Chapter 6
Chapter Six
B rooks wasn’t sure if it was pure chaos or the most elaborate ballet he’d ever seen, but the bullfighter managed to get six kids—five kids and Benji—through making pizzas.
There were eight of them, and they could do four at a time in the oven.
So, the four youngest went first, and Coop got them all sat down at the great big wooden table with their pizzas.
The thing had to weigh a hundred pounds, easy, and it was covered with different laminated placemats—from rainbows to muscle cars. Each kid had a different one, and there wasn’t even a hint of arguing about who sat where.
Coop sat with them at the place with a Highland cow placemat, waving Brooks down at a place with a simple Zia sun one. There were two of those, obviously indicating where guests sat. Coop listened to them all jabber about their days as the second round of pizzas cooked.
He wasn’t sure what the actual topic of conversation was. It involved lots of talking and lots of voices, and he was real tired. He did hear robots and horses, touchdowns and tackles. Goats and chickens and the library. And Halloween .
He was fairly sure there was a lot about Halloween.
But then, Halloween was a big deal here. It had never been such a huge thing in Australia, so he’d kinda started spacing it.
God, he and Andy had loved Halloween as kids. He could remember once his folks had taken them to Boo at the Zoo in Denver, and he and Andy had just roared around the place, stomping and grinning from ear to ear. He’d been a tiger and Andy had been a lion.
“Uncle Brooks, are you okay?” Lucy was looking at him, a piece of pizza halfway to her mouth, an adorable frown on her face.
“Sorry, honey, I’m just super tired.”
“The guest room is all ready. You can go up there. One day that’ll be my room, but right now I want to stay close to Mina.”
He shook his head. He didn’t follow.
“So my suite and Benji’s suite are both down here on this floor. There are four bedrooms, a workout room, and an office on the second floor, and two bedrooms on the third floor,” Coop told him.
“That’s a lot of rooms.”
“There are bathrooms too. Three down here, four upstairs, and one in the very top!” Mina glanced at Johnny, clearly worried. “Right?”
“Yes. Eight toilets so everybody gets one!” Johnny grinned, wiggling in his seat. “No more waiting for Benji to poop!”
“Ew! Stinky!”
“Not at supper, y’all. Brooks, you want another beer?”
“Uh.” He looked at his half-empty bottle of warm beer. “No. Thanks. If you can point me to glasses, I’ll get some water.”
“I can get it.” Ricky came in, heading over to the cabinet and grab a glass. “Do you want ice?”
That was sweet. Brooks nodded. “Please. ”
Coop watched Ricky and smiled. “Peek at the pizzas, please?”
“Sure. Sure, no problem.” Ricky came in with a glass of water. “The cheese isn’t melted yet.”
“Well, that won’t work,” Brooks teased. “It’s got to be gooey.”
“You should tell them about the vegemite,” Coop said, so Brooks told Australian food stories until the pizza came out of the ovens.
Then Benji clomped to the table, and they set to the food, too.
The pizza was good, and Coop ruled the table like a monarch, keeping the conversation light and encouraging little Mina to eat, even as she faded, her head bobbing over her plate.
Brooks felt that deep in his chest. He was about to doze off too. “You need any help getting the kids to bed, man?” he asked Coop.
“No. Ricky, can you help Brooks out with his bags? He’s in the guest room next to you.”
“No problem. You want to come with me, sir?” Ricky stood, almost vibrating with the need to please.
Jesus, that was fucked-up.
This whole fucking thing was for shit, and he hated it.
“I do. I’m sorry, mates, but I need a nap in the worst way.”
Coop nodded to him, smiled. “Kiddos, tell Uncle Brooks good night.”
“Good night, Uncle Brooks,” they all parroted.
All but Benji, of course.
“Night, y’all. I’ll be better in the morning.”
He headed into the massive front room and grabbed his go bag from where he’d put it down.
“I can take that,” Ricky said .
He handed it over, because he thought the kid might burst into tears or fight him for it if he didn’t.
“Thanks, Ricky. You like it here?” he asked just to make conversation.
“O-M-G yes. It’s so nice to have a big house where we can all have space.” They clomped up the stairs, and there were all these neat framed pictures of rodeo folks and bullriders and bullfighters.
“Uncle Coop is wild. He works on this house every day. While we’re at school, he’s putting in floors and painting and retiling bathrooms.”
“Yeah? That’s cool…”
He didn’t know how Coop had enough money to do all this renovation. But then, who was he to talk? If some magazine did a thing on Brooks, they would call him a millionaire cowboy. Shit, what had he had to spend money on while he was in Australia? He’d taken a few trips and all, but that was it.
