Page 56 of Brother In Arms

Chapter 20

Bailey

I laughed and leaned against the kitchen counter and said, “That’d be great, thank you, Dray.”

“No problem,” he said into my ear and stuttered for a second, stumbling over his words as if he were trying to decide if he wanted to speak. He, of course, did… he was his mother’s son after all. “Hey, Bales, you got a thing for our boy, Rush?”

I pressed my lips together and thought to myself, way more than a thing, but still, I was my mother’s daughter in some ways and needed to decide just how much to share. I decided on honesty with Dray, thinking that surely he wouldn’t use it against me later.

“Yeah, yeah I do… I uh, I’m not sure what to do with that, you know?”

I heard my cousin let out an explosive breath on the other end of the line before he said, “Well whatever you do, don’t tell your mom until you’re absolutely sure about things.” I could hear the unease in his voice and tearing a page out of Rush’s manual, I waited him out.

“Just, go easy on him if this is just a fling for you, Bailey. Dude’s been hurt a lot.”

“I don’t know what this is, Dray, it’s not like anything I’ve ever experienced before, but it’s not my intention to hurt anyone. I’m just trying to save my farm and what’s left of my family here.”

“Not sure a relationship with one of us is going to help your cause on that last part,” he said and I know he was just being honest, but the truth hurts, doesn’t it?

“I wonder if this was how Aunt Tillie felt,” I said chewing my bottom lip. A long heartbeat of silence and Dray cleared his throat.

“Only one person you can ask about that, Bales, and that’s my pops.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“It was a little before either of our time. Do you want to talk to him?” he asked.

I shook my head realized he couldn’t see it, and said, “Not right now, I honestly just want to cook some dinner and get some sleep. It’s been a long day.”

“Right, I’ll go find Rush and send him in your direction.”

“Thanks, I kind of figured he’d lose track of time.”

“It’s nice you want to cook for him, thanks for treating us like human beings.”

“You guys are human beings, and you’re helping me. Why wouldn’t I treat you as such?”

“I really ain’t got much to say to that, Bales.”

“Right, my mom, I should have known the answer to that one. I’m sorry, I’m just really, really, tired. All of this is just so mentally and emotionally draining.”

“I know when the shit gets heavy, being with my Em makes everything better,” he confided.

“That’s sort of what it’s like when Rush is around, it’s just easier somehow.”

“That’s a keeper, Bales. That’s a keeper. I’ma go get him for you.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

He ended the call and I set my phone on the dining room table. I sighed and went into the kitchen. Rush had told me it took forty-five minutes to an hour to get here from the club where his woodshop was, so that meant I had about that time to do my prep work and start cooking. I liked to cook, I just didn’t have much occasion to do it. It was no fun cooking for one and a lot of the farm hand’s wives had them bring me food all the time.

Renaldo said it was a sign of respect and gratitude, to turn them down would hurt feelings, so I had way more than enough to feed myself and the guys if need be. I shared where I could and before my dad had died would do a quarterly picnic and barbecue potluck. I hadn’t precisely stopped the tradition but I may have missed it with everything going on and no one had seen fit to remind me.

I reminded myself staunchly to schedule one and get the preparations in order sometime this week. That I couldn’t let morale slip any further. Renaldo was out of his medically induced coma but it would be weeks if not months of rehab before he could return to work. If he could ever return. It was still too early to tell and that was depressing. I’d gone to visit him and he’d been upset. He didn’t know why this had happened to him and swore up and down that he’d just placed that bet and had lost, that the money wasn’t even due and that he would have been able to cover it easily.

I’d told him not to worry and that there would be a job waiting for him regardless. That even if he couldn’t come back full time, or do things the way he’d used to, that there would always be work somewhere in some way at Blue Hills for him.

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