Page 72 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“Those two are going to be trouble, you know that, right? They’re stupid in love.”
Coop shrugged. He knew, but what was he going to do? “Should I ignore it? Leave the little girl out and alone and wandering around outside?”
“Are you sure she is?” Benji shrugged. “I don’t put it past him to lie about it.”
“I don’t know, man. He seemed pretty upset, and I guess…if it’s worth lying about, I don’t…” What was he supposed to know about teenagers and hormones bubbling and colliding.
Brooks and Lucy came back in after a long minute.
“I heard the door close?”
Benji rolled his eyes. “Uncle Coop’s a sucker.”
“Ricky says that she and her folks got into a fight, I guess, or her folks are shouting or something, I don’t know.” Now he felt a little bit like a sucker, for sure. “That she’s outside and crying, and he wanted to go get her and bring her here, so I told him okay.”
“Oh, the drama. All right, there’s plenty of food.” Brooks sat close to him, shaking his head. “Are you sure you want to raise these kids up to grown?”
“Well, I can’t see what the alternative is.” He winked at Johnny.
“You could eat us. You can feed us to bears.”
Mason came clumping down the stairs. “Bears? Where did Ricky go?”
“To pick up Bella, and yeah, we’re talking about feeding Ricky and Bella to bears.” Coop couldn’t fight his grin.
“Cool. I read that they rip off people’s heads. And their hands are like bigger than dinner plates.”
Really interesting, but also a bit of an exaggeration, but he’d take it.
Johnny glanced up from his iPad. “You don’t think Bella’s parents were mean to her, do you?”
“Oh, honey, I don’t know. I think that they’re just really frustrated and very passionate. I promise though, we won’t let anybody hurt her, all right?”
“Cool. I like her. She’s nice. She’s in a band.”
“I know. Remember we had to go to all of the football games and the concerts and listen to her play the flute?” Because he needed another child’s activities to attend.
“I wonder if she likes to play his flute…”
Coop’s nose wrinkled instinctively and he shook his head. “Oh, don’t be gross, Benji.”
That was the last thing he needed to hear right now.
“Sorry, man.” Benji didn’t look sorry.
“He’s not sorry,” Mason said. “He’s a butthead.”
“Hey!” Benji chased Mason down and gave him a noogie.
“Ow!”
“Well, don’t call me a butthead.”
Mason stuck out his tongue, and Brooks made a tsking sound. “No fighting on Christmas.”
Both boys subsided, and Coop thought Brooks was getting way better at that. At making the kids listen to him, and in being brave enough to tell them like it was. That was what he needed to help raise them. Not everyone’s careful uncle, afraid to rock the boat. No, Brooks was acting a lot like a dad.
He loved it.