“Yeah. And we get to help sometimes.” Something about that caught his attention as they rounded the landing to the little third floor.
“You like working with your hands?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m into cars. Uncle Coop gave me an old truck when we moved in, and I have it working great.” Ricky beamed at him, lighting up. “But I’m into doing things where you can see it fixed.”
“That’s really cool. I’m a horse guy, myself.”
“Like a bronc rider?”
“Oh, I sucked at that. No, cutting and reining horses.”
“I saw that on that Yellowstone show. That’s rad.” Ricky stopped at a bedroom. “This is you. The bathroom is there.”
“You want to grab a shower? Oh, wait. You did. Uh, you want to brush your teeth and stuff before I take a shower?”
“Nah.” Ricky gave him another nervy smile. “I don’t really have a bedtime. You go ahead so you can sleep. ”
“Thanks.”
“Uh, I’m sorry you just learned about Mom and Dad, Uncle Brooks. I know you loved them.”
Jesus. That almost doubled him right over. “I did. Very much, for all that we didn’t talk a lot. I loved them both.”
“Night.” And Ricky disappeared like smoke through the other bedroom door.
Brooks dropped his bag in his room, grabbed a pair of clean boxer briefs, and headed in to take a shower.
Once he got the water hot, he leaned against the wall of the shower and let all of his shit out.
He couldn’t scream, not and scare all the kids downstairs.
So he let the great sobs take him instead.
It was his only damn option, since he didn’t have a horse to go fly on right now.
He’d stopped on the way up to Coop’s and gotten some damn pot gummies, since that was legal, and he would take one when he got back to his room.
At least that way tonight he might get some sleep.
Coop woke up the next morning, trying to remember what day it was. What did he have to get the kids to for today. Was it?—
Okay, yesterday had been 4-H and Girl Scouts, so today was Friday. So school. But that was it. Right?
The clock told him it was six, so when he heard the door out to the porch open, he went on high alert. What the ever-loving fuck?
He was up and on his feet before he could even think and was moving across the room. He had a door to the porch from his bedroom, and that thing had been WD40’d to within an inch of its life.
He slipped out trying to figure which kid was out here trying to do what thing. The kids weren’t bad as a rule, but teenagers were teenagers were teenagers. And every so often, one of the little ones would decide to go wander off and pet one of the Chiaras’ cows.
The cold hit him like a brickbat, but he didn’t let it stop him, no sir. Halloween was going to be bitter this year, his knees knew.
When he came out and it was Brooks Whitehead, Coop damn near decked him. Just bang.
It was shock of seeing somebody that tall, to be honest. He could see where Mason and Johnny got their length of leg. Benji and Ricky were both built like him—more, not short but nowhere near tall and broad through the shoulders, not lean.
“Christ, man, you startled me.” Thank God he didn’t sleep naked anymore, but he was still out there in bare feet and all fuzzy chest for the whole world to see.
“Do you always sleep in Nightmare Before Christmas pants?” Brooks asked him.
He shook his head. “Only on Halloween. I have all sorts.” It was an easy thing for folks to remember to give him, so he had tons—all sorts, all holidays. He donated more pairs of brand-new pajama pants than he’d ever worn.
“You just trying to get your times back to rights? I can make a pot of coffee.” Coop was going to need one. The kids would start getting up in half an hour, at least Mina and Johnny would. “Or are you a tea guy now? Don’t they drink tea in Australia?”
“They drink both. I’d love a cup of coffee, unless you make shitty coffee.” Brooks winked at him, grinning.
“Buck right off, man. Go on in, let me grab my robe and some damn house shoes. It’s cold out here.” His balls were going to climb right up into his body and never peek out again .
“You have a door to the porch from your room?”
“Door to this porch, the inside courtyard, and the back porch.” So did Benji, so it worked out. He was too cold to answer more questions. “See you in two shakes.”
“Sure.” Brooks waved him off, and he headed back inside. Let the guy commune with the damn freezing cold.
Coop pulled on a sweatshirt, slippers, and a robe, because damn, and made his way to the kitchen to start the coffee. Which had him grinning now. Never let a cowboy make the coffee was ringing in his head.
But he made good coffee, not shitty. Seriously.
Brooks came in on a burst of cold air, and Coop shivered. “Ugh.”
“I know. But it woke me up.” Brooks wore a pair of sweats, a ratty old T-shirt that read Surf Bondi and a big cardigan. He was a cardigan guy, which seemed off-brand, really.
“Yessir. It gets crisp around here.” Coop started his morning routine, water, coffee beans in the grinder. Then he put down fresh water for the pups and started making lunches while the coffee made.