Chapter 3 - Randy
~June~
The quiet stillness of the morning was interrupted by the sound of tires on gravel.
Russy lifted his head from where he’d been resting on his bed near the woodstove—ears alert and nose pointed toward the front door of my A-frame cabin.
Three doors thudded shut. Russy stood and rushed to the door at the same time I heard the sounds of excited children coming from outside. He whined—tail wagging—as he waited for my niece and nephew.
I stood, walked to the counter, and poured a cup of coffee for my sister, Jessie.
“Randy?” she asked as the door opened. “You in here?”
“Come on in,” I called back. “I’ve got coffee for you.”
“Russy!” yelled my five-year-old nephew, Marco.
Him and his older sister—Michelle—piled in and immediately started play-wrestling with my dog.
Jessie walked over, leaned against the counter, and accepted the steaming mug of coffee. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “This smells like heaven.”
“As if you haven’t had a full pot already.”
She let out a long sigh and took a sip. “Not yet.”
I raised an eyebrow.
Jessie gave me a look that said we needed to talk.
I turned to the kids. “Why don’t you two go see if any of the chickens have laid today.”
“Butt-nuggets?” Michelle asked, perking up.
I chuckled at the same time Jessie let out a sigh next to me. “Yep, you know where the basket is, right?”
My niece nodded, her long black hair swaying with her enthusiasm.
“Good. Watch out for broodies. There weren’t any yesterday, but I haven’t checked today. The green ones are fake, and you can leave them.”
“Ok!” She grabbed her brother’s arm. “Come on!”
“Butt-nuggets! Butt-nuggets!” the kids chanted as they went outside, Russy following behind.
“I hate that you taught them that term,” Jessie laughed.
“It wasn’t on purpose,” I countered with a chuckle. Then I turned to the question that made me send them out in the first place. “Ok, what’s with the coffee?”
Jessie shrugged and motioned to the table. “Same reason I brought them over so early. Giving Yazmín a quiet morning.”
I sat, then leveled a stare at my sister. “Explain.”
“Morning sickness… and scent sensitivity.”
“Oh…” Then I remembered something. “Wait. I thought you got the snip. How’s she pregnant again?”
“The doctor said the term is recanalization.”
“You already talked to the doctor?”
She snorted. “Damn straight. I know my Yazzy would never cheat, and even suggesting it as a possibility would have me at the wrong end of a chancla. So I got myself checked out as soon as we got home from Mexico.”
“You found out while visiting her family?”
She nodded. “Her tías had come over to visit, so her mama put on a pot of café de olla. As soon as the coffee started to smell good…”
“A coffee addict mated a woman who has scent sensitivity to coffee when pregnant,” I chuckled.
She sighed and nodded. “At least I got one cup before her mama put it up. But since then, it’s drive-throughs or instant.”
“I thought you swore you’d never have another cup of instant coffee after her last pregnancy.”
She laughed. “That was when we assumed it would be the last. I’d be a real asshole to subject my mate to her one major scent trigger.”
“So are you both excited… or…?”
She shrugged. “A bit excited, a bit stressed. We can afford it and have the room. But her pregnancies were so hard on her. We both wanted more, but I couldn’t put her through that again. That’s why I got snipped in the first place.”
“You’re keeping it, though?”
She nodded. “I didn’t even need to ask. She said she wanted to keep it, even knowing how hard it’ll be. And that was the end of that discussion. It’s her body, and I trust her to make the best decision for herself.”
“Do the kids know?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. Mostly because we wanted to have these chats with family first. My vasectomy wasn’t exactly a secret, and we don’t want the kids saying things out of excitement that could get people assuming things.”
I smiled and nodded. “Makes sense. Do Mom and Papa know?”
She nodded. “We went over for dinner a few nights ago. Papa asked us to let him know as soon as we know the gender so he can start a quilt.”
I laughed. “As if he won’t already have half a dozen patterns picked out for either. He loves planning his quilts as much as he does making them.”
