Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
C oop wasn’t sure if Ryder or Kase was the one who was going to pick up Brooks, and he didn’t really care.
He’d explained his situation, and he knew one of two things.
First, one of the Chiaras was going to get paperwork signed from Miss Bella’s parents so she could stay here at the house.
And the other one was picking up his cowboy tomorrow afternoon.
The kids were cleaning their little asses off.
He was drinking a lot of liquids and trying to flush stuff through his kidneys as best he could before he died.
His belly felt like he’d been—well, kicked, he guessed, and he was about raw from shoulder to knees.
“Is it true? That Ricky and Bella are going to have a baby, I mean.” Lucy’s eyes were huge, worried and wet. “Is it really true?”
“It’s really true.” And he didn’t want to talk about it right now. Of course, he knew he didn’t get a choice in that, so he sat there, listening to his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
“Have you talked to Benji yet?”
“He hasn’t called. I know your brother has.” He knew there’d been screaming, but honestly, he didn’t need to get into it with anyone. He didn’t have the energy. Everything—and he did mean every fucking thing—in his body hurt.
“Okay. Are they in trouble?”
He didn’t know how to start to answer that question.
“This wasn’t the smartest thing on earth for him to do, and I wish he hadn’t, but he has.
And now there’s going to be a baby. They’re going to have to work really, really hard now to catch up and do all the things that kids want to do because they’re going to have a baby themselves.
And that’s sad, but they say they’re going to do it. ”
And that was just that. He didn’t have anything else to say.
“Are you going to let him stay?”
“Yes.”
“Are they going to get married?”
He counted to ten. “I think so, but I don’t know. And that’s really up to Ricky and Bella.”
“Is the baby going to live here?”
“Honey. It’s March. It’s going to be damn near Christmas before anybody has to make that decision, but if the baby wants to live here, the baby can live here with us, okay?”
She nodded and sighed. “Uncle Brooks is on his way?”
“Yes, ma’am. He is.” Brooks had texted his itinerary and a picture of the damn sizeable check less than fifteen minutes after Coop had called.
Thank God.
The jerk of a station owner had even paid for Brooks to have business class, which meant he could stretch out and sleep, which was good.
Because when Brooks got here, Coop might sleep for a week.
His phone rang, and it was Benji, so he grabbed it.
“What the fuck is going on there, Coop? ”
“Which part?” He wasn’t going to explain himself to a fucking nineteen-year-old kid.
“Uh, the part where Mason is suspended, Johnny’s leaving school, Mina’s pissing herself, and Ricky’s pregnant, for fuck’s sake?”
“You watch your mouth, son,” he snapped. He didn’t deserve that. “Last time I checked, you and Brooks trusted me enough to leave me here with five kids so y’all could do what you wanted. I suggest you police your tone.”
“Shit. Shit. I’m sorry. I am. I just—what was he thinking?”
“That he was sixteen and he couldn’t keep it in his pants.” Some answers were easier than others.
“Idiot. Fucking idiot. I told him he was going to have to work to pay for all this, but he can’t get his PRCA card yet or anything.”
“He’s working at the pizza joint and he’s fixin’ tractors and all for the Chiaras, but he’s got to finish high school, and so does she.”
No one could manage well without a high school diploma, and, while he didn’t foresee Ricky as the college type, it wasn’t a big stretch for Bella.
“I—I’m so goddamn pissed at him, Coop. How could he do this?”
Coop shrugged, wincing as something deep inside him pulled. Dammit. Teenagers had been catching pregnant since the beginning of time, and no amount of trying or threatening or teaching seemed to change that fact.
“Son, we could ask that every second for the next hundred years and not have the answer.” And that was the God’s honest truth.
They talked about the road for a minute, then about the bulls, and by the time they’d said their goodbyes, he was drenched in a cold sweat, the ache inside him changing to a tearing agony .
“Do you need an ice pack, Uncle Coop? You’re wincing real hard.”
“I’m all right, honey, don’t worry about it.” He was just ready for Brooks to come home. He wasn’t all the way sure he was gonna let Brooks sleep in the bed. He might send Brooks up to Ricky’s old bedroom, which probably still smelled of boy stink.
Coop had to wonder if Ricky’s rooms would smell less like boy stink, now that there was a little girl living here.
Lord help him.
Lucy sighed, chewing her bottom lip like she was fixin’ to gnaw it off. “Well, I’m sorry that they kicked you. There’s an ice pack for real. Maybe it’ll help.”
“Yeah, go ahead, honey. Grab it for me. I’m not a big horse person, which is pretty obvious.” He didn’t think that he had to put it out there. He didn’t mind horses, in fact, he even liked one or two of them. But really?
He thought maybe he’d invest in chickens. Maybe that’s what he would do this spring. He could make himself a big chicken coop. He could do a two-story one with windows. If it was two-story, then coyotes would have a harder time getting to the chickens.
Of course, he had coyotes.
Maybe he needed some llamas.
Llamas were good at keeping out coyotes.
“Hmm. We need to start drawing up some plans for a two-story chicken coop and a llama paddock. I wonder,” he muttered, “how many llamas it would take to get rid of the coyotes?” He grabbed his phone and started googling, trying hard to focus on the words on the screen, the letters swimming.
Lucy giggled softly as she came over. “Should I get us a piece of paper and a pen, Uncle Coop? I’ll take notes.”
“I’d love that, honey. That would rock. ”
She was trying, so hard, and he was too. He adored her little 4-H, capable, helpful self. She was his girl, though she loved the horses like Brooks…
“Here, Uncle. Let me put the ice on—” She put the pack on his belly and he convulsed, a gout of blood shooting out of his mouth and across the table.
“UNCLE!” Lucy’s eyes were huge, her face and shirt speckled with red.
“Call next door,” he managed, even as he felt himself sinking to the floor. “Don’t bother Benji. Call Kase.”
Now girl.
Do it now before it was too goddamn late.