Page 31 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“Philistine,” he teased. “I’ll just make some up. You got a mason jar or two to keep it in?” He’d learned a lot from the various cookies. He hadn’t been someone they needed to gather or go out to check fences and all, so when he wasn’t working horses, he’d helped at the main station.
“I can do better than that,” Coop said. “I got those push-button top canisters…”
The kids watched them like a tennis match, heads turning side to side.
“So, is he going to live here?” Naomi asked in a stage whisper.
Mina frowned over. “Well, I don’t know.”
“That’s kind of important to know, because if he’s going to move away, then you have to know where to send birthday cards.”
“Oh. When’s your birthday, Uncle Brooks?”
He glanced at Mina. “May third. When’s yours?”
She looked at Coop, her eyes huge. “Uncle Coop? Do you know my birthday?”
“Your birthday, young lady, is November thirteenth. It’s coming up in three weeks.”
She squealed. “Am I going to have a birthday party?”
“Yes. Remember, you were supposed to think about what if you’re going to haveBlue’s CluesorPaw Patrolor that Rainbow Unicornthing. Is any of this ringing a bell?”
“My birthday is in January,” Johnny said. “January twelve, after Christmas.”
Mina must have been doing mental gymnastics in that little head. “My birthday is after Santa?”
“Before,” Coop answered.
“So Johnny’s birthday is next after mine?”
Coop nodded, then shook his head. “No, it was just Benji’s birthday, remember? And then it’s my birthday, and then it’s your birthday, and then it’s Johnny’s birthday after Christmas.”
Brooks glanced at Coop. “When’s your birthday?”
“First of November.”
“What are you going to do for your birthday?”
“Recover from Halloween. Trust me, that’s a thing.”
“Oh! Halloween with the Girl Scouts!”
“AND there’s a big Halloween party at my house on Halloween all the time.” Dani clapped. “We’re going to have the most fun. Daddy says that me and Naomi can be a horse and we get to trade off who’s the front.”
Brooks had lost the thread again. Did they do a lot of Halloween things out here in the country? “Do they go somewhere to trick or treat?”
“Oh man, that’s a whole thing. It’s Kase and Ryder’s anniversary. They have a haunted hay ride, and a haunted-y hay ride. They have trick-or-treating at the ranch. They have abig party with all the things—costumes and bobbing for thises and thatses, and bonfires. It’s a lot.”
“It sounds like it. And all these guys will go?”
“Yep.”
Brooks mixed up flour, some sugar, baking powder, and salt. He didn’t figure Coop had dry milk. So he would use fresh. Coop handed him a big old Mason jar, and he scooped in the mix after he stirred, then stirred again so nothing settled to the bottom.
Then he made up more to use today. There were a lot of kids.
“I could help,” he murmured. “With Halloween.”
