Chapter 5
Chapter Five
C oop headed back to the house with the girls and Mason. He didn’t need to drop Nell off, because Kase was at his place still.
He’d been about to leave to get the kids when the text came in.
Benji hostile. Brooks in crisis in a big way. He didn’t know about Andy etc. Not fun. Be ready
His first thought had been, well shit.
So he’d texted back .
Pull out a bunch of that frozen pizza crust for me and pop it in the toaster oven on thaw?
That way they could all build their own pizza and that would give him time to deal with Benji and Brooks.
You got it.
Kase was a good guy, one who had his back, and he knew Kase had been good friends with both Brooks and Andy, too. The grapevine opened up when you took someone’s kids in. Hell, at this point, he probably knew more about Brooks Whitehead than the man did about himself.
Except that, like Benji and all the rest, Coop had no idea what Brooks had been doing for the last however many years .
“Uncle Coop? What are we having for supper?”
“Pizza, kiddo.”
“Ooooh, can I stay?” Nell asked.
“We’ll see what your daddy says.” What the hell trouble would one more kid be?
“From the dough we bought in town at the pizza place?” Mason asked with deep hope.
“Yes. You made your feelings about my Bisquick crust very clear.”
“I mean, it’s okay for a breakfast pizza, but not for supper.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“I like your pizza, Uncle,” Mina said.
“Thank you, my darling girl.” He winked at her in the rearview mirror.
“You’re welcome. I want those weird sausages.”
“You got it, kiddo.” He’d had to put Li’l Smokies on a pizza once because he’d forgotten pepperoni at the store, and Mina was hooked on her first bite. It was bizarre.
He loved her face.
“Thanks!”
Nell giggled. “You’re so weird, Mina.”
“I know.” Mina didn’t sound at all put out by that. It was crazy, how the young ones bounced back so much faster than the older kids. Well, maybe it wasn’t surprising, but it was still wild. Oh, Mina still had periodic meltdowns, but she was so resilient.
Things were so much harder for Benji. And for Ricky, who was almost pathologically eager to please. He and the other two were also on their way home.
They pulled in at his place, which was a nice little fifteen-acre spread butting up against the Chiara ranch.
After the huge monstrosity that was his house, it was just enough for him to run around on a tractor and pretend to do shit, but aside from the three dogs, he didn’t have any animals. That would change now Lucy was in 4-H. He hoped she decided on rabbits…
He parked, then looked back at the kids. “Okay, you guys. We have a visitor, okay? Mina, Mason, he’s your dad’s brother. So we’re all gonna be nice, okay?”
“Why wouldn’t we be nice, uncle?” Mina said, giving him this curious little look, purple glitter streaked across one cheek. “Being nice is good. Being nice means recess. Being nice means?—”
“Coloring! And reading time!” Nell added.
Obviously, they were learning about being nice in kindergarten together.
Mason, though, that wasn’t going to be so easy.
“Is he like…nasty?”
“Brooks?” Lord that man was a cowboy—one hell of a horseman, not so much on rodeoing, but not one for settling down. Just a cowboy. “No, son. No, no. He’s just real sad. He was your daddy’s brother, and so he just found out that your daddy and your momma passed on.”
Mina looked at him. “No. Uncle Coop, they died.”
“Right, they died.” She was very specific about that, very clear, and Coop was used to being way more gentle.
“And they went to heaven. Lucy says so.”
“Well, Lucy is in the know.” Lord help him. “Everything is going to be fine. We’re going to go in and make pizzas, but first we have to go tell Kase all about Girl Scouts and you, son.” He fastened Mason with the look. “You need a bath. You don’t get pizza until you’re clean because, oh my God.”
“I didn’t tackle myself, Uncle.” Mason looked so offended that he cracked up.
“No, you were doing the tackling. I’m going to have to move you up to another league. You make those other little boys look like they’re all fun-sized. ”
Mason grinned, flexing for him.
Lord help these children. Somebody needed to.
He got Frick and Frack out of their car seats, pulled Nell’s car seat out so Kase could have it back, and then followed the cloud of glittery Girl Scouts up to the house. He kind of shuddered at the thought of what that meeting room had to look like, because damn.
The lights on the front were just beginning to come on. Lord, he wanted Ricky to get his ass home. He didn’t like the sixteen-year-old driving after dark.
He clumped up the front steps with Mason, while the little girls ran up the ramp he’d built on for Benji. He figured he’d keep it, but he liked going up the stairs. Figured it kept his joints all lubed.
“We’re over here, Coop.”
There was a big old porch on the one side of the house that was almost a room all in itself, except there weren’t no walls.
The space had ceiling fans and couches, heaters and an old-timey Coke machine.
