Page 59 of Moonshine Lullabies

I blinked and had to confess to myself that I ain’t never thought of it that way.

“But there are rules, Jess. Rules like you got a fight with a man, that fight iswith that man.You leave his family out of it. That’s always been the rule – an’ these Bayou Bitches, they ain’t followin’ the rules like we never seen.” He shrugged.

“So what you goin’ to do about it?” I demanded.

“Stuff,” he said slowly. “An’ things… bad ones. But we’re keepin’ the fight with them.”

“I don’t much like the thought of me an’ Tate bein’ collateral damage in a fight that ain’t have nothin’ to do with us in any which way,” I said.

“I know,” J.P. said, nodding.

“Well, they started it, yeah?” I asked.

“Yeah, they did,” he said with dead certainty.

“An’ y’all fixin’ to finish it, am I right?”

“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “An’ we’re all fixin’ to do our absolute best to make sure ain’t a damn thing happen to you, to Tate, or none of the club’s other ol’ ladies.”

“Yeah, well, I can look after m’self and for Tate.” He nodded at that, his eyebrows going up and I felt a savage little self-satisfied smile cross my lips. “You just make sure when you finish it, you do it in such a way you put the fear of God into the people around these parts. You feel me?”

His expression was a sober one when he met my eyes and nodded.

“How about you, me, an’ Tate go do somethin’ today?” he asked. “As a family. We ain’t done somethin’, the three of us in a while.”

Of course that was when Tate poked his head out the bathroom. “What about Collier?” he asked, and I could tell it surprised ol’ J.P.

“You really like him, don’tcha?” J.P. asked my son.

“Hell yeah,” my kid said. “He listens to me an’ explains things and we play video games together. He doesn’t just tell me, ‘because, that’s why’ an’ doesn’t act all bossy an’ shit.”

“Language,” I said and raised my eyebrow. I was gonna let him get away with the “hell” but the “shit” was pushin’ it just a little too far. “What’s the rule?” I asked.

“I can say whatever I want when I’m eighteen,” he said and rolled his eyes.

J.P. smiled and nodded. “Fair, that’s all pretty fair,” he said. “We can ask him, but I think he’s gonna be pretty occupied with gettin’ his bike back up and runnin’ today.”

“Is that what he’s doin’ down there?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, why don’t we go on down an’ see if we can lend a hand,” I suggested. “An’ if’n we can’t, we can see what he wants for lunch an’ see about bringin’ it back for ‘im.”

“That sounds good,” Tate said, perking up.

“Go on an’ get some warmer clothes ‘n what you got on yer body an’ find your shoes,” I told him. He nodded eagerly and took off, goin’ around and doin’ what I said.

J.P. put his hand on my knee and gave it a squeeze.

I looked at him and he said, “I’m gonna try an’ do better, Jess. Be around more or take Tater out fishin’ an’ huntin’ with me more.”

I nodded and said, “You can start with fixin’ our house. A lot of useful skills you can teach ‘im with that.”

He nodded and said, “Think it might be safer hirin’ some of that out – at least until some of this wildfire dies down.”

I swallowed hard and said, “I got a lot to think about when it comes to how I’m gonna be gettin’ Tate to an’ from school an’ me to and from work and the like.”

“You can take my truck,” J.P. said and handed me the keys.

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