“Don’t forget buying fabric for them,” Jessie retorted. “That’s a hobby all its own.”
“How big a stash did you bring him from Mexico?”
She grinned. “Enough for Mom to complain she’ll have to get him new shelves soon.”
“As if she isn’t looking for an excuse to build them anyway.”
Jessie laughed. “We all know where you got your love of woodworking from.”
She paused, “That reminds me…”
“Hmm?”
The side door banged open as Michelle and Marco barged back in, carrying a basket with a handful of eggs—including two fake green ones. Russy followed behind, then veered to his bed.
“Any broodies?” I asked as they set the basket on the counter.
“No,” Michelle started, then a string in which the only words I understood were blanco and gallina.
“Whoa, kiddo,” I laughed. “I didn’t catch any of that… other than white and chicken.”
She turned to Jessie, who chuckled.
“She said a black and white one was making a lot of noise.”
“Ah,” I replied with a nod. “She’s probably about to lay. They get loud then.”
“Ok,” Michelle replied. “Tio Randy?”
“Yes?”
She clasped her hands together while turning her toes in. “Sorry for using Spanish.”
I laughed. “It’s my fault for not understanding it. You know two languages. That’s more than me. It’s something to be proud of, not apologize for.”
She nodded. “Sometimes people get mad at me.”
“They’re just jealous that you can do something they can’t. Ok?”
“Ok.”
Silence filled the room for a beat, and I decided some light distraction was in order. “Today’s egg-stand day. Do you want to help with the last few cartons and go down with me?”
“Ok!” Both kids replied.
“Wash your hands and take a seat while I get everything.”
Jessie stood and squeezed my shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
I nodded as Michelle and Marco took turns washing their hands, then sat at the table.
“Michelle,” I started. “You’re really good about making sure the stickers are on good. So you do that.”
“Ok!”
“Marco?”
“Yes, Tio Randy?”
“I want you to tell me how many eggs go in each carton, ok?”
“I can count to thirty now!” he declared.
I laughed. “None of them holds more than twelve, so you won’t have to count that high. But I’m counting on you to give me the right number.”
“Ok!”
I eyeballed the eggs sitting in the “sell” basket on the counter and grabbed a small stack of egg cartons from my stash. I set them in front of Michelle so she could sticker them, then placed the basket beside me as I sat across from them at the table.
“One, two, tres, quatro…” Marco said aloud as his sister passed over the carton. He looked up with a grin. “Doce!”
“Twelve?” I asked.
He thought for a moment. “Si! Twelve!”
“Good job!” I praised as I accepted the carton and added eggs to it.
“Six!” he said as he passed over the next.
The sound of the door as Jessie walked back in. She took a place on my other side and snagged an empty carton to add eggs.
“Find what you needed?” I asked.
She set a small brown bottle on the counter. “Yep! Souvenir for you.”
I closed the carton, pushed it aside, then picked up the bottle. I turned it over and grinned when I saw the label. “Sweet! I was almost out.”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “You kept raving about it last time, so I figured you’d want more.”
“It’s the best beard oil I’ve used.”
“I’ll try to keep you stocked then. We go to Mexico often enough.”
“I appreciate it.”
I realized I hadn’t heard Marco call out a number for too long. I turned and saw him playing with Russy in the living room.
“All done, Tio Randy,” Michelle said.
I glanced over and nodded at the cartons. “Good job. Do you want to help us finish this, or go play with Marco until we’re ready to walk down?”
She eyed a carton for a second. “Pass me six eggs, please?”
I nodded and carefully maneuvered a small pile where she could reach them.
The three of us quickly finished, and I loaded the cartons into the cooler that I’d take down to the stand.
“Do you two want to take turns pulling the wagon?” I asked. “Or does somebody want to just walk?”
“I’ll pull on the way back up, so Marco can ride,” Michelle offered.
“You don’t want to ride?” Jessie asked. “You might have a hard time pulling him up the hill. I can pull you both back up.”
