Damn, it was hot. And now the laughter was in stereo mod. More was coming from the opening ahead of him. He had a welcoming party.
When his boots cleared the far end and his head was inches from the opening on the other side, Jordan’s face appeared, cheeks pink, blue eyes sparkling. “Can I take your hat?”
“Please.” He held it out and kept wiggling. “Did you get this treatment?”
“I sure did. Having fun?”
“No.”
She grinned. “Your face is red.”
“No kidding. It’s a hundred and fifty degrees in here.” He worked his shoulders free and tried to get his knees under him, but his butt hit the top of the tunnel.
Dragging himself the rest of the way out, he stood, pulled out his bandana and mopped his face while his nearest and dearest cracked up. He gazed at Monty, Zay, Rio, Jordan, Cole and Granny. “One of you could’ve texted me a warning.”
Monty shook his head. “No, we could not. We suffered through it. Figured you should, too.”
“’Tis a rite of passage, it is.” Granny beamed at him. “Ya conquered the tunnel.”
“My hero.” Jordan gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
That felt damned good. Almost made up for the discomfort and humiliation.
“Well done, dude.” Cole grinned and reached out a hand.
Cole’s congratulatory handshake was welcome, the gleam of approval in his gray eyes even more so. Wiggling through that kiddie tunnel might have won him an ally.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The lunch hour tested the limits of the Raccoon’s staff. A second wave of out-of-towners who’d come for the autograph party had added to the Fourth of July visitors who were staying through the weekend.
Looking for a way to give Desiree some privacy to enjoy her meal, Clem had petitioned the town council for permission to block off the street on his side of the square. That allowed him to set up tables in the street for those who weren’t connected to either Rowdy Ranch or the Bridger Bunch.
The extended McLintock family and the Bridger Bunch combined brought the number inside to more than fifty. Mila and Claudie lobbied to include their H&H supporters and generously included Cole. Adam added the town council and each of them were allowed to bring a plus one.
Jordan had lucked out by somehow coming through the door with Desiree and her husband Andy. She’d gushed about Desiree’s books and didn’t regret a moment of doing that. Desiree’s response had been as kind and down-to-earth as she sounded in her newsletter.
The four-top Jordan ended up sharing with Luis, Cole and Rio wasn’t far from the six-top where Desiree and Andy sat with Adam, Tracy, Lucky and Oksana. Raquel was hosting a table nearby with Rance, his wife Lani, Mila, Claudie and Granny.
Jordan kept sneaking glances over at both tables, since she was also fascinated by Rance and Oksana. Although she’d been a voracious reader ever since she’d discovered books at an early age, she’d never met a published author in person.
Now three of them were only steps away. She’d identified which dark-haired lady was Oksana and which one was Angie. Easy to tell once she’d found out Angie was six months pregnant.
Luis gave her a smile. “Somebody has stars in her eyes.”
“I can’t believe I just talked to M.R. Morrison. I started reading him, I mean her, when I was a kid!”
“So did we. It never crossed our minds we’d meet this person. We didn’t expect to see authors face-to-face.”
“Probably because most of them were dead already,” Rio said. “And we thought M.R. Morrison was some old guy who hated being around people.”
“Well, I haven’t read anything by her,” Cole said. “But now I will. Any woman who can raise ten kids on her own while writing anything, let alone fudging bestsellers, has my attention.”
“You’ll like ’em,” Luis said. “Lucky has her first one in stock. I’d recommend starting there. The hero’s named Skye, the same as her oldest son.”
“That’s cool. I talked to him today. Okay, I’ll get that one while I’m here, but I might start my reading program with Rance’s book since it’s got Granny in it. She’s a hoot. And as it happens, I have more reading time now.”
“Oh?” That got Jordan’s attention Something in his voice told her it wasn’t an idle comment. “Did they cut your hours at work?”
