That seemed like a big responsibility for a kid, but all right.
Ichabod sighed softly. “Oh, fuck…”
“Dad!”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.” Ichabod looked a little panicked. “I think I’m a little low blood sugary.”
Jesus Christ on a sparkly crutch. He was never going to get to the feed store.
“We should get you fed. Michael, buddy, go round up your siblings. Make sure you bring the little one?—”
“Chrissy.”
“Right. Bring her kit and kaboodle with you. Mr. Ichabod, let’s get you some juice and then we’ll all run into town and have a burger or something before we go to the feed store.”
Ichabod’s lips quirked. “Are you sure you want to deal with five of us? I’m happy to drive the Suburban. It’s a lot to drive the two girls with the seats in a truck. And we have the surly teenager, but I will totally buy you lunch. If for no other reason than you’re being kind to Michael, and he has middle-child syndrome.”
Ellis chuckled softly. “Well, then. We’ll take two cars because I do have to load up the truck with some supplies. As long as you know it’s in Silt and lunch would be in Glenwood.”
“Fair enough.”
“I go bye-bye.” This absolutely adorable teeny-tiny little girl came toddling in, a sippy cup in one hand and a filthy stuffed elephant in the other. “Who dis?”
“This is Mr. Ellis; he’s a cowboy. He’s going to live here.” Ichabod said it matter-of-factly.
She shrugged like it was nothing and wandered over to her daddy, lifting her arms. “Picked me up.”
After a few seconds, another little girl, this one the child he’d met the other night, came squealing in, a cup made of Play-Doh in her hands. “Daddy, look, I made another one for a collection.”
“How very nice. Did you want to go get some lunch? Are you hungry?”
“Is it a fancy lunch or a little lunch?” That was the other girl, Allie.
“Oh, I’m thinking a short lunch. Burgers maybe.”
The little one cheered, throwing her hands up in the air. The sippy cup went up, and the sippy cup came down, and Ellis winced, waiting for the catastrophe to happen. But it didn’t.
“Oh, Chrissy. You remember I told you Mr. Ellis has a dog. Name is Mavis, and she’s the prettiest.” Michael grinned at them both. “All right. Dad, Zane says, well, he said a bad word, but he said to go F off and that he wasn’t hungry.”
One eyebrow winged up, and those lips tightened. “Is that so? He doesn’t want to come have lunch, he doesn’t have to have lunch. He can sit in the truck and sweat while we’re eating. I don’t care, but he hasn’t earned my trust to stay here by himself. I’ll be right back.”
Ichabod handed Chrissy to Michael. Allie stood there with her eyes wide. Michael was grinning like a monkey, and Ellis was waiting there with three kids and a partially wallpapered room where a big ladder had almost fallen. “Whose room is this going to be?”
“Mine.” Chrissy and Allie both said it at the same time. Then they frowned at each other. “Hers.”
“So it’s gonna be one of yours, and the other one is gonna stay in the room you’re in?” Good thing he had some kids in his life already. Cowboys had kids in their lives, didn’t they, even if they weren’t parents? That was what folks like him did. They made babies.
“Uh-huh.” That was Allie. “I like this room better because the windows show the barns. The other room is bigger, but it looks at the road.”
He struggled not to laugh. “Well now, don’t ask me why, but someday when you’re older you might want that.”
He could think of many a teenager who had snuck out of their window in the middle of the night and gone out to the road to meet some boy or girl with a car. Allie was awfully young for that now, though.
“Come on, you lot. Let’s go get your daddy juice so that he can hold his blood sugars until we get into Glenwood.” Short lunch? Maybe not. He’d bet Ichabod had no idea where the nearest feed store was. He didn’t do Tractor Supply.
“Are we going to the pool?” Michael asked, his eyes going wide.
“Not today, I reckon, but the feed store that’s the best in the whole area is over in Silt, and that’s about on the other side of Glenwood, so it’s gonna be a little bit of a ride. I don’t want your dad sinking while we’re on the road.”