Michelle shook her head. “I wanna try!”
Jessie nodded. “Ok, as long as you don’t hurt yourself.”
Michelle grinned as Marco grabbed the wagon handle.
We strode down the incline of my driveway until we reached the road, then turned the corner and continued until we reached the small honesty stand I’d built several years prior.
I settled the cooler into a recess I’d cut that just held it.
Then I took a photo with my phone and posted it to the neighborhood group.
“I figure I’m open every Saturday until the end of summer now,” I told Jessie. “In case Yazzy wants to put anything in this year.”
She laughed. “Unless she changed her mind in the past couple of weeks, I can safely say that she was planning on it. She loved all the little notes people left raving about her salsas and treats.”
I grinned. “I’m glad she enjoyed it.”
“I was going to take the kids to mini golf this morning,” she said. “Give her a bit more time to rest. Want to come with?”
I shook my head. “Sorry, but I’ve already got plans to meet Kerry for brunch.”
“Oh, is he back in town?”
I laughed. “Yeah, for now at least. You know how he is, though.”
“Wish I had a job that let me work from wherever I wanted to go.”
“As if you could handle being away from your mate for more than a day or two.”
“I’d take her with!” she protested.
“And who’d take care of the kids while you and her are off gallivanting?”
“You and Mom can fight for the honor.”
“Mom?” Marco asked. “Are you and Mama going somewhere?”
She laughed and knelt to look him in the eyes. “No, Marco. Uncle Randy has a friend who goes to visit all sorts of places. I just said I wish your Mama and I could go places too.”
“What about me an’ Michelle?” he asked, frowning.
She ruffled his hair. “Sometimes grown-ups like to go to boring grown-up places. But you don’t need to worry, we’re not going anywhere. I was just being jealous of Uncle Randy’s friend.”
He made a face, but didn’t argue. “Ok.”
“You ready for Michelle to try to pull you up the hill?”
His eyes lit up. “Si!”
She reached out and slid her hands under his arms. “Up you go!” Then she lifted him and set him in the wagon.
“Still want to pull?” she asked, turning to my niece.
Michelle nodded. “Yeah!”
“Ok, let me know if you need help.”
Michelle grabbed the handle of the wagon and started back toward my driveway, Jessie and I following behind. She made it halfway up before asking for help, which I considered rather impressive. Then the three piled into their SUV and left.
∞∞∞
I embraced my best friend as soon as he reached the table. “How was Harris Cove?”
He pulled back, grinned, and turned so that I could see the back of his neck, which bore a fresh mating bite.
“You?” I asked, grinning as he turned back to me. “The man who swore he’d never mate?”
He nodded. “I know right? I’m just as surprised as you are.”
I pulled him into another hug. “Congratulations! Where’s your new alpha?”
“Parking the car. He’ll be in soon.”
“And you’re happy?” I asked as we took seats across from each other.
He nodded. “I didn’t know I could be this happy.”
“Well, I’m sad that we can’t commiserate about the single life anymore, but if you’re happy, then that’s all that matters.”
A tall, lanky alpha strode into the cafe, spotted Kerry and me, and strode over with a grin. “This seat taken?” he asked—words relaxed with a Southern drawl—as he motioned to the chair next to Kerry.
My best friend grinned up at his new mate. “Saved it just for you.”
The alpha leaned in for a quick kiss before sitting. Then he reached a hand over the table. “You must be Randy. I’m Callum.”
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Kerry speaks highly of you.”
I chuckled. “I wish I could say the same, but he just told me.”
He burst into laughter. “He wanted to tell you in person. And it’s still new.”
Callum casually draped his arm across the back of Kerry’s chair—fingers tracing his shoulder.
Kerry hummed and leaned into the touch.
I smiled. It had been years since I’d last seen my friend so content, and never with an alpha.
“So,” I started. “Tell me everything.”
“Well…” Callum started.
“There I was…” Kerry said at the same time.
Both men paused, looked at each other, and we all broke into laughter.