Page 70 of Moonshine Lullabies

I shook my head, and declared, “You know, you’re comin’ up on a time when you’re much more ‘n just Tate’s mom, or Cy’s little sister, or my very own champion dick rider.”

I caught her at just the right moment as she took a drink of her beer and some shot out her nose.

She smacked me in the shoulder and I laughed until tears leaked all over again, knowing full well we were gettin’ an audience. I handed her my shop rag to mop up the sleeve of her hoodie she had on as she shook her head.

“I cannot believe you just said that,” she said and I winked at her.

“Anyhow, what you gonna do in the next few years when you got an empty nest?”

“Love you,” she said with a shrug.

“Baby girl, you need some friends and they’re tryin’ to be your friend.”

“You sayin’ I should go?” she asked with a grin.

I nodded and said, “I’m sayin’ you should go.”

“I’ll need to go by the house and pick up a few smaller skulls and stones and my portable Dremel setup,” she said.

“We can make all that happen,” I said.

“Well, alright then,” she said, and I had to chuckle and throw in the towel on what we was doin’ so I could do that for her.

Make it happen.

We rode as a group on out to the swamp, stopping at the house briefly to grab some things for Tate and for Jessie-Lou to do for the next day. I hated that we were in the truck and not on a bike, even if it was on the colder side out there tonight. I was already missing riding and I couldn’t wait to get my damn bike back together.

Tate seemed excited enough and wasn’t being a teenage drag about it at all, which was nice.

Jessie gripped my hand on the seat between us, and I could tell she was having a hard time after seeing the house again. She’d picked up her big skull she’d been working on to finish it, and snatched up her travel Dremel, a big batch of batteries for it since it was cordless, as well as a box of bits for it.

Tate had grabbed a fishing pole and a tackle box, and we’d pretty much been on our way.

We ended up taking a couple of boats on out to La Croix’s and when we got to the tiny house on its barge, both Tate and Jessie were suitably impressed by the whole thing.

The house was fuckin’ crowded with all of us on up in it but it wouldn’t be for long.

La Croix, Hex, and myself had to kiss our women goodbye, but it was the best thing to be honest. Swamp Daddy’s was about to go up in a big way and we wanted them well away from the clubhouse if there was any kind of swift retaliation. Out here was as safe as they could get.

At the last of it, I found it hard to step away and leave Jessie-Lou behind.

“Gonna miss you,” I told her as we stood on the barge deck, taking a moment alone, away from everyone else.

“Yeah?” she asked, sounding a little surprised. “Thought you might be gettin’ sick of me by now.”

I touched the side of her face and she turned her cheek into my hand, nuzzling it like a cat with such a beauty and feline grace it made my damn heart twist in my chest.

“Never,” I breathed, breath fogging the night air between us. She leaned in, going to her toes and kissed me and I sighed a happy man and held her tight to me. She giggled against my mouth as La Croix and Hex came on outta the little house and let herself down to the barge deck.

“Y’all should just bring another one of these out here and put a still on it,” she remarked casually and Hex and La Croix exchanged a look.

“Ain’t nobody but a stray fisherman or gator hunter come out this far, an’ they don’t care about that none.”

“It’s a thought,” Hex said looking thoughtful.

“Put it in a shed, maybe? Make it look like another houseboat?” I said.

La Croix grunted and said, “Have it start lookin’ like a whole ass village out here before long – sort of defeats the purpose of gettin’ the fuck away from people.”

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