He headed over, smiled at Missy, who was just about as pale as milk. “You okay, ma’am?”
“Just tired. I’m good.”
He looked at Beau, who looked back. It was time for a bullrider intervention. AJ needed to get his ass home.
“We’ll do the dishes, Missy. You sit.” Beau was trying not to growl, jerking his head toward the kitchen.
“Yep. Andy, Jase, y’all play babysitters. We’ll clean. I like playing in the bubbles.” He followed right along.
“You got your phone, Poot?” Beau was just vibrating.
“I do. You want me to call AJ, Ace, or Mrs. Gardner first?”
“AJ. See what his deal is. I bet anything he’s worried about money.”
“You got it.” He scrolled down past Ace, Adrian, and Aggie to hit AJ, and hit send.
“‘Lo?” AJ sounded distracted as hell, and Sam could hear radio in the background. Fool must be driving.
“Aje? It’s Sammy. What’s up?”
“Just humping my shit to the next event. What are you up to, man?”
“I’m at your place, man. You…you talked to Missy lately?”
“What’s wrong?” Now Aje sounded panicky. “I knew y’all was there, but I figured you woulda left this morning.”
“We’re staying for a few. Least ‘til you come home, for sure.” He dropped his voice. “Aje, she don’t look good. You need to come home, man.”
“Shit. Shit, Sammy. I got to make enough on the little circuit to make the finals.” AJ had been doing fair, but just fair.
“You best win an event, then. You’re going to Tampa next?” He could call Ace—Beau would call Balta. They could help AJ out a little.
“Yeah. Yeah, and then I’ll come home. Is she…is she sick, man? I can maybe…”
“I don’t know, Aje. She’s just… She seems like a ghost, sorta. She sure ain’t glowing.”
“Okay. Okay, I can… I don’t know. I gotta. Damn it. Can you and Beau get her to go to the doctor?”
“Uh. You want to talk to Beau? Here.” He didn’t know anything about girls and babies and doctors.
Beau took the phone. “Hey, Aje. What? Oh, uh. Sure. Okay. Look, you just go win Tampa. Yeah. I’ll… Oh, ew, Aje. Don’t tell me shit like that. Okay. Get home after, huh? Bye.” Beau smacked him in the chest with the phone. “I ought to cut off your balls.”
“I’d like to see you try. You’re the champion, Boug…”
“Yeah, yeah.” Beau shook his head. “You call Mrs. Gardner, huh? I’ll call Ace.” Beau rolled his neck on his shoulders. “AJ is scared to death, but he can’t come home until after Tampa.”
“You call Balta, too. Make sure he understands how important it is, huh?” Not that they would throw the event, but…
“Sure. Sure, I can do that.” Beau nodded and got on the horn.
He picked up the house phone, poking through the numbers ‘til he got the main house. “Mrs. Gardner? This is Sam Bell. I’m down at AJ’s with Missy and the kids. She…she don’t look so good, ma’am.”
“Oh, no! Damn that stubborn girl. She should have called.” He could hear her muttering, things clanging. “I’ll be there in a jiffy, Mr. Bell. Thank you for calling.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.” He glanced at Beau. “Uh, we should prob’ly go see Jason.”
“Yeah?” Beau flapped a hand. “Uh-huh. I tell you, Ace, you’re losing your touch.”
