Page 103 of Moonshine Lullabies

I nodded. “Yeah I do,” I agreed.

“Shit, I didn’t even think of that,” J.P. said.

“Need to fill up those bins out there y’all built me.”

They’d built me bins out of plywood and old pallets to store my bones since things had gotten crazy with them and we knew we would need a lot more.

“Yeah, I got the call out to all the local families around these parts,” J.P. said, stifling a yawn. “We’ll get you some skulls.”

I nodded. “I been gettin’ more from work and fish and wildlife’s been gettin’ em for me. Gonna need to get more beetle tanks and more beetles at this rate, too.”

“God, the smell back there is gonna getwhew!” J.P. complained. I shrugged.

“Got Cor carvin’ too at the club. Alina makin’ stencils. She got the idea when she went with ol’ Len to one of his tattoo appointments.”

“Nice.” Collier nodded.

“If anybody can do this crazy business thing, it’s you girls,” J.P. said.

“Aww,” I said, wrinkling my nose like I thought he was cute and he grinned at me.

“He’s not wrong, baby,” Col said, and I felt myself start to genuinely blush.

“Okay, stop it, you two.”

They chuckled at me and Collier patted my thigh, gripping my leg through my jeans.

I heaved a big sigh and asked him, “How you feel about taking me for a ride?”

“What, now?” he asked.

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Fuck yeah, where you wanna go?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “Maybe the city? Find a bar or a club somewhere and have a drink, listen to some music? I just want to get out of my head, you know?”

He nodded at me and said, “Yeah.” He looked to J.P.

“You cool with that?”

“Tate’s old enough to look after himself but yeah, no, I get it. You guys go. I’m headed for bed myself. Maybe watch a movie or some shit.”

I nodded and said, “Thank you.”

“Not a problem,” he said.

So that’s how we found ourselves riding for the city at like ten o’clock at night. The wind on my face as I hugged myself to Col’s back was freeing. It felt… different. More alive, somehow. The world more vibrant and my soul jubilant – and I had zero guilt or fucks to give about that.

We ended up at a little bar with some live smooth jazz quartet playing. We weren’t particularly dressed nice enough for it, but we didn’t care. We had a drink, danced for an hour or two, then I went to the bathroom. When I got out, Col took my hand and said, “C’mon.”

We walked along the street at a leisurely pace and rode to the club. It was a pretty low-key night, and we didn’t go in.

Well, I didn’t.

Col had me wait while he went in and he came back out with a small jar of the new ‘shine.

He came and sat up on the picnic table out front with me and spun the ring off the jar that was only like a third full. He flicked off the lid and it went skittering into the dark while I laughed.

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