Page 63 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
Coop sat up, then grabbed the blanket as it started to slide, yanking it back up like a virgin in a Longarm novel. “Sh-oot. Hey, guys.”
“Coop, why is Uncle Brooks having a sleepover in your room?” Mina asked.
“Because I asked him to,” Coop said. “Y’all need breakfast?”
Johnny pursed his lips. “Benji made us cereal,” he repeated.
“Oh, well, I reckon we’ll have something special for lunch or supper.”
“And make cookies?” Mina climbed up on the bed, making Thor roll right into her, legs in the air, begging a belly rub.
“Yep,” Brooks murmured. “We still need to make frosted sugar cookies and fudge.” They’d made biscochitos and Toll House yesterday.
“Cool.”
Johnny hadn’t moved, and his stare was basilisk-level.
“Johnny, buddy? You got a worry?”
“Is this going to make things weird?” he asked. “Are you gonna fight? Sometimes Mom and Dad fought.”
“But not all that often, right?” Brooks asked.
“No, but if you stay in different rooms, maybe you won’t at all.” His lower lip quivered. “I don’t want either of you to leave.”
Shit. Brooks smiled, and if it didn’t hold its center completely, well, that was okay. “We won’t, kiddo. Can you gotake Mina to the kitchen? We need to get dressed, and I need to feed the horses, but then we’ll come make cookies.”
Johnny heaved a sigh. “Okay. Come on, Mina. Come on, Loki and Thor. I’ll take you out.”
Loki howled, and then the beagles were off and running, the kids following.
“Harsh.” Coop gave him a wry grin.
“He’s still hurting bad.”
“He is.”
They climbed out of bed, washed up, and dressed. He could shave later. This was more important. “Come on,” Brooks said. “You can make sure there’s coffee while I feed.”
“You got it, honey.”
Hey, he was back tohoney. He’d progressed.
“Thank you, babe.” He thought he’d try thatbabeout, see how it felt in his teeth.
He did like that grin it earned him, yessir.
He tugged on a pair of Wranglers, stomped into his boots. Then he added a long-sleeved henley along with his heavy outer shirt before he headed out to grab his coat. Mornings were bitter right now.
Mason was stomping snow off his boots when he got to the back door.
“What’s going on?”
Mason shrugged. “Sister and I were feeding. It’s cold outside, and she thought they would be hungry.”
Part of him wanted to kind of snarl because these kids didn’t know exactly how the horses needed to be fed and what was what. But on the other hand, he was proud of them for taking the initiative and making sure that the animals were cared for. Sometimes being a parent sucked. No wonder he hadn’t had kids.
He went with, “Thanks. Where’s your sister?”