That had been the first thing he’d fallen in love with, in this insane adobe that reminded him of a giant kid throwing blocks down for a house, leaving a bunch of weird little rooms, two courtyards, and eight bedrooms. He’d checked all the boards and replaced any that were off, first thing, while the pros dealt with lights and water and all.
It was a neat place, especially in the evening like this. There was plenty of shade in the summertime, and at times like now, they could have the little heaters going, and it was cozy enough. He loved it.
The little girls took an immediate left and started running toward the sound of Kase’s voice.
Mason wrinkled his nose, shooting him a worried little glance. “I’m going to take a bath.”
“Come on. Just say hi to your uncle first. You don’t need to do anything but that, and then you can go wash up, and we’ll talk over dinner. Fair?”
Mason frowned again, and Coop winked, trying to defuse his worry. “Before your brothers and your sister get back, then it’s going to be crowded as hell.”
“Yes, sir.” Mason stomped across the porch, and Coop’d fuss, but why? That boy walked everywhere like he was a herd of elephants.
Everything was going to be fine, no problem. This was not going to be big deal. This was going to be just fi?—
“Daddy?” Mina’s voice was absolutely shocked.
Oh fuck. Coop blinked and took the final couple of steps at a dead run, like one of his cowboys had his hand caught in his bull rope. “Baby girl, that’s not?—”
“Daddy, where’s Mama?” She was about pale, that baby face nothing but stunned.
“Baby, it’s not your?—”
“I’m your Uncle Brooks, honey. Your daddy and I were brothers.”
Mina stared at Brooks, her eyes filling with tears the second he spoke. “I want to go home. Uncle Coop, I wanna go home. Where’s Benji?”
“He’s in the house, baby girl. You can go in and see him.” His heart was breaking for her, and for Brooks, who was crumpling under the weight of those tears, he could tell.
She ran, and Nell stared—first at him, and then at Kase, her eyes wide and panicked. “What’s wrong with Mina? Are you a zombie?” Then her eyes got wider. “Daddy, did he bite you?”
“What?”
“If a zombie bites you, you eat brains, and you don’t love no one no more! Daddy, I need you! Don’t let him bite you!”
“I am going to have a hard talk with Dani and Naomi about scaring you.” Kase scooped her up before she could start screaming. “No. Zombies aren’t real. This is Mina’s uncle. He looks like her daddy, and it startled her, that’s all.”
“My mama is dead too. I don’t remember that.” She glared at Brooks. “Biting is bad.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“I’m going to shower, Uncle. I hear Ricky and them. I’ll tell them to come into the house so y’all can talk.” Mason was still as a statue next to him, watching Brooks like he was fixin’ to bite. “Good to meet you.”
“I—” Brooks was about to fall down, Coop could tell.
“Hey.” Coop put on his soothe-the-injured-cowboy voice. It worked when a man had his bell rung. “It’s gonna be okay. I know you been traveling for days, and you must be exhausted. I got room for you here to stay for your visit, and once everyone settles, we’re doing make-your-own pizzas.”
He would fire up both ovens for this one. Inside and out.
“Dough is on the thaw. I’m gonna go ahead and head home.” Kase gave him an apologetic glance, but Nell was still pale and wide-eyed.
“Daddy. There’s gonna be pizza…”
“Maybe this weekend we can have a sleepover with pizza, Nell? You can bring your sleeping bag and a stuffie and you can sleep in the playroom with Mina and we’ll make pizzas?” Coop said.
“Daddy?”
“Sure, kiddo. If everyone is cool with that.”
“Okay.” Now Nell smiled at him. “I love pizza.”
“I know, baby girl.” Kase waved, and he nodded.
“See you soon, Nell.”
“Bye, Mr. Coop.”
“Bye.”
Kase took Nell to the truck, put her in her car seat, and got her settled. Then they were gone and it was just him and Brooks, because Mason had disappeared like smoke .
Brooks simply—sat there. Pale as milk under his tan. “Looks like I really threw the proverbial shit right into the fan, huh?” Brooks looked down at the beer in his hand as if surprised to see it, then set it on the little table.
“She’s only little, and I got to say, y’all look a lot alike.” Coop sat too, taking a deep breath. “Kase says Benji snarled. He’s having a tough year.”
“He is.” Brooks shrugged. “I get that. I do. I’m just trying to help.”
“Well, sure.” He had no idea what that meant. What had Brooks said to Benji? “It’s good for you to come visit, though.”
One dark eyebrow went up, and it was odd how it was like, four shades darker than Brooks’s curly, light brown hair. “I came to get Benji and the kids, man.”
“Get them?” Coop stared. Hard. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, they need a permanent place to stay, right? It’s been great of you to let them be here, Coop, but this is your place.”