Page 29 of Moonshine Lullabies

She was waiting for me, purse slung across her chest and lookin’ natural and as down to earth as they came. Just somethin’ about just how damn pretty that she was, with a makeup-free face and hair all wild as she pulled it down from its ponytail, I don’t know, it just did it for me.

“Well, howdy,” I called when I pulled up.

She called back, “Well, how do?”

It was misting and threatening to rain again and I was already cold and soaked from passing through a rain squall on the way back from the city.

“Ready for a hot shower, how about you?” I asked.

“Ready for a hot meal,” she said, settling on the back of the bike with me.

I liked the way her arms went around me and how she held on.

“Well, alright then. Let’s make us both happy,” I said, and I pointed us back toward her place. When we went into the house, Tate was still at the table, strugglin’ with whatever.

“I’m gonna hop into a hot shower and change into some dry clothes,” I said. “If that’s alright with you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “Go on, now. Just save me some hot water.”

“You bet,” I told her.

She hung up her purse and jacket by the back door and rolled up her sleeves as she went for the kitchen sink.

I left ‘em to their conversation about what was for dinner while I headed on back with my stuff from the bike and my freshly bought clothes for the bathroom. I didn’t think we was going anywhere for the rest of the night so I went with the sweats and a clean tee. Put some clean socks on my feet, and when I opened the bathroom door was hit with some delicious smells from the kitchen.

Gotta love a woman who can cook, I thought to myself as I rounded the corner just as Tate put all his homework back in his backpack for tomorrow.

“Can I play a video game?” he asked his mom, and she nodded from where she stirred something in a skillet at the stove.

“Sweet! Collier, you wanna play?” he asked me.

I gave a nod. “Sure. I can play a round or two.”

It was a pretty low-key evening and a nice one. Played games with Tate, had a good dinner, and jumped in towing Tate along with me to clean up and do the dishes before Jessie could.

“No way,” I told her. “You cooked, we clean. Go take your shower, honey, andrelax.”

She gave Tate a look like she was impressed and I told him as soon as she went around the corner, “You know, you’re old enough to pitch in more around here, right?”

“Yeah,” he said kind of sheepishly and I gave him a look. He stopped and asked, “What?”

“Your mamma is stressed and pressed doing it all by herself. She’s a strong woman, but everyone has their breaking point an’ we don’t want to see her go through that kind of pain, do yah?”

He swallowed hard and said, “No…”

“You do your own laundry?” I asked.

“No.”

“You know how yet?”

“No.”

“Well, you’re gonna learn, alright?”

He nodded, and I smiled and said, “Atta boy.”

“I wash, you dry?” he asked.

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