s a doll baby. Got some babies. It’s going to be wild.”
That was a spectacular avoidance of the question.
“She is a paragon among women. Come on, Tracy. Bundle up.” He nodded at Nate. “I’ll keep her safe.”
“Of course you will.” Nate handed Tracy some cash, kissed her. “Have fun shopping, baby.”
“Mmm. Cash.” She laughed and kissed the kids, too. “Y’all be good.”
Then they were off. Dillon waited until they were in the truck to hand over his iPhone. “Can you find out if there’s a store closer than Pocatello has Rock Band?”
“You got it, Dillon.” She grinned over at him. “Thank you for the invitation, huh? It’s nice to be with friends, family.”
“I’m glad you guys could come.” He meant it, too. He liked Tracy, and Nate and him had figured it.
“Okay, there’s a Walmart closer. That’ll work.”
“Cool.” He stopped at the end of the lane and peered at the screen when she showed him. “Got it.”
“Good deal. I need to get some stuff to keep the kids occupied anyway.”
“Cool. You guys have a good trip up?”
“We did. I mean, it’s been a hard season this year somehow, and it’s nice to be able to relax.”
“Yeah.” Yeah, there had been some suckage. “Did I even know we had a Walmart?”
“Well, Clown-Boy, how’m I supposed to know that?”
“You’re not. Rhetorical. You know. Not needing an answer.” He loved trading barbs with Tracy. She was good at it.
“Oh, right. Like that question about who’s hotter, Joa or Balta, right?”
“Right. Because Balta has the ass and Joa has the belly.” Dillon would never admit to another soul that he found the Brazilians hot as hell.
She nodded, chuckling softly. “And Joa is sweet and dear, but Balta… Uhn.”
“He’s a force of nature.” They shared a glance of absolute agreement. “Ah. Wally World. Let’s do this thing. Snacks and guitars ahoy.”
Tracy chuckled, winked. “And a Coke for the pregnant lady.”
Dillon laughed out loud, reaching over to pat her leg. “No, honey. Coke is mine.”
They made bacon sandwiches for the kids and put some dog deal on for them to watch, then Coke and Nate went to sit at the kitchen table, eat their own lunches. “I tell you what, Nattie, those babies are something else.”
Damn, he loved ’em. He was glad that he didn’t have to have them full-time, though. They wore an old man out.
“Yeah.” Nate gave him a bright grin. “Exhausting, aren’t they?”
“Yep. You cleared out some time to work down to AJ’s after Christmas?” They needed to work some shit out, with his neck not turning so good, and also Jason was going to start hitting the little rodeos, and they had to get that happening.
“Yeah. I got some time on the schedule. Long as Tracy stays healthy.” Nate knocked on the table. He knocked, too. January would be early enough along, though. From what he’d seen, girls went weird and sick toward the end, if they were gonna do it.
“So. How’s it going, Hoss?”
“I’m okay. Sore still, huh? That thing with Sammy at the Finals fucked my shit up. I been praying on it.”
“I know.” Nate’s expression turned grim. “I thought on it a lot. Can’t figure what we could’ve done.”
“Me either, but we try. It’s good to be here, though. Somewhere new.” Somewhere with his Dillon.
“Shit, Hoss. It’s freezing here.” Winking, Nate sat back and sipped his milk. “Still, the kids will love it.”
“Yep. I’m gonna make that little area outside nice and cozy, too. Heaters. Hot boxes. Good stuff.” He had been working on a plan.
“Cool. You need any help this summer, you let me know.”
He nodded, knowing full well that every free day this summer his best bud would be at home, loving on a new baby. “Y’all still heading to the beach for Christmas?”
“Yeah. Want to do it now. Keep me from getting calls, too.” Nate hated to be interrupted at the holidays.
“I hear you. Sammy’s going to be headed home by Christmas, Beau says. We’re going to do Christmas here, go see them, then head to the Gardners’ after the New Year.”
“Sounds like a plan.” They sat back after the food was gone, and Nate chuckled. “Want ice cream?”
Coke leaned back and peeked into the front room with the pile of kids and bassets, all sound asleep. “There’s some good stuff in the freezer.”
“Excellent. Any I shouldn’t touch?” Nate was up and at the freezer in a heartbeat.
“Nope.” He was the ice cream fiend. Dillon’s snacks were of the candy variety.
“Cool.” They both got a bowl of butter pecan. You could take the boy out of Texas…
They clacked their spoons together, smiled at each other and dug in.
Dinner had been fab. Homemade French bread pizzas, salad, Tracy’s cereal thingies with peanut butter in them and a layer of chocolate on top. Lord. They’d lingered over coffee, and the kids had all been put to bed. The bassets were sacked out from a long day of play. It was time.
“Should we tell them?” Dillon nudged Tracy.
“Tell us what? Did y’all get into trouble in town?”
“Huh? No!” Dillon said. Coke would think that. Dork. “No, we got you a present.”
“A present?” Coke grinned. “Then, hell yeah! Tell!”
Tracy rolled her eyes. “Maybe we ought to make them wait.”
Nate’s eyes narrowed, staring her down. “‘Fess up, baby doll. What did y’all get?”
“Oh-ho! Dangerous man. Come on.” Dillon led them all to the living room and made Tracy sit. “I’ll get it.”
Coke chuckled. “Did y’all find a movie?”
They’d needed a dolly to get all of it in. They’d gotten it all—drums, guitars, the stands, and microphones. And the console to play it all on.
“Dude.” That was Nate, blinking. “Y’all! Dude!”
Coke looked over and blushed a dark red. “Tracy, you gave us up!”
“I did.” Tracy laughed. “I had to. Dillon had to be in.”
Coke seemed a little flustered, but Nate nudged him. “Shit, Hoss. He’ll be good at it. It’ll be great. Help me get shit hooked up. Baby doll, get us a little liquid lubrication?”
Dillon chuckled. That was the spirit. He got Tracy sat down and went to get the beer. Nothing harder.
Coke and Nate were laughing already by the time he got back, packaging and wires everywhere.
Tracy was watching them with a soft smile, and Dillon stood by the door, just staring for a minute.
He could see Coke as a teenager, goofing off with a friend, relaxed and happy.
It was a lovely mental picture, and it made him wonder why he never heard stories about Coke from before he became a bullfighter.
Most guys, there was something. Coke just came fully formed. Like Athena out of Zeus’ head. It was bizarre. “I brought the beer!”
“Yay!” The bullfighters cheered together, both of them sitting on the floor in front of the television.
Dillon cackled and handed out beer, and then he gave Tracy a Coke. He had a sparkling water, because he intended to sing.
It took half an hour and two beers per bullfighter, but there were soon guitars, microphones, drums, and five different sets of songs to choose from. Coke popped in a disc, handed Tracy the remote. “For the volume.”
“I’m on it.”
Dillon glanced at Tracy. “You don’t play?”
She winked. “I’m the person in charge of noise and also the only girl allowed in the room. I take my responsibilities very seriously.”
“Be good, woman. We bought you a tambourine for the house.” Nate was already getting a little flushed.
A tambourine. Oh, God. Dillon popped up off the couch. “I have maracas! I’ll be right back.”
The laughter followed him all the way back to the music room he had in the back.
“It figures you’d have maracas,” Nate told him when he came back into the room.
Dillon flipped him off. “I know how to shake them, too.”