Page 64 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“She’s still out there. I got cold, so she said to come in and she’d holler if she needed us.”
Dammit. “All right, well, I’ll head out. You get some hot cocoa or something, and we’ll be back in a few. It’s cookie day today.”
“Dude, I love to make cookies—well, I like to eat cookies, and you know I’ll help decorate and stuff if you want.”
“Talk to Coop, but yeah, we’re on it.” He stomped out into the snow, grumbling under his breath about forgetting to lock the door and to having sex late into the night so they slept in, and those meddling kids…
By the time he got to the barn he was laughing at himself, his mood vastly improved. “Hey, Lucy, it’s me. What’s up?”
She beamed at him. “I was just brushing everybody. I gave them both a can of sweet feed, and I made sure everybody had water. Now I’m brushing, and they’re telling me all their secrets.” She was bundled up, but her lips were about blue.
“Are they now?”
“They are. I love to just be with them, you know?”
Of course she did. She was a cowgirl. “Well, you’re a good girl. Thank you. I appreciate it. How’s everybody looking?” He surreptitiously checked feed and hay and gave everybody some extra pellets to warm them up. The horses weren’t locked in the barns, so they could come and go at will. These weren’t high-dollar horses. These were his auction babies. There were four now, but that was just fine. They needed homes.
“Did I do okay?” she asked, chewing her bottom lip. “I know that you normally get up and feed earlier, but I like to visit with them, and you and Uncle Coop were, um, tired.” She wouldn’t quite look at him.
His cheeks were going to set on fire. “Yeah. Well, we were. It was a late night.We were up talking.”
She rolled her eyes like thrown dice. “Yeah, I know about, you know, S-E-X and stuff.”
Oh God. Don’t talk about sex. He didn’t want to talk about sex. No, no, no, no, no, no. He wasn’t sure he was supposed to lie either. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to say anything. “I like your Uncle Coop a lot.”
“Yeah, Benji said that y’all were like…close. It’s okay. I know what gay is too.” She met his eyes. “And I’m not a bigot. None of us are, because we were raised right.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. That doesn’t surprise me at all that you guys were raised right. Your folks were good people.” Please God, let the floor open up and let it take him.
“Are we making cookies today?”
Thank God. “We are! Sugar cookies with all the trimmings and more.” He winked. “And I’ll need help setting up the cinnamon rolls and part of Christmas dinner for tomorrow.” That was far safer to talk about.
Lucy very carefully stowed all the grooming tools, the brush and curry comb, and he was relieved to see she hadn’t pulled out the hoof pick. “Are we having roast beast?” she asked.
“We are.” A beef roast was traditional in the Whitehead family, and Coop had been fine with that as long as they had beans and greens for New Year’s and a ham for Easter.
“Do you like Christmas?”
“Of course I do. I know you guys do too. I can tell you’ve been really good sports all season.” Even when they were all ramped up and frustrated.
Lucy shrugged. “Last year was bad. I mean, Uncle Coop had us come stay with him just for the weekend—all of us—so that we weren’t sad because we couldn’t fit a tree. And he gave us all iPads, all of us. Can you believe it? Like every single one of us? It was really cool. He didn’t know about making roasts though, so we had to go over to the Chiaras and have the bigmeal with everybody. They make turkey and lots and lots of tamales and posole. That’s really hot.” Lucy didn’t look particularly enthused about that part.
“Well, everybody’s got different traditions. I don’t guess anybody’s asked Uncle Coop what his are, huh?” That would suck.
“I know that his parents go on a big boat, and then I think everybody else works. But Uncle Coop pukes if he gets on a boat. So he can’t go on the Christmas boat.”
How funny was that? “He does, does he?”
“Uh-huh. He says that’s why he lives in the desert, so that he doesn’t have to have any boats.”
“Well, I should ask him what he likes to do, huh?”
“Yep.” She beamed at him when he offered her his hand, ready to walk her back to the house. “Can we check on the kittens?”
“Sure, kiddo.” Momma cat had gained weight and was looking good. The kittens were all healthy and adorable, and so far, all still there in the barn, waiting to be fed. In another month or so, they could go to homes. Nell wanted at least two for the Chiara place.
They dropped in, and he gave them all a can of cat food, putting it on the wee plates they had around. They couldn’t keep dry food out all the time, because of mice, but they got a bit of dry when he would do the morning feed to keep their kidneys going.